80 - Discourses on Tantra Volume One

Chapter 21

Throughout the Ages (3)

Now this worship of Shiva-liuṋga which began in the age of Jainism spread throughout every fibre of Indian life. In this new style of Shiva worship, both the dhyána mantra(4) and biija mantra of Shiva were changed. Now it is necessary to explain this biija mantra. All the phenomena, all the vibrational expressions in this universe have colour and sound. The human eye may be unable to perceive those subtle colours, and the human ear unable to catch those subtle sounds, but their existence cannot be denied just because of human inability to perceive them. Many animals and birds can perceive subtle vibrations and understand things which humans cannot for instance, the olfactory capacity of tigers and dogs is far greater than that of human beings. Often dogs can identify miscreants by their smell. Each and every expression has its own sound, and the collection of all sounds is oṋḿkára – a-u-m. A [the sound “uh”] is the acoustic root of creation, and u [the sound “oo”] is the acoustic root of operation, and m is the acoustic root of destruction. The sound created by a particular vibration is called its “acoustic root” in Latin. The concept of so-called gods and goddesses is based on these acoustic vibrations, the sound expressions which emanate from the Supreme Consciousness and flow in various directions. This is the science behind the acoustic roots.

The acoustic root of Shiva as mentioned in the Vedas was m [the sound “mm”]. I have already said that no acoustic root was necessary for the worship of Shiva [during His own time] because He was so intimate with all people. But in the age of Jain Tantra, Buddhist Tantra, and Post-Shiva Tantra, the acoustic root became aeḿ. This ae vowel is also an acoustic root.

If we analyse this aum-sound,(5) we find fifty root-sounds, and these root sounds are all within the vast spectrum of eternal time. Within this spectrum there are infinite undulations of the waves of time. Time is nothing but the mental measurement of the motivity of action. Whenever there is action, there is motivity. Time is not an unbroken flow, but consists of disjointed elements. These elements are so closely connected that they seem to become one integral whole although actually it is not continuous. However, these fifty separate emanations are all sustained by this so-called temporal factor. These are: a, á, i, ii, u, ú… kśa.(6) So the alphabet is called akśa or akśamálá [málá means “garland”] – it is conceived as a garland of fifty letters.

During the time of the Atharvaveda it was thought that these fifty letters are being sustained by the time factor. I have already said that this conception of the Atharvaveda was wrong because the time factor is not an integral whole but a series of many separate entities. So these fifty letters of the oṋm sound are combined in the time factor. In the age of the Atharvaveda, people learned to read and write, although there was no system for writing the Vedas in black and white. Thus it was conceived that the time factor had put on the fifty letters in a garland, and each letter was symbolized by a human face. The letter a was kept in the hand because a is the acoustic root of creation, and the rest of the letters (á to kśa) were put in the garland of Bhadrakálii – a goddess of the Atharvaveda. It has been said:

Yata shona karńapute sabái Máyer mantra bat́e
Kálii paiṋcáshat varńamayii varńe varńe viráj kare.

[Whatever you hear is the incantative rhythm of the Divine Mother – the goddess Kálii – and consists of these fifty letters.]

You understand that this Bhadrakálii [a concept of the Atharvaveda which features the fifty letters] is not an integral whole either, but an aggregate of partial entities; so this is also a wrong concept from the philosophical point of view.(7)