It is mentioned in the Upanishads:

Súkśmátisúkśmaḿ kalilsya madhye vishvasya sráśt́áraḿanekarúpam
Vishvasyaekaḿ pariveśt́itáraḿ jiṋátvá Shivaḿ shántimatyantamáti.

In ancient Vedic, the root verb “vid” was widely used in place of the verb “jiṋá”. The word “veda” is derived from the root verb “vid” (to know). “Ved” means “knowledge”. The root verb “jiṋa” came to be used much later.

The Rk Veda was first composed about 15,000 years ago. Its composition continued for a further 10,000 years, that is, until 5,000 years ago. It was followed by the Yajurveda, and then the Atharvaveda. It was later found that each of these three Vedas contained certain musical portions. These musical portions were put together to form the fourth Veda, the Sáma Veda. The Vedic term “ sáma” means “song”.

There are seven metres in Vedic poetry: gáyatri, anuśt́up, tiśt́up, brhatii, jagatji, paunkti and uśńiik. The Vedic Rks were composed in uśńiik, the most difficult of all the metres.

The composers of the early Rks noticed that the vocal cord of a particular animal produces a particular type of sound with a particular pitch. Seven musical notes were evolved from the sounds of seven animals: peacock (śaŕaja), ox (rśabha), goat (gándhára), horse (madhyama), cuckoo (paiṋcama), ass (dhaevata) and elephant (niśáda). By taking the first letters of these seven sounds – śa from śaŕaja, re from rśabha, gá from gándhára, má from madhyama, pá from paiṋcama, dhá from dhaevata and ni from niśáda – the musical septet, śa-re-gá-má-pá-dhá-ni, was made. Thus there were seven metrical rhythms and seven musical notes.

Every idea in the mind has its own inherent sound. “In the beginning there was sound, and the sound was with God, and the sound was God”. This sound is Śabdha and consists of omn, hum’, phat, vaośat́, váśat, sváha, and namah. These are the acoustic roots which should be uttered before the corresponding action is performed. For instance, “Namo Brahmańe namah” [This is recited whenever one offers something to God and literally means “Salutations to Brahma.”]. Before saying “namah” the ideation should be of self-surrender. “Nam devatáyae namah” [salutations to the gods]. When one recites “namah” it does not remain a mere word, but becomes an idea. Namah is derived from the root verb “nam” which means “I surrender myself”. Self-surrender is the main idea behind namah. With this sort of ideational sound, ideation and not the sound is the main factor. There are seven vibrational sounds such as this.

Later, it was discovered that tenderness, love, affection, and benevolent thought are inherent qualities of the mind. When they are predominant in the mind people produce sound in a particular way; but where there is no benevolent thought, no love and affection, people produce a different sound. Suppose you are a little ill and do not feel like eating. Naturally you will inform the members of your family, saying “I won’t eat anything today as I’m not feeling very well.” But when you decide not to eat because you are angry with your family, you will not express your reluctance in the same way. You will say rather abruptly, “I won’t eat anything today!” There is an expression of anger in your tone. So these two expressions of “I won’t eat anything today” are not the same. There is a marked difference in intonation.

There are two mental feelings which are particularly difficult to suppress – even very prominent actors have trouble hiding them which are “viśa” [angry dissent] and “amrta” [deep affection]. The seven acoustic sounds, the seven musical notes, viśa and amrta are the sixteen sounds controlled by the vocal cord. In this connection it should be noted that the root-verb “jiṋa” is not included in the seven metrical rhythms of the Vedas. The reason is that the origin of any sound is not in the vocal cord but in the múládhára. “Pará pashyantii madhyamá dyotamáná vaekharii shrutigocarah”. These are the different stages in the formation of words. They first originate from “para” [the primordial seed of a word] and terminate in shrutigocarah [the audible form of a word]. In the state of pashyantii one visualises an idea. In the dyotamána stage, one has an inner urge to express the idea, but the words remain unexpressed. You must have often experienced the state when you understand many things, but cannot find words to express them. That is, you do not understand how to express those ideas and thus cannot convey your internal feelings. This is the stage of dyotamáná. If you want to go deep into the subject of music, you will have to acquire a thorough knowledge of these seven stages of expression.

The Old Latin verb “keno” is derived from the later day Saḿskrta word “jiṋa”, and the Modern English verb “know” is derived from “keno”. The letter “k” of “know” has lost its original pronunciation, but we still retain it in the spelling because its root is “keno”. Those who study English language may find this information useful in doing research.

“Jiṋátvá Shivaḿ shántimatyantamati”. In Saḿskrta, the word “shiva” has many meanings. The first is “well-being”. While blessing someone, one can say “shivamastu” in place of “sukhamastu” [may you prosper]. The second meaning is “consciousness”. “Shiva shaktyatmakaḿ Brahma” [Brahma is the composite of Supreme Consciousness and Supreme Operative Principle]. The third meaning is “one who remains lying down” or “one unable to get up,” that is, a dead body. In this sloka Shivam means Parama Puruśa or Supreme Consciousness. Jiṋátvá means “after knowing”; shántiḿ means “peace”. Sham + ktin = shánti; sham + anat = shamana.

The one who, guided by the Supreme Intellect, controls all the entities everywhere; who does not permit any entity to go astray or violate the established principles; and who controls everything with an iron hand, is called Shamana. This is the mythological God of Death (Yama). Shamana also regulates the populations of all created beings. According to mythology, when the number of creatures increases uncontrollably, the sinners are annihilated leaving the virtuous to work in peace. “Samanam karoti yah sah shántá”. Sham + ktin = shánti. Every human being wants mental composure. The only way to attain this state is to know that Shivam, that Parama Puruśa, that Supreme Entity. There is no other way, “Shivaḿ shántmatyantamati.”

On many different occasions in life, whether big or small, one can hope to attain a certain degree of mental composure, but permanent composure or “prashánti” or “átyántikii shánti” (composure beyond which there is no further composure, and which, once attained is never lost) cannot be attained easily. In war, an army may win one battle thus attaining a certain degree of composure, but they may be defeated in the next battle. Victory, once attained, may not necessarily be permanent. Only vijaya, that is, victory which is never followed by defeat, is permanent. A person wishing to attain permanent composure will have to attain Shiva or Parama Puruśa. There is no other alternative. Hence it is said, “Gatvam Shivaḿ shántimatyantamati”. Once one enters deep into the realm of permanent composure one gets a permanent abode in that supreme state of bliss.