2022-01-20 - The Garland of Letters by Sir John Woodroffe ========================================================= A friend loaned me this book. I found it cryptic and difficult. What i did understand seems seems consistent with what i have learned about Indian metaphysics so far. Sometimes i wondered whether inscrutable philosophies are a prank of the mystics. Below are some excerpts from the book. Preface ======= All sounds and therefore all movements form the "Garland of Letters," which is worn by the Divine Mother, from whose aspects as Oṁ or the General Sound of the first creative movement all particular sounds and things come. For all things may be rendered in terms of sound. The universe is movement. The Letters are the sound of particular movements. These are audible as the gross letters which Kāli, the source of movement, wears as a garland round Her neck. Chapter 1, Vāk or the word ========================== The word Vāk (in Latin Vox) comes from the root Vach which means "to speak". [Vocal] The feminine noun Vāk therefore means literally both voice and the word it utters, as also the sound of inanimate objects. This notion of the "Word" is very ancient. God "speaks" the word and the Thing appears. Genesis says, "God said: let there be Light and there WAS Light." The Divine word is conceived of in the Hebrew Scriptures as having creative power. The fourth Gospel opens grandly, "In he beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." These are the very words of Veda. Prajāptir vai ida ṁ āsīt: In the beginning was Brahman. Tasya vāg dvitīyā āsīt; with whom was Vāk or the Word; Vāg vai paramaṁ Brahma; and the word is Brahman. Chapter 2, Artha, pratyaya and śabda ==================================== By worship and meditation or Japa of Mantras the mind is actually Shaped into the form of the object of worship and is made pure for the time being through the purity of the object (namely Iṣtadevatā), which is its content. So long as mind exists it must have an object and the object of Sādhana is to present it with a pure one. Chapter 3, Aśabda and paraśabda =============================== Śabda or sound exists only where there is motion or Spanda. If there is no Spanda there is no Śabda. If there is Śabda there is Spanda. But the transcendent Brahman or Cit is quiescent and changeless. From out of this Cit (for there is but one) but without affecting its own changelessness, there arises a creative stir or Stress which evolves into the universe. This is the work of the active Brahman or Tśvara. The mental image of a sound becomes apparent sound during the dream-state; higher sounds even may be heard during this [dream-state]. The Yogic state is a voluntary refining and deepening of this [dream-state]; and hence Dhyāna is called Yoga-nidrā. The sound is accompanied by movement. That of the causal body first projecting the menifold universe from out of itself is general movement, the sound of which is "Oṁ." From Oṁ all other Mantras are derived. Chapter 4, Paraśabda, causal śabda ================================== lettered sound (Varnāmaka Śabda) has a meaning [signal] unlettered sound (Dhvanyātmaka-Śabda) has no meaning (at any rate to us) [noise] Immanent sound is an effect and comes in three kinds * normal sound, any hearing person can perceive it * subtle sound, only supernormal hearing can perceive it * pure sound, only the perfect Yogi can perceive it Transcendent sound means creative movement or Causal Stress itself, the cause (Kārana) and Manifesting Fact itself. The primordeal Śabda or Parāvāk (corresponds in some ways to the Logos) is the cosmic predisposition to and precondition of creative evolution. Paraśabda is the name for that causal stress as it arises and before it manifests as the universe. Chapter 7, Śabda as language ============================ The proposition that there is no thought without language is only true if by "thinking" is meant the formation of concepts or general notions, judgments, and drawing inferences. For even in us, intuitive processes, such as perception and ideation, are done without language. To use the apt language of Professor Pramathanāka Mukhopādhyāya, words are an "after-thought or after-construction in relation to the intuitive experiences of life." Absence of language occurs primarily in two cases, namely in intuitive perception and intuitive ideation. Much of seeing and hearing is done intuitively and without language. By intuitive ideation is meant the forming of a mental image of an object. Chapter 8, Natural name ======================= Matter itself is only a relatively stable form of cosmic energy. Because all is in movement, the world is called Jagat or that which moves. All movements are accompanied by a sound. ... let us suppose we could hear (which we cannot do through the individual natural ear) the sound produced by the generating stress or constituting forces of the household fire, then the sound so heard would be the natural name of that fire. Natural name in its purest sense may therefore be defined as the sound produced by the general stress (Śakti) or constituting forces of a thing... In this sense even the Vedic language and its Mahāmantra "Oṁ" is not natural language. The relative ear does not hear such stress unconditionally. To it therefore a thing has no natural name. Nevertheless there may be according to the Śastra (scripture) what is called an approximate natural name, that is the sound of the causal stress heard by a Yogī and transmitted imperfectly by him [or her]. We say "imperfectly," because it is transmitted by an imperfect agent as a sound which can be heard by the gross ear. Vital function under different stimuli produces various sounds, some of which the ordinary ear hears, but the causal sound of vital function as breathing is represented by the Prāṇa-Bīja "Haṁsa" and so on. If attention is paid to breathing it will be found that the outward breath is in the form of the letter Ha and the indrawn breath of Sa. It is not possible to indraw the breath and say the letter Ha, but it is pushed forth by the outward breath. [It is possible if you whisper.] Chapter 9, Vaidika-śabda ======================== Hence it follows that the Veda which is heard by the gross ear and spoken by the gross tongue is not a system of natural names. It is however claimed to be a system of approximate natural names in varying degree. No man ever invented a language. Valapuk, Esperanto, and the like are mere combinations of the sounds of pre-existing language. The Vaidik Language was revealed by Īśvara to the Mānasaputras and others and through them to men. This itself as ordinary worldly (Laukika) speech became corrupted and when rectified was called Sanskrit, that which has been purified. A distinction must therefore be made between the original Vaidik language and current Sanskrit in which however there are words which also occur in the Vedas. Chapter 10, The tattvas ======================= The Śaiva-Śākta Śāstra calls experience as Śakti [stress] by the term Vimarśa. Experience has two elements--the "I" (Ahaṁ) and the "This" (Idaṁ) [like idiom], the subjective-knowing aspect (Grāhaka) of the Self and the objective or known (Grāhya) aspect of the Self. For it must be remembered that an object is nothing but the one Self appearing through Māyā as non-Self to Itself as subject. At base the experience is nothing but the experiencer: though this is not realised until the bonds of Māyā which make the subject and object appear to be different are loosened. The Hermetic maxim says: "As above so below." Similarly the Viśvasāra-Tantra says: "What is here is there, what is not here is nowhere." Yad ihāsti tad myatra, yan nehāsti na tat kvacit. Śaiva doctrine says: "That which appears without, only so appears because it exists within." Vartānāvabhāsānaṁ eva ghatate bāhriātmanā. Therefore what exists in our experience, evolved from the Supreme, also exists in the Supreme experience though in another way. To sum up, the Supreme Experience (Parā-saṁvit) has a creative aspect (Śiva-Śakti-Tattva) which gradually experiences the Universe (Idaṁ) as part of Itself, at first faintly with a predominant "I," then clearly with predominant "This," and then as equal "I and This," ready for severance by Māyā. The latter then cleaves consciousness in twain, thus setting up a dichotomy of Subject and Object, though in truth the object is nothing but the Self as its own object. Chapter 11, Śakti--potency to create ==================================== The same commentator cites the Prapancasāra Tantra as saying that the Parabindu divides into two parts, of which the right is Bindu, the male, Puruṣa or Haṁ, and the left is Visargah, the female Prakṛti or Sah. Haṁsah is the Union of Prakṛti and Puruṣa and the Universe is Haṁsah. In, however, the MSS on which my edition of this Tantra is based it is said that Parabindu divided by Kalā becomes threefold--Bindu, Nāda, Bīja. The difference is of no moment for this Bindu (Kārya) is Śiva and Bīja is Śakti, and Nāda is merely the relation (Mithah-samavāyah) of the two. The combined Hamsa indicates the same relation as is experienced by Nāda... Chapter 12, Nāda--the first produced movement ============================================= Śakti is spoken of as female, that is, as Mother, because that is the aspect of the Supreme in which It is thought of as the Genetrix and Nourisher of the universe. [the feminine principle] But God is neither male nor female. These are all symbolisms borrowed from the only world which we ordinarily know--that around us. Nāda which etymologically means "Sound," is a technical term of the Mantraśāstra. ... Mantra is manifested Śabda which also literally means "Sound." By "Sound" of course is not meant gross sound which is heard by the ear. Nada... evolves in the unmanifested seed or essence of that which is later manifested as Śabda. Chapter 13, Bindu or sakti--ready to create =========================================== Bindu literally means a point. But in the Mantra-Śāstra it has a technical meaning. In an anonymous Mystical Work published in the eighteenth century by one of the "French Protestants of the Desert" called Le Mystere de la Croix, it is said (p. 9), "Ante omnia Punctum exstitit; non to atomon, aut mathematicum sed diffusivum. Monas erat explicite; implicite Myrias. Lux erat, erant et Tenebrae; Principium at Finis Principii. Omnia et nihil: Est et non." "Before all things were, there was a Point not an atom or mathematical point (which though it is without magnitude has position) but the diffusive (neither with magnitude nor position). In the One there was implicitly contained the Many. There was Light and Darkness: Beginning and End: Everything and Nothing: Being and Non-being (that is, the state was neither Sat nor Asat)" Where does the Extended universe go at the Great Dissolution (Mahāpralaya)? It collapses so to speak into a Point. We only conceive of it as a point, as something infinitesimally subtle... This point is Bindu. Bindu is an aspect of Śakti or Consciousness; therefore it is interpreted also in terms of our present consciousness. Thus by way of example the individual mind is completely subjectified and exists for each of us as a mathematical point... We do not conceive of our own minds as extended because of this complete subjectification. In the same way the consciousness of Īśvara completely subjectifies the universe. He sees it as an object which is a whole and which whole is Himself. This Supreme Bindu as containing in Himself all Devatās is the ultimate object of adoration by all classes of worshippers... The sectarianism of the lower mind... is here shown to be a matter of words... and is reduced to its real common denominator. Chapter 14, Māyā-tattva ======================= What matter is in itself, the senses do not tell us. All that can be predicated of it is in its effect upon these senses. Matter is thus a manifestation or aspect of Spirit. The two are ultimately one. They seem to be two because of the fundamental Feeling (Cit) is able, as Śakti, to experience itself as object. The ultimate substance is Śakti, which is of dual aspect as Cit-Śakti which represents the spiritual, and Māyā-Śakti which represents the material aspect. These are not separable. The universe arises through a Negation or Veiling of true Consciousness. This is a common doctrine of the three schools here discussed. The difference lies in this, that in Sāṁkhya it is a second independent principle (Prakṛti) which veils; in Māyāvāda Vedānta it is the non-Brahman unexplainable mystery (Māyā) which veils, and in Śākta-Advaitavāda it is Consciousness which without ceasing to be such, yet veils itself. The existence of life cannot be explained on exclusively mechanical principles. What is called mechanical energy is the effect and not the cause of vitality... Mantra is thus here a pure thought-form... Through Mantra the mind is divinely transformed. Chapter 15, The kañcukas ======================== The term Kañcuka means sheath or envelope. The six Kañcukas include Māyā which may be regarded as the root of the other five, Kāla, Niyatī, Rāga, Vidya, [and] Kalā. The author cited [Dr. Otto Scharder] opines that the six Kañcukas are only an elaboration of the older doctrine of the three powers of limitation (Saṁkoca) of the Pāñcarātra which are Māyā, Kāla, Niyata. The same idea is expressed by these two terms, namely limitations by which the Ātmā, in its form as the finite experiencer, is deprived of the specific attributes which It, as the Perfect Experiencer, possessed. ... Māyā is the sense of difference (Bhedabudah) between all persons and things. Kāla is the is the power which urges on and matures things. It is not in itself subjective or empirical time, though it gives rise to it. It is transcendental Time without sections (Akhaṇda-Kāla) giving birth to time as effect (Kārya-Kāla). Niyati is enforced guidance and regulation in what one must or must not do in any given moment. The term Rāga is commonly translated desire. It is however properly that INTEREST in objects which preceeds desire. Vidyā means [finite] knowledge. Kalā means [finite] agency to act. Chapter 16, Haṁsa ================= The Hamsatārā-Mahāvidyā is the sovereign mistress of Yoga whom the Kādis call Kalī, the Hādis Srisundari and the Ka-Hadis Haṁsah. But the life and consciousness displayed in organic bodies is not something wholly new which had no place in the inorganic material of which they are composed. All such vital phenomena exist in subdued or potential form in every kind of matter which contains the potentiality of all life. All which is manifested exists potentially in its ground. [Bhūimi] As the ancient Upaniṣad says and modern so-called "New thought" repeats "What one thinks, that one becomes." All recognize this principle to a certain point. If man thinks inhuman thoughts he dehumanizes himself. Vedānta carries the application of this principle to its logical conclusion and affirms that not only does thought operate modifications in and within the limits of particular types or species, but actually evolves such and all other types through the cosmic or collective Thought of which the universe is a material expression. Thus every unit or atom of matter is a Puruṣa identifying itself with the solid (Pārthiva) "crust" of matter... Every single atom in the universe is in constant movement and hence the world is called Jagat or that which moves. The word Haṁsa is here said to be derived from the word Hanti which means Gati or motion. Māyā is not something apart from Brahman, for it is Brahman who through Māyā, an aspect of Brahman, Himself becomes His own object. In the first act of creation He commences to become His own object, but it is only when the subject as Purusa is clothed, that is limited, by the Kañcukas, that the latter sees objects as other than and outside Himself. At this stage duality is established and exfoliates in the Vikṛtis of Prakṛtis as the multiple experiences of the World of Mind and Matter. Chapter 17, Kāmakalā ==================== In the previous chapters it has been shown that the Parabindu or īśvara Tattva assumes in creation a threefold aspect as the three Bindus--Bindu (Kārya), Nāda, Bīja. These three points constitute symbolically a triangle which is known as the Kāmakalā. [Kāma is here used in the sence of] Icchā, the Divine creative Will towards the life of form... Chapter 18, The gross tattvas and their lords ============================================= Śiva is constantly represented in corpse-like (Śavarupa) form. This symbolizes that Consciousness in Itself (Svarupa) is actionless and inert. All action is by Śakti. Hence the Devī is in pictures imaged as standing on the inert corpse-like body of Śiva. * Mūlādhāra, earth, yellow [golden], Brahmā * Svādhiṣṭhāna, water, white, Viṣṇu * Maṇipūra, fire, red, Rudra * Anāhata, air, black [smoke], Īśa * Viśuddha, ether, transparent, Sadāśiva [This elemental view of the chakras is the same one that i learned from my teacher. See also: Pancha Bhoota, see section Yogic view ] Rāghava-Bhatta says that it is for the purpose of worship (Upāsanā-sthānaṁ) in pursuance of Śastra (Svaśāstrānurodhena) that certain invisible things are here said to have colours... Ether is transparent which is no colour, black is the absence of colour. With Rūpa [form] there must be colour. For what is colourless is formless. Form is only perceived by means of colour: and thus the last three Bhūtas are with form. Their colours are widely adopted. Thus in China also yellow is the colour of earth, and red and white are generally assigned to fire and weater, respectively. ... Elsewhere it is said that ether is hollow or pitted (Suṣiracinam) air is moving (Calanaparah) fire is digesting (Paripākavan) water is tasteful (Rajavat) earth is solid (Ghana). [This description of ether as pitted brings to mind wavelengths of light. See below for a relevant quote from Annie Besant's autobiography. For this reason, ether can be thought of as rainbow hued. Indeed, spiritual imagery is often depicted as bordered, contained, and surrounded by a rainbow. "Every one knows the exquisite iridiscence of mother-of-pearl, the tender, delicate hues which melt into each other, glowing with soft radiance. How different is the dull, dead surface of a piece of wax. Yet take that dull, black wax and mould it so closely to the surface of the mother-of-pearl that it shall take every delicate marking of the shell, and when you raise it the seven-hued glory shall smile at you from the erstwhile colourless surface. For, though it be to the naked eye imperceptible, all the surface of the mother-of-pearl is in delicate ridges and furrows, like the surface of a newly-ploughed field; and when the waves of light come dashing up against the ridged surface, they are broken like the waves on a shingly shore, and are flung backwards, so that they cross each other and the oncoming waves; and, as every ray of white light is made up of waves of seven [let's just say "many"] colours, and these waves differ in length each from the others, the fairy ridges fling them backward separately, and each ray reaches the eye by itself; so that the colour of the mother-of-pearl is really the spray of the light waves, and comes from arrangement of matter once again. Give the dull, black wax the same ridges and furrows, and its glory shall differ in nothing from that of the shell."] Chapter 19, Causal śaktis of the Praṇava ======================================== The gist of the matter may be shortly stated as follows: In creation the three Śaktis, Jñāna, Icchā, Kriyā, manifest. These are manifested powers of the Supreme Bindu. "What is here is there," and these Śaktis of the Lord (Pati) appear as the Guṇas of Prakṛti in the Paśu; or as it has also been said, Jñāna and Kriyā with Māyā as the third appear as Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas of the Puruṣa-Prakṛti stage which is the immediate source of the Consciousness of the Paśu. For just as in the region of ideation the evolution is from infinite Consciousness to the general and hence to particular ideas; so from the corresponding objective or Mantra aspect, which is that of Śāktopāyayoga, motion commences from the unextended point first as general, then as particular movement, at length developing into the clearly defined particularity of speech and of the objects with which speech denotes. The rhythmic vibration of objects is the same as that of the mind which perceives them, since both are aspects of the one Śakti which thus divides itself. Chapter 20, The Kalās ===================== Kalā is a common term in Tāntrik literature for which it is difficult to find an appropriate English rendering. Kalā, in short, is a particular display of Power for Vibhūti. Kalā is also one of the Kañccukas which go to the making of the Puruṣa Consciousness and in the production of higher Śaktis and Kalās. Chapter 21, The garland of letters or varṇamālā =============================================== Strictly speaking all uttered sounds are Mantras, all uttered speech having a common origin or development... The root "Man" means "to think" and the suffix "tra" indicates the saving character of Mantra. The one supreme Śakti appears in dual aspect as the Word, the Sense by which as uttered sound it is heard, and as the Object or Artha which the word denotes. But a Mantra is the Devatā. The Sādhaka is taught who that Devatā is. He [or she] does not however at once see that Devatā. At this stage the Devatā exists for him [or her] clothed with or as an audible sound, which evokes a particular thought-movement or transformation of mental substance. The next stage is by Mantra-Sādhanā to realise that Devatā; to know it not only as a word and its mental counterpart, but as a form of that Power of which they are but a faint reflection in the world of mind and matter. But the Devatā is not an object in the ordinary material universe. The Sādhaka has to pierce through the vehicle of the audible Śabda and realise the Devatā whose form the Mantra is. He [or she] is enabled to do this by the co-operation of the Mantra-Śakti with his [or her] own Sādhana-Sakti. The Devatā thus produced is as it were the son [or daughter] of the Sādhaka. It is not the Supreme Devatā (who is actionless) who appears, but in all cases an emanation produced by the Sadhaka for his [or her] benefit only. ... the Devatā is a form of the consciousness of the pure Sādhaka, which the latter arouses and strengthens and gains good thereby. ... For thought in the sense previously stated, words (gross and subtle) are necessary. Mantra-vidya is the science of thought and its expression in language as evolved from the Logos or Śabda-brahman Itself. It is in this sense that the universe is said to be composed of the Letters. It is the 50 (or as some count them 51) Letters of the Sanskrit alphabet which are denoted by the Garland of severed heads which the naked Mother Kālī, dark like a threatening rain cloud, wears as She stands amidst bones and carrion, beasts and birds, in the burning ground, on the white corpse-like (Śavarūpa) body of Śiva. Chapter 22, Oṁ ============== The first Mantra into which a child is initialized is Mā or Mother, for that is its first word, and Mother is often the last word on the lips of the dying. Reverence to the natural Mother is reverence to the Mother of all... The Primordial Power or Ādyā Śakti is inconceivably beyond manifested personality, for this is limited experience hedged in by mind and matter. Though not itself a Person as we understand that term, it is ever PERSONALIZING in the form of all individual (Vyaṣti) things in the world. It is also a Person as the aggregate (Samaṣti) of all such personalities. Whilst infinite, it contains in Itself the sum of all human and other experience. Whilst the Power (Mahā-śakti) is in Itself beyond mind and senses in that darkness (as man[kind] thinks it to be) which is the body of Mahākālī, its manifestations are seen. It is with reference to such manifestations inferred to be the Radical Vital Potential which is, as it were, the thread (Sūtrātmā) of the whole series of beings, which form one Vital Continuity, a principle on which Indian Monistic philosophy is based. Nothing is an absolute commencement or end. All is transformed. Birth and death are modes thereof. Each existence is as it were a knot tied in an infinite rope which knot is made at birth and untied at death. Something does not come from nothing, and something never becomes nothing. ... Nevertheless there is an infinite Vital Continuity stretching from the Radical Potential to its actualization as the crust of matter, which is but an infinitesimal portion of the effect produced by the function of Substance relative to the whole universal efficiency. ... The search therefore for the origin of life is futile, since life is eternal and had no beginning. All things are part of the one Mother who is Life itself. It displays itself in innumerable forms, but the vastest generalization of Its working discloses three movements of creative upbuilding, of destructive disintegration, and the holding of these two opposing forces in equillibrium. Nāda-bindu differentiates into the Trinity of Will (Icchā), knowledge (Jñāna), and Action (Kriyā), "Sun," "Moon," and "Fire," and this self-explicating Power manifests in matter in the threefold manner described. These three Powers are A.U.M. or the Devatās Brahmā, Viṣṇu, [and] Rudra. These are not "Gods." There is only one God. They are Devas or "Shining ones," being aspects and specific manifestations of the One Divine Power whose feet (in the words of Śāstra) even Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Rudra worship. They are scientific concepts deified, and rightly so, for their content refers to the Supreme Power which is God. Again leaving individual existences and looking at the sum total of manifested energy, Viṣṇu, the Maintainer, throughout Space and Time, is a theological statement of the general Conservation of Energy. To these intuited laws and truths objective science is giving increasing support. In this sense "Oṁ" is the Pratika or representative of the Radical Vital Potential of the Universe and of the Trinity of Energies by which It actualises and materialises Itself as the five forms of "matter" (though Ether is not ponderable matter), namely ethereal (Akāsa), aerial (Vāyu), fiery (Agni), liquid (Ap), and solid (Pṛthvī). Through worship of and meditation on this Pratika, with all its implications, man[kind], according to Advaita-Vedanta, realises himself [or herself] as the one vital Śakti who is the Mother of all. Chapter 23, The necklace of Kālī ================================ ... whilst there is one essential Wisdom its revelation has been more or less complete according to the symbols evolved by, and therefore, fitting to [different peoples]. Symbols are naturally misunderstood by those to whom the beliefs they typify are unfamiliar, and who differe in temperament from those who have evolved them. To the ordinary Western mind the symbols of [Hindus] are often repulsive and absurd. It must not, however, be forgotten that some of the symbols of Western Faiths have the same effect on the Hindu. From the picture of the "Slain Lamb," and other symbols in terms of blood and death, he [or she] naturally shrinks in disgust. The same effect on the other hand is [often] produced in the Westerner at the sight of the terrible forms in which India has embodied Her vision of the undoubted Terrors which exist in and around us. All is not smiling in this world. ... We must also in such matters distinguish between what a symbol may have meant an what it now means. The Mahānirvāṇa-Tantra says... "At the dissolution of all things it is Kāla (Time) who will devour all and by reason of this He is called Mahā-Kāla and since Thou devourest Māha-Kāla Himself it is Tho who art called the Supreme Kālikā. Because Thou devourest Kāla, Thou art called Kālī..." Here I take only the garland of freshly severed heads which hangs like a Varṇamālā low from Her neck. An esoteric explanation describes this Garland as made up of the heads of Demons which She as a power of righteousness, has conquered. According to an inner explanation given in the Indian Tantra-Śastra this string of heads is the Garland of Letters (Varṇamālā), that is the 50, and as some count it, 51 letters, of the Sanskrit Alphabet. These letters represent the universe of names and forms (Nāma-rūpa) that is Speech (Śabda) and its meaning or object (Artha). There is a tradition that there was once a universal speech before the building of the Tower of Babel, signifying the confusion of tongues. Of these letters and names and their meaning or objects, that is concepts and concepts objectified the whole Universe is composed. When Kālī withdraws the world, that is the names and forms which the Letters signify, the dualism in Consciousness, which is creation, vanishes. There is neither "I" (Ahaṁ) nor "This" (Idaṁ) but th one non-dual Perfect Experience which Kālī in Her own true nature (Svarūpa) is. In this way Her Garland is understood. Chapter 24, Dhvani ================== Motion may be either produced or unproduced. The latter is the causal stress itself, and the former the effect of it. This uncreated self-existing Śabda as causal stress manifests in double form as unlettered sound or Dhvani and is thus called Dhvanyātmaka-Śabda and as lettered sound or Varna which is Varṇātmaka-Śabda. According to the Vyāsa-Bhārya on Yoga, each Varṇā is capable of expressing all Arthas or meanings. A special combination of Varṇas is necessary to express a special meaning. The Varṇas or letters have imperishable and invariable (Nitya) forms. Plato's doctrine of ideal archtypes and their sensible variations comes nearer to the Vedānta doctrine. Thus the Śabda "Oṁ" is uninterruptedly going on, but this it is said, one can only hear in certain stages of Sādhanā or in a quiet place particularly during night time when there is little... interference of the sound waves. Thus we say "Ka is now produced and is no more." But really that which comes to be or ceases to be is the vehicle (Dhvani) and not the Varṇa-Śabda. When a man is heard shouting from a great distance we do not catch his actual words and yet we can hear the pitch, modulation, and so forth of his voice. When he speaks close to us we catch his words as well... In both cases the pitch, etc., of the sound constitute its Dhvani. These qualities of pitch, sweetness, and the like do not inhere in the Varṇas themselves but belong to their acoustic expression, the Dhvanis. In the Tantras Dhvani is a form of Causal Śabda. Thus we hear of the "sweet murmuring Dhvani of Kundalinī," the Creatrix of all Śabdas and Arthas. Chapter 26, Bīja-mantra ======================= Action necessarily implies movement. Whenever therefore, there is action, there is Spanda or movement and therefore what the perceiving subject (when heard) is called Sound. In the beginning of things the natural Principle (Prakṛti) was in a state of equillibrium (Sāmyāvasthā). Then there was no Sound, for there was no movement of the objective world. The first Vibration which took place at the commencement of creation, that is, on the disturbance of equillibrium (Vaiṣamyāvasthā) was a general movement (Sāmānya-Spanda) in the whole mass of Prakṛti. This was the Praṇava-Dhvani of Oṁ Sound. Oṁ is only the approximate representation or gross utterance to gross ear of the Subtle Sound which is heard in Yoga experience of the first movement which is continually taking place, for at each moment the creative movement is present. Mantras are given various names according to the number of the syllables. A Bīja or Seed-mantra, is strictly speaking, a Mantra of a single letter such as Kaṁ, which is composed of the letter K (Ka) together with Candrabindu (ꣲ) which terminates all Mantras. For this reason, in the selection by the Guru of the Mantra for his [or her] disciple the letters are chosen according as an examination shows that there is an excess or deficiency of any particular Bhūta. Where there is an excess of a Bhūta, the letter in which it is predominant is said with the outbreathing. Where there is a deficiency it is said with the inbreathing. M is chosen to end the Bīja because here the Bhūtas are said to be in equipose. Though strictly the Bīja is of one letter as the seed from which the Mantra springs, popularly other short unetymological vocables such as Hrīṁ, Śrīṁ, Krīṁ, Hīṁ, Aiṁ, [and] Phat are called Bījas. Each Devatā has His or Her Bīja. Thus the Devatās of Krīṁ, Hrīṁ, and Raṁ are Kālī, Māyā, and Agni respectively. The primary Mantra in the worship of any Deva or Devī is known as the Root Mantra (Mūlamantra). [For the meanings of various Bījas, see 6th Chapter of the Varadā-Tantra as quoted in the well known Bengali compendium known as the Prānatoṣiṇī.] A close examination of the above may raise some difficulties, but must, in connection with what is elsewhere written, remove the charge that the Bija is a meaningless saying to the worshipper. It is full of meaning to him [or her]. Chapter 28, Mantra-sādhana ========================== "Man" of "Mantra" comes from the first syllable of Manana or thinking and "tra" from Trāṇa or liberation from the bondage of the Saṁsāra or phenomenal world. This shows that Mantra is not mere individual thinking but a particular sound-body of consciousness. ... to the Sādhaka it is a very mass of radiant Tejas or energy. A mantra again is not the same thing as prayer... Prayer is conveyed in what words the worshipper chooses and bears its meaning on its face. [One can use any language for prayer] without recourse to the eternal and determined sounds of Śastra. The Jīva who inbreathes and outbreathes utters a great Mantra. This is the Ajapā-Mantra of Haṁsah, called "Ajapā" because it repeats itself naturally without any effort ont he part of the Jīva. It is the heaving of the Dhvani which causes alternate inspiration and expiration. Śakti it is who is the Cause of the sweet, indistinct and murmuring Dhvani which sounds like the humming of black bees. The consciousness of the Sādhaka becomes en rapport and in union with the Consciousness in the form of the Mantral; and the Devatā who is the Artha of the Mantra appears to the Sadhaka, whose mind has been cleansed and illuminated by devotion. author: Woodroffe, John George, Sir, 1865-1936 detail: LOC: BL1135.T6 W65 source: tags: ebook,esoteric,non-fiction,spirit,tantra title: The Garland of Letters Tags ==== ebook esoteric non-fiction spirit tantra