Recitation of mantras plays such an important role in Vedanta that the path of realisation prescribed by it can also be called Mantra Yoga or Nada Yoga. Even the Sanskrit language, in which all the Vedic verses were composed, bears a clear testimony to this deep connection between Yoga and sound. In the Vedic tradition, a lot of emphasis is given on the rote learning of the hymns with the main purpose of making the students properly learn the phonetics of each mantra. It is often said that the sounds produced by properly chanting the mantras are much more important than the meaning one may associate with it. Meaning is a mental construct which may vary from person to person, but sounds have an objective reality to them. It is even said that this whole world is created out of sound. As Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev says, "When unmanifest existence - often referred to as space or silence - began to reverberate, the first manifestation was sound". This thought also finds mention in some of the western philosophical traditions. For example, the Bible says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God".
