44 - Discourses on Tantra Volume One
Chapter 11
The Acoustic Roots of the Indo-Aryan Alphabet (14)
Sha is the acoustic root of rajoguńa [the mutative principle]. It is also the acoustic root of artha [psychic longing].
Of the four vargas [basic goals of life], one, already mentioned, is dharma, whose acoustic root is va; the second varga is artha, which brings about the temporary cessation of worldly wants. (That which brings about the permanent cessation of worldly wants is Paramártha.)
Sha is the acoustic root of both artha and the mutative principle. Ra is the acoustic root of energy. So shra is indicative of the mutative principle supplemented by vitality. Shra + uṋiiś (feminine suffix) = shrii.
The expression of vital energy arising due to the influence of the mutative principle on one’s existence is natural for human beings in the mundane sphere. Hence the practice of using shrii before someone’s name [as a blessing on one’s dynamism] has been the custom since ancient times.
Śa is the acoustic root of tamoguńa [the static principle], and is also the acoustic root of all kinds of worldly desires - desires for things such as wealth, opulence, name, fame and social position. The word káma is used in Sanskrit as the collective term for these desires and longings.
Dharma [psycho-spiritual longing], artha [psychic longing], káma [physical longing], and mokśa [spiritual longing, the longing for unqualified liberation] are the four recognized longings or goals of human life.
To avoid any confusion, I say once again in unambiguous terms that káma means all types of physical longings.
Sa is the acoustic root of mokśa [salvation, unqualified liberation]. (As mentioned, va is the acoustic root of dharma, ensconcement in one’s original stance; sha is the acoustic root of artha, the removal of worldly wants; and śa is the acoustic root of káma, worldly [and especially physical] wants.) Each of the letters is the acoustic root of one of the four vargas. Va is additionally the acoustic root of the liquid factor; sha is the acoustic root of rajoguńa; śa is the acoustic root of tamoguńa; and sa is the acoustic root of sattvaguńa [the sentient principle].
Ha is the acoustic root of the ethereal factor, of daytime, of the sun, of svarloka, and of parávidyá [intuitional science]. Opposite to ha is t́ha, which is the acoustic root of nighttime, of the moon, of bhúvarloka,(19) and of the kámamaya kośa.(20)
Ha + ao = hao, which is the acoustic root of Shiva in His posture of dancing táńd́ava. But the acoustic root of Shiva in His role of spiritual preceptor is aeḿ. (It has already been noted that aeḿ is also the acoustic root of one’s preceptor and of the goddess of learning – Aeḿ gurave namah; Aeḿ Sarasvatyae namah).
Kśa is the acoustic root of mundane knowledge, and is also the acoustic root of material science.
(19) Editors’ note: The lokas of the Macrocosmic Mind are Its different “levels”, or “layers”, or “spheres”. They represent different stages on a continuum from subtle to crude. And the kámamaya kośa represents such a stage in both the Macrocosmic Mind and the microcosmic mind. The kámamaya kośa of the microcosm is its “crude mind”, as it is the layer of mind closest to the physical body. It is concerned with physical sensations and physical desires.
(20) Editors’ note: The lokas of the Macrocosmic Mind are Its different “levels”, or “layers”, or “spheres”. They represent different stages on a continuum from subtle to crude. And the kámamaya kośa represents such a stage in both the Macrocosmic Mind and the microcosmic mind. The kámamaya kośa of the microcosm is its “crude mind”, as it is the layer of mind closest to the physical body. It is concerned with physical sensations and physical desires.