58 The Law of the Rhythmic Breath 



vibrations is to make space, and the closer the im- 

 pact of matter upon the vibrations the louder is 

 the sound of their movement. This is the reason 

 of the phenomenon that Natural Philosophy ex- 

 plains as the denser the medium the better con- 

 ductor is it of sound. 



The homely and familiar comparison (in the 

 Aitareya-Aranyaka-Upanishad) by the learned 

 Hindu teacher, of the ether that is, the Akdsha 

 to a bowl in which all the other elements were 

 poured, is extremely felicitous and graphic. In 

 very fact all the other Tattvas, one after the other 

 in their turn, were evolved and are continually 

 mingled in the spaces of Akdsha. 



Akdshic energy, expressed as sound, has long 

 been recognized as both the builder and disinte- 

 grator of form. The wonderfully beautiful geo- 

 metrical forms into which dry sand, sprinkled upon 

 a drum-head or upon a sonorous plate, will move 

 under the impulse given by musical tones show the 

 ever formative effect of Akdshic vibrations. 



It was through an ingenious device of the Ger- 

 man philosopher Chladni that sound vibrations 

 were first made visible circa 1785. He ob- 

 served that plates of metal or glass gave out dif- 

 ferent sounds according as they were struck at dif- 

 ferent points; and he conceived the idea of strew- 

 ing the surface with fine sand, and drawing a vio- 

 lin bow across the edge of the plate, while damping 



