Then, we’re instructed to make the “om” sound. The word is Sanskrit, the language of the ancient Hindu texts. It is a language based on vibrations. In Sanskrit, you don’t merely hear words, you feel them. Hearing and feeling about one thousand people saying “om” at the same time is something to behold. The whole room feels as if it is vibrating. I like this, I think, yes, I like this, and it dawns on me how much I associate India with sounds—the singsong call of a street hawker, the bleating horn of an auto-rickshaw, the chanting of a Hindu priest. Every sound, not just the holy ones, is a
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