In Sanskrit, “preeti” does not mean love, it IS love! In modern languages, the sound of a word and the essence of its meaning do not correspond, as Shakespeare says it best: “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet!”[1] In Sanskrit, however, the sound and the meaning of a thing are meant to be one and the same – the sound or name of a thing is deeply connected to the vibrational blueprint of that thing. The vibrational subtle sound identity of a thing and its physical properties are one.
Because of this, the ancient vedic texts tell us that in Sanskrit sound is so meaningful that it has an impact on a concrete physiological level: the sound of a word carries a specific effect on your physiology and nervous system. This is why, for example, mantra-s are and can be powerful healing tools when used accurately. This is also why it is important to chant and pronounce vedic sounds correctly, because they create a specific balancing effect when done so.
So “preeti.” Preeti is love. Unconditional love. That state of love that is not a needing but a giving, a loving so full that it brings an opening of one’s being, one’s deepest self onto the vast endless beauty of creation, deeply happy at one with that creation.
Vaidya Mishra explains that this meaning derives from the word’s vibrational sound value. He says: Preeti is made up of 3 sound components or syllables:
Pr[a]+Ee+ti
1) pr[a] = specific;
2) E = this “ee” sound (pronounced “ee” as in england) is the active vibration that derives from the “aa” sound, the big A, the seed sound from which the whole cosmos is said to originate in Vedic texts. But what’s more, this sound is encapsulated and carried by our own souls. If we could scientifically measure the vibration of our souls, we would hear the endless sound of “aa.”
3) Ti= indicates the destination of that “ee” vibration. What does all this mean?
He explains this through another example: this “ee” sound is the same “ee” sound as that found in the word “ishwar” pronounced “eeshwar.” “Ishwar” is made up of the sound “ee,” plus “shwar” which means sound. This “ee” sound is the next closest sound after “aa.” When the cosmic “aa” flows in time, it transforms into “ee.” The cosmic “a” sound that has been translated into action or dynamism through time, is “ee.” But that “ee” still retains the most cosmic creational potency of the “a” sound, since it evolves from it.
In Sanskrit, “Ishwar” means god. Why? Because it refers to a being that carries the “ee” sound or “shwar,” and those beings that carry that sound are the closest to the creational source of “A:” they are that silent source translated into action, they are god and goddess.
Preeti, then is the flow of the very specific vibration of “ee,” it is a particular “ee,” the dynamism of the absolute in the state of love or giving, that speaks to the light of every soul. Love as “ee” is that vibration, that attraction that draws us back to the root of our being, from where all emanates. It is the particular “ee” sound that strives to go back to the “a” of the soul.
Love, preeti, is that power that makes us experience the unity in all humanity, the unity beyond the diversity of our differences; the magnetism that draws us out of the egotism of ourselves to be and do for others without expectations; love is that which transforms us, makes us come closest to divinity, to god, in making us lose ourselves to others, out of pr-ee-ti; when we love we emanate the “ee” sound, we resonate on that level. And the more we love someone or some ones self-lessly, the more our vibrational resonance gets elevated and comes closer to the source of all sound, to “A.”
Preeti is the ultimate vibrational journey leading back to the origin, to the light of the soul. All love, physical, mental, sensual, emotional, has its roots in this “ee” sound. All the joys of love in all its aspects (motherly, fatherly, friendly, etc) are the fruits of this tree of love.
It is a common poetic expression in India for one lover to address the other as a god or goddess, to acknowledge that one sees god in the lover. Ultimate unconditional love that brings one back to one’s spiritual source, one’s divine origins, and to the extent that the lover inspires this, the lover is that god or goddess, the “eeshwar,” the sound of “ee” that helps us transcends our human limitations, differences, and distance from one another.
[1] Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene 2
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