A saint turned toward his disciple and asked: “Why do people shout in anger?”
One of his disciples replied: “Because when we lose our calm, we shout.”
The saint said: “But why should you raise your voice when the other person is right next to you? It’s not that they hear you better that way. You can still make your point without shouting.”
“When two people are angry at each other, their hearts are no longer close; their emotions are divided and they are miles apart. To cover that distance, they yell. The angrier they are, the louder they shout. Anger immediately creates distance. They are unable to hear each other — shouting is how they believe they can be heard.”
“And what happens when two people fall in love? They don’t shout at each other but talk softly, because their hearts are very close. There is little or no distance between them. When they love each other even more, they exchange even fewer words — they murmur, they whisper, yet they hear each other better. Their bond strengthens, love prospers. Finally, they may not even whisper; they only look at each other, and silence becomes more potent than speech.”
This is what the ancient science of mantras understands: sound is not just vibration — it is the distance between two hearts.