Singing bowls are a type of bell, specifically classified as a standing bell. Rather than hanging inverted or attached to a handle, standing bells sit with the bottom surface resting. The sides and rim of singing bowls vibrate to produce sound. They were traditionally used throughout Asia as part of Bön and Tantric Buddhist Sadhana. Today they are employed worldwide both within and without these spiritual traditions for meditation, trance-induction, relaxation, health care, personal well-being and religious practice. I would add to this Wikipedia description their use as a musical instrument – this being what I’ve discovered to be its best use for me. I would say that accompanying beautiful, uplifting musical chants, such as those of Krishna Das, with a singing bowl or bowls, includes all of the benefits of meditation and relaxation, a cure for our sickness and suffering, an enhanced sense of our well-being, and a deep religious experience as well as the pure pleasure of listening to this joyful, peaceful and loving music! Most importantly, this is a vehicle that takes us deeper into our own hearts (our heart chakras) where we experience the greater reality that beats that heart – our point of contact With God Himself! We discover this Loving Presence to be Our Own true nature, Our Own real self, Our Own Christ Self, with Our Own I AM Presence above with whom we are inexorably connected.
Singing bowls were historically made in Tibet, Nepal, India, Bhutan, China, Japan and Korea. Today they are made in Nepal, India, Japan and Korea. The best known type are from the Himalayan region, often termed Tibetan Singing Bowls.
The bowls produce four A-U-M or O-M sounds per revolution of the wand, regardless of the speed when stroked or even when they’re struck. The A-U-M is the sound of the electron as it passes through the nucleus of the Atom (Alpha to Omega) and then back again to its electron ring. When we intone the A-U-M or sound a singing bowl, it releases God’s light as a waveform of electro-magnetic energy of a spiritual frequency. This universal energy is God’s spirit, everywhere present, that interpenetrates time and space and of which “space-time” itself is made. This is the very same energy George Lucas called The Force in the Star Wars movies. Although it doesn’t emanate from the Midi-Chlorians, it does permeate the physical universe and it comprises the foundation of all creation. Physicists call this quality and quantity, because they cannot see it or detect it, Dark Energy, or Dark Matter. This is the stuff that they calculate must compose 2/3rds of the observable universe in order for the universe to be expanding – as their measurements show that it is. I believe that’s because the so-called “stuff” is effecting the matter universe but isn’t actually a part of the matter universe ... God is therefore Omnipresent, Omnipotent, and OmniscientHe is in all, and is all! Albert Einstein proved that energy and matter are equivalent with his famous formula, E=MC2 (energy equals matter times the speed of light squared), when a few pounds of matter were instantaneously converted into a brilliant fireball of energy in the atomic explosion. (a fireball whose spherical surface is defined as an area of light, or C times C, which is C2)
Corresponding to the four quadrants of the Cosmic Clock as taught by Mother Mary, her instruction recognizes the four personalities of the deity to be God as Father at the 12 o’clock line; God as Son at the 3 o’clock line; God as Mother at the 6 o’clock line, and God as Holy Spirit at the 9 o’clock line. For those familiar with eastern religious thought, these are understood to be God as Bhrama at the 12 o’clock line; God as Vishnu at the 3
o’clock line; God as Kali at the 6 o’clock line; and God as Shiva at the 9 o’clock line. God does not change from time to times, nor from culture to cultures, as he has taught His Children His Ways throughout history in every locality and culture. If we are God’s Children, then we are also Sons and Daughters. In either mode, the Tibetan Singing Bowls produce a pulsating resonance that is literally the unified sounding of, and invocation to, God’s Light – The Light of the Four Personalities of God!
God is The Great Healer and what We and medicine do is provide a conduit for His healing to take place. So come and be a conduit, come and be healed! “When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. ... Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: Then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them. ... The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad. ... They that sow in tears (who persevere in sowing good (God) works, even through trials, tribulations, and persecutions) shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed (seeds of His Light), shall doubtless come again (in that or a subsequent lifetime) with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves (as you sow, so shall you reap that goodness) with him.” – Psalms 126:1,2,3,5,6.
“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ... And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men (truly, the Secret Chamber of our Heart, within our Heart Chakra), and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. ... And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: For the former things are passed away. ... And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: For these words are true and faithful. ... And he said unto me, It is done. I AM Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. ... He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. ... But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: Which is the second death.” – Revelation 21:2,3,4,5,6,7,8.
The first death is the death of the renewable physical body, with the second death being the death of the soul, our unique identity. Our souls can be lost until they are re-united with, and made a permanent part of God. This is eternal damnation; the everlasting self-condemnation to a punishment or fate. Thus the act of thumbing ones’ nose at ones’ own divinity is an act of self-destruction, or spiritual suicide. But if ones’ fate is annihilation, where’s the punishment? The defiant get to spend 1,000 years in a sealed-off area of the astral plane called Hell. This is where they get to work off their karma the Hard Way, having shunned God’s Mercy. This is the punishment and fate of those who bite the hand that feeds them, those who are utterly defiant unto the bitter end. ... Thought you might like to know.
Now that you are thoroughly flabbergasted by the reality of your situation, let’s get back on topic. The earliest Singing Bowls were
made of an alloy containing twelve different metals, with some having been
extracted from meteorites.
These bowls activate our alpha and theta brainwaves, producing profoundly restorative effects on the body as well as mind. There is so much discord in our
worlds. When one comes in contact with the sublime sounds of a singing
bowl, especially when accompanying uplifting music such as that of Krishna Das, the result is a total re-alignment of our beings, where God harmony replaces Our human discord.
I selected the bowls I use as musical instruments from Monarch Imports in San Anselmo, California, and the Himalayan Collection of Alpine World in Mountain View, California, because I felt a
strong resonance within my own consciousness when I rang these particular ones. When I tried using a bowl as accompaniment to Krishna Das’ recording of Heart as Wide as the World, I was amazed at how perfectly it blended with the music.