In the East it is believed by the Vedantists that the creation originated from what they called word, or sound. The same idea has prevailed among the Semitic religions from the earliest times. This word is described as Ismi Azam.

The fact that the mysterious always attracts, leads some people to make things out to be mysterious which are not, and thus they profess to know a secret which others cannot know. Here there is the greatest opportunity for deluding the unwary, but when one has come to understand the mystery of this word one understands the mystery of all religion, for all religion lies in this one word Ismi Azam.

Modern science is coming nearer to understanding this. On the one hand Professor Bose spoke about pulsations and showed that vibrations exist even in the vegetable kingdom, so that they can be recorded in graphic form. On the other hand investigators have demonstrated the forms which different vowels make on a glass plate, so that one sees various designs. The forms of various plants and their leaves can be shown in this way. On a recent visit to Paris I met Professor Frossard, who for years has been investigating the effect of the vibrations of the voice upon different parts of the human body, and has been able to demonstrate scientifically how these effects vary with different vibrations.

However, Yogis had worked with sound before any such researches were thought of or undertaken. The school of mantrayoga is concerned with this science. The one belief that started this was that vibration is creative and that the whole universe was produced by sound, by the word; as it is said in the Bible, first was sound and then was light. Herein lies the thought of the mystics that one may understand vibrations in two directions: when audible they become intelligible, and when taking form they become visible. Even if the word were neither audible nor visible it would have the capacity of being both. If our power of sight and hearing is not enough to help us, it is because the reality is beyond and beneath the range of our sight and hearing, and therefore it is not intelligible to us. We are not aware of it, but if our sight and hearing allowed us to hear and see it, we should know that all life is vibration.