Śivasaṃhitā 5.41

With this verse begins the description of nādānusandhāna—the exploration of the unproduced inner sound—one of the most distinctive methods of layayoga. The first nāda heard in the practice of śaṇmukhi mudrā is described through three sonic images: the vibrating hum of mattabhṛṅga (a bee drunk on nectar), the penetrating melody of the flute (veṇu), and the resonant, stringed sound of the vīṇā. These images are precise: the practitioner recognizes the sound by its qualities, not just the description.

Mattabhṛṅga—“drunken bee”—is a beautiful image: the bee saturated with nectar produces a deeper, more resonant hum than one flying in ordinary state. This first sound has exactly that quality: deep, vibrant, charged. Veṇu is the reed flute, Kṛṣṇa’s instrument, whose note is penetrating and melodic. Vīṇā, Sarasvatī’s instrument, produces a resonant, stringed timbre. Together, these three sounds describe the tonal spectrum of the first internal nāda.

Nādānusandhāna—“following the sound’s trail”—is described in detail in chapter IV of the Haṭhapradīpikā, with the classification of ten progressive sounds from cini (metallic tinkling) to the thunder sound (meghanāda). The Śivasaṃhitā introduces these sounds in the context of layayoga: listening to nāda dissolves the mind (mano-laya), producing the extinction of saṃsāra’s darkness that the verse promises.