33 - Discourses on Tantra Volume One

Chapter 11

The Acoustic Roots of the Indo-Aryan Alphabet (3)

RR

The rr sound is the acoustic root of oṋm. You may say, Since oṋm is the acoustic root of creation, preservation and destruction, and the acoustic root of Saguńa and Nirguńa [it is used to symbolize Nirguńa], how can rr be the acoustic root of oṋḿkára?

What is the sound oṋm (ওঁম, ॐम)?

Oṋm consists of five symbols: a, the acoustic root of creation; u, the acoustic root of preservation; ma, the acoustic root of destruction, (.), the symbol of the unmanifested universe; and ([BENGALI CRESCENT SYMBOL]), the symbol which signifies the process of manifestation.

A is not only the acoustic root of śad́aja, it is also the acoustic root of the force of creation. When the idea to create something arises in the mind of Parama Puruśa, or in the microcosmic mind, its acoustic root is the sound a. Since a is the acoustic root of creation, from which everything else proceeds, a is the first letter of the alphabet.

The sound u is the acoustic root of the fifth musical note, and is also the acoustic root of a few other factors, the force of preservation being one of them. When the desire to maintain the created entities arises in the mind of Parama Puruśa, or in the individual microcosmic mind, then the acoustic root of that sort of desire is u.

The sound m with hasant [indicating that its pronunciation is m rather than ma], as well as being the acoustic root of the tendency [prashraya vrtti] to treat someone or something indulgently, is the acoustic root of the vinásha [destruction] that occurs in the course of time. When people feel that something has become monotonous, they want to change it.

It should be remembered that vinásha does not mean complete annihilation, but transformation or metamorphosis. Complete annihilation is called pranásha. (In fact, nothing in this physical universe is subject to pranásha or complete annihilation. But philosophically, pranásha means that change which takes an entity back to its original form. If sugar made from sugar cane is transformed back into sugar cane, that will be the pranásha of the sugar. Thus from a philosophical point of view, if a microcosm, through sádhaná, merges into that Parama Puruśa from whom it originated, that will be the pranásha of that microcosm.) This m sound is the acoustic root of annihilation.

The manifested universe is constituted of creation, preservation and destruction (a-u-m). A + u = o, hence a + u + m = om. But that is not the end of the story; the dot (.) and the crescent ([BENGALI CRESCENT SYMBOL]) that form part of oṋḿkára are also important. The former represents the unmanifested universe; the latter represents the principle of transmutation from the unmanifested to the manifested.(9) Hence, oṋm is the acoustic root of creation, preservation and destruction, plus the principle of transmutation from the unmanifested to the manifested.

The source of most acoustic roots is Tantra, although some of them already existed in the Vedas and were later accepted by Tantra. Oṋm is one of the latter. Those Dakśińácára Tantrics who do not want to accept annihilation as the last word, and thus do not want to place the acoustic root of destruction as the last sound, utilize the full letter ma as opposed to the half-letter m, and place the letters in the following order: u + ma + a = umá. According to Dakśińácára Tantra, “Umá” is another name of Paramá Prakrti.

Oṋḿkára is also called prańava (pra + nu + al), which literally means “that which helps tremendously in attaining the supreme stance”. In the Tripádavibhútináráyańa Shruti it has been said, Prańavátmakaḿ Brahma [“Brahma is in the form of prańava”]. Elsewhere it has been said,

Etaddhyevákśaraḿ Brahma etadevákśaraḿ param
Etadevákśaraḿ jiṋátvá Brahmaloke mahiiyate.

[This is the immutable Brahma, this is the supreme sound. After knowing this supreme sound, one attains the divine realm of Brahma.]

Now even though oṋm (which includes the dot and crescent) can serve as the acoustic root of this expressed universe, since oṋm is nevertheless a combination of sounds, it requires an acoustic root of its own. The acoustic root of another root is called atibiija or mahábiija. So rr is the mahábiija of oṋḿkára. This rr sound is necessary from the viewpoint of phonetics and of sandhi [the science of combining sounds]. Since it is an important acoustic root, it is imperative to decide whether such a letter should be deleted from the alphabet [as some linguists have suggested].

The Indo-Aryan alphabet consists of fifty letters from a to kśa. If any of these fifty letters is deleted, the entire alphabet will become defective and the acoustic importance of the letter concerned will be jeopardized. It is up to you to think over and decide whether rr should be retained in the alphabet or not.