Sri Vidya Mantra: Unravelling the Cosmos Niraj Kumar

he visible world is only a small part a different sonic universe. Recent explorations in of reality, which again is relative to an ob­ some branches of theoretical physics have led to Tserver. Human beings experience only a the formulation of the idea of a multiverse. More­ sliver—20 Hz to 20,000 Hz—of the vast world over, many astrophysicists suggest that only about of sounds. For bats and some other creatures it is five per cent of our universe comprises of visible

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—No bleed here— Sri Vidya Mantra: Unravelling the Cosmos 29 matter. The rest is composed of dark energy and fusion of Shiva and Shakti—the spandana, vi­ dark matter, whose properties are elusive. bratory, principle. Ordinarily, a bindu takes half The human mind is unaware of many things the time taken for uttering a phoneme. But the outside and inside the body. However, to an bindu also tapers into the subtler sound of nāda, introspective person, the universe appears to be which is equivalent to 1/16th of a phoneme. The a graded existence from the gross to the subtle. further subtle division of sound ends at the level Sri Vidya is a subtle conception of tracing the of unmanā, mind in extremely low vibration, relationship between various levels of existence. which corresponds to 1/512th of the time taken This vidya, science, structurally correlates the to utter a mātra. microcosm and the macrocosm and establishes Since sparśa, touch, always produces sound, a connection between the human body, the cos­ the sages developed a paradigm for phonemic mic body, and the geographical body. emanation. Thebīja , seed, as vowels, are equated with Shiva, and the vyañjanas, consonants, as The Science of Vibration yoni, womb, with Shakti. The vowels arebīja s Indian philosophers posited the primacy of vāk since no compound word can be formed with­ or śabda, sound, in their conception regarding out them. The world evolves from a phonemic both inner and outer worlds. Vāk is the creative emanation through a grosser condensation of force of the universe. As the universe is in con­ sound, and created through the three powers of stant flux, each movement, big or small, produces icchā, desire, krīya, action, and jnana, knowledge. sound. Thisvāk evolves in stages in the universe, The great Kashmiri philosopher-mystic which is also reflected in the human body. The Abhinavagupta gives a meticulous description sages observed internal sounds through deep of phonemic emanation in his works Tantrasara meditation and discovered the nature and place and Paratrishika-vivarana. In the infiniteākāśa of their origin. In its principal stage vāk is called operates the bimba, mirror-­principle. The first parā, absolute, and rests in the mūlādhāra, root letter that emerges due to the inherent power receptacle. The second stage ismadhyama , mid­ of svātantrya, freedom, from the prakāśa— dle, when it is still nebulous and unperceived. Shiva—is the vowel ‘a’. This is theanuttara , si­ The third ispaśyanti , perceived, as thought, and lent one. When ‘a’ sees its reflection, it is filled finally to thevaikharī , audible words we utter with ānanda, joy, and ‘ā ’ emerges. It desires and listen. The sadhaka has to follow the audible more and then the third vowel ‘e/i ’ emerges. sound to its root in thought, from there one has This inheres as theicchā -śakti. Similarly, ‘u’ to plunge into its nebulous stage and then to the emerges with the inherent power of kriyā- parā. One thus travels from the relative and gross śakti. Now, the first three short vowels—‘a’, to the subtle and to the causal to reach the nāda, ‘e’, ‘ u’—have the Sun principle and their cor­ primordial vibration, which is the path towards responding longer vowels—‘ā’ , ‘ee ’, ‘ ū’—have the Godhead. the Soma, lunar, principle, as the latter three The nāda corresponds to the ākāśa, space, rest on the former. When anuttara and ānanda the primordial element among the fivemahā - vowels fuse through saṁghātta, friction, ‘ae’, bhūtas, great elements. This is the vibration of ‘ai ’, ‘ ao’, ‘ au’ emanate. These also correspond ‘emptiness’. Any mātra, phoneme, gets charged to kriyā-śakti. When kriyā-śakti dissipates, all with a bindu, point, which the tantras view as the the vowels enter back into anuttara as a bindu

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and form the vowel ‘añg’. Theanuttara dissi­ One can find another pattern in howsparśa pates, visarga, into the bindu, and the vowel ‘ah’, consonants get subtler and subtler as they em­ ends the cycle. While the anusvara ‘ṁ’ as the anate both laterally and vertically. The lastsparśa bindu represents the unity of Shiva and Shakti, consonant is ma, and here ends the manifest uni­ the visarga, represented as two dots ‘:’, signifies verse of touch. By employing Panini’s pratyāhāra the division of the ultimate Consciousness into technique1, the combination of the first sparśa two—Shiva and Shakti. This starts the eman­ consonant ka and the last ma forms the word ation of the manifest universe in the form of kama. The touch producesānanda . The addition consonants, vyañjanas. of the vowel ‘ā ’ forms the word kāma, mean­ ing thereby the desire for touch in the material Alphabets Corresponding to Creation universe. It is this word that lies at the heart of The consonants evolve in a pattern from the the Sri Chakra, or Sri Yantra, which is the dia­ kaṇṭha, guttural, to osthya, labials. These are the gram representing Shiva and Shakti centred as five series of five alphabets, each forming a sep­ the primordial desire, the primal seed of mind. arate group of sparśa vyañjanas. These 25 conso­ The next series of consonants areantahstha , nants also represent the 25 tattvās, realities, of comprising semivowels of the ya-varga series— the Samkhya philosophy. The five letters of the ya, ra, la, va. Here the order of materiality is ka-varga class—ka, kha, ga, gha, ṅa—represent reversed. La is the pṛthivī element, and thence the fivemahā -bhūtas: pṛthivī, earth; āp, water; come the three alphabets and elements: va, āp, tejas, fire;vāyu , wind; and ākāśa, space, respect­ water; ra, agni, fire; andya , vāyu, wind. The al­ ively. The next seriesca -varga—ca, cha, ja, jha, phabets ya, ra, la, va also correspond to rāga, ña—stand for the fivetanmātrā s, subtle elem­ attachment; vidya, knowledge; kalā, division; ents, of gandha, smell; rasa, taste; rūpa, sight; and maya respectively. The last series of frica­ sparśa, touch; and śabda, sound. The next pentad tives, ūṣma, are produced by friction. After the of ṭa-varga—ṭa, ṭha, ḍa, ḍha, ṇa—corresponds three śa, ṣa, sa, the ha is the visarga. Here the to the fivekarmendriya s, instruments of action— emanation of consonants ends. Ha is akin to the speech, hands, legs, and organs of evacuation two vowel visargas of ‘ā ’ and ‘ah ’. These three and generation. Thence comes theta -varga—ta, kinds of visarga produce ānanda. In visarga, the tha, da, dha, na—series corresponding to the five mātrikā, syllable, rests, viśrāma. Ha has space jñanendriyas, organs of knowledge—eyes, ears, as element, and this conjoins with the ya-varga skin, tongue, and nose. In the last pa-varga—pa, ­series to complete the pentad of letters. pha, ba, bha, ma—the series stands for Purusha; The three lettersśa , ṣa, sa also correspond Prakriti; buddhi, intellect; ahamkāra, ego; and to śuddha vidya, pure knowledge, Ishvara, and manas, mind. Even within a series, the letters are Sada­shiva in Abhinavagupta’s scheme. Apart arranged according to condensation. The fifth from the eight series, there is the ninth series that element in the series corresponds to the ākāśa comprises a single compound letter: kṣa. This is element and the first one to thepṛthivī element, formed by the conjunction of two consonants: the second to water, the third to fire, and the ka, the first one, andṣa , the last one. By employ­ fourth to wind. Therefore, all the five series end ing the pratyāhāra technique, kṣa is the mani­ with nasal sounds—ṅa, ña, ṇa, na, ma—and are festation of all the consonants from ka to ṣa, or termed as anunāsikas. the world of manifestation. The seed syllables of

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—No bleed here— Sri Vidya Mantra: Unravelling the Cosmos 31 the mantras are derived from the proper under­ Para, Mara, and Hari, together with Hrllekha standing of the mātrikā. (syllable Hrim) added at the end of each of the Finally, the sages pinned the source of life to three groups of syllables.’ 2 prāṇa. Breath is the carrier of prāṇa. The sound The mantra has threekūṭa s, divisions: (i) ka, of breath was observed to open up a simple path e, ī, la; (ii) ha, sa, ka, ha, la; and (iii) sa, ka, la. to the parā-vāk, supreme sound. The sound of Hṛīṁ is added at the end of each kūṭa. The inhalation and exhalation, as sa and ha respect­ first division is thevāg -bhāva, the second is the ively, unlocked the secret of this phonemic kāma-rāja, and the last one is Shakti. These kūṭas path. Sages eulogized the combination of the correspond to the process of dissolution, main­ two letters along with the nasal ṅa, or ñga, last tenance, and creation. Since the phoneme e, rep­ of the ka-varga, as the haṁsa, the swan of wis­ resents the knowledge principle, the vāg-bhāva dom, and its anadrome soham, I am That, pos­ has predominance of the subtle intellect and tulating the non-duality of jiva and Brahman, stands for Maha Sarasvati, great goddess of wis­ the individual and cosmos. The tantras also em­ dom. The second division has the first lettersa , phasize the conception of prāṇa-śakti circulat­ meaning thereby wealth, and ka, for women and ing through the mechanism of the sa and ha other objects of desire, while ha means to go or sounds. Sa is the sṛṣṭi, creation, bīja, and ha is the attainment of these. According to Bhaskara the saṁhāra, dissolution, bīja. Sa represents the Raya’s Varivasya-rahasya, the second division has state of the manifested universe, where balance the preponderance of valour, wealth, women, and harmony is established. This is also known and fame, and hence the kāma-rāja also signi­ as the amṛta bīja, seed of elixir. In ha the mani­ fies Maha Lakshmi, great goddess of wealth. The fest phonemic universe finally dissolves. This third division does not have any vowel or the let­ is the ultimate visarga. Hence ha is the seed ter ha, Shiva; hence it is known as the śakti-kūṭa of dissolution. If sa is jiva, ha is Shiva, the ul­ and signifies Maha Kali. The seed syllablehṛīṁ , timate destroyer. The inhalation and exhala­ or hṛllekha, is attached in all three kūṭas. Hṛīṁ tion cycle produces the continuous sound of is derived from the root hṛ, which signifies de­ soham-haṁsa, That I am-I am That, or jiva is struction of the entire universe. A subtle nāda, Shiva. The Sri Vidya conceptualized a sequence sound, emanates when ṛ and ī are pronounced of the akṣaras, alphabets, employing these seed along with the bindu and its nava-nāda, nine syllables as the powerful Sri Mantra. sounds. Hṛīṁ is also known as the nava-nāda in the Lalita Sahasranama.3 Fifteen-lettered Mantra Thus, it is seen how the number nine emerges Thepañcadaśī , fifteen-lettered, mantra has been as the predominant number in the cosmogony revealed by Acharya Shankara in the Saundarya­ and other formulations of the Sri Vidya. Three lahari: ‘O Mother! The parts that combine to kūṭas also represent the three fires of time, sun, form thy name (Mantra) are three groups of syl­ and moon respectively. The firstkūṭa begins lables—first, the groupka , e, ī, and la indicated from the mūlādhāra and touches the anāhata, by the words Shiva, Shakti, Kama, and Kshiti; the second kūṭa extends with the brilliance of second, the group ha, sa, ka, ha, and la denoted the sun from the anāhata to the ājña chakra, and by Ravi, Sitakirana, Smara, Hamsa, and Shakra; the third kūṭa touches the lalāta-madhya, mid­ and, third, the group sa, ka, and la, denoted by dle of the forehead, from the ajña chakra. Thus

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a homologous relationship is drawn between the śakti-bīja. Therefore, the thirdkūṭa will imply subtle chakras within the human body and the that all is Brahman. This is themahā -vākyartha, three divisions of the mantra. meaning of the great saying, as per Bhaskara The Varivasya-rahasya explains the mantra’s Raya (verses 143–7). first division in the following way:4 Ka signifies The same text mentions about sixteen differ­ kameśvara, one who desires, and here it is Brah­ ent meanings of Sri Vidya. The meaning of the man; the second letter e, signifies the genital three kūṭas is that Brahman is Shiva and also organ as it is triangular in shape; the third letter Shakti, since the concordance exists between ī is Shiva, who is immanent and all-sustaining. Shiva and Shakti (verse 120). There are three La signifies the Earth, andhṛīṁ is maya. In the pairs of alphabets in the mantra if one counts second division, ha-sa-ka means smiling face, the hṛīṁ syllable as the mere appendix. While ka since ka signifies the face andha -sa is hāsya, and ha are the Shiva principles, la and sa are the laughter. The other half of the second division Shakti principles. The two vowels areShaktis. ­ is ka-ha-la. Ka is also the sun, ha is the moon, Hṛllekha itself is the Para Brahman, as Shiva in and la is the eye. One who has the sun and the form of ha and Shakti in form of ra fuse and vi­ moon as eyes is the ka-ha-la. The second div­ brate unto the nava-nāda of hṛīṁkari-śakti. ision would mean that Brahman is bliss with its Another interpretation of the pañcadaśī man­ cid-rūpa, form of Consciousness (verses 137–9). tra is to connect the five Shakti triangles down­ The third divisionsa -ka-la refers to jiva, as the wards, which constitute the Sri Yantra with the jiva has three states of consciousness—wak­ form of the fivebhūta s, elements. Thesebhūta s ing, dream, and deep sleep—and hṛīṁ is the have a total of fifteen qualities: the earth element

336 PB May 2014 Sri Vidya Mantra: Unravelling the Cosmos 33 has the five qualities of smell, taste, sight, touch, creation in the form of ī topped with spandana, sound; the water element has the other four ex­ vibratory power, of the bindu. Thus in each dis­ cept the quality of smell; the fire element has the solution the seed of creation remains intact and other three except the quality of smell and taste; the cyclic movement goes on. Hṛīṁ is the con­ the wind element has only touch and sound, densed potency of Shakti. Only this can express and the space element has only sound. These fif­ itself in a new creation. teen kalās, divisions, transform into time fac­ With this new interpretation we can decipher tors known as tithi, days, which wax or wane the elegant wisdom of the paṇcadaśī mantra along with the Moon and are in fact digits of of the Sri Vidya. In the firstkūṭa —ka, e, ī, la, the Moon. These fifteen form the fifteen-lettered hṛīṁ—the former three phonemes represent the mantra which is the sound body of Goddess Lal­ primordial powers of will, knowledge, and ac­ ita of the Sri Vidya. But it is the sixteenth digit tion—icchā-śakti from kāmarāja-bīja ka; jñāna- of the moon that is verily the moon. Thisṣodaśī , śakti from bīja e; and kriyā-śakti from bija ī. The sixteenth, syllable is very secret and not shared meaning of the kūṭa will then be as follows: the beyond the kula, lineage. three powers of will, knowledge, and action per­ vade everything from the earth to space and also New Revelations of the Mantra’s Import dissolve maya. In the second kūṭa—ha, sa, ka, ha, While contemplating over the mantra for many la, hṛīṁ—ha-sa is for hāsya, the laughter or joy months I had a sudden flash of revelation. The principle, ānanda. This ānanda pervades from three divisions have a common pattern. Hṛīṁ ka to ha or across the manifest universe and ends is preceded by the pṛthivī tattva, earth element; the illusion of maya. In the third kūṭa—sa, ka, la in phonetic correspondence. Once we separ­ la, hṛīṁ—sa is the jiva and ka is Shiva. The verse ate la and hṛīṁ only nine letters are left, three in will mean thereby that there is absolute non- the firstkūṭa , four in the second, and two in the duality between jiva and Shiva, microcosm and third. This is a nine-fold code hidden beneath the macrocosm, individual and cosmos, immanence ­fifteen-lettered pañcadaśi. We have already seen and transcendence. The realization of this non- how hṛīṁ itself is a nine-fold sound, nava-nāda duality dissolves maya. If one infers the meaning from the combination Though the sixteenth letter is secret and eso­ of la—pṛthivī bīja—and hṛīṁ—māya-bīja—this teric, the single phoneme appended with bindu should give us the following meaning: from the and ī-śakti, will be the fourth or the turīya stage earth la to the ākāśa ha the māya-bīja pervades. of the ṣodaśa, sixteenth, Sri Vidya mantra. But what is this māya-bija? Ha is the ul­ The Nine-fold Pattern in timate visarga of the phonemic emanation. the Human Perspective Ha is the ākāśa principle. When the universe dissolves each grosser element dissolves into There are various other nine-fold characteriza­ its subtler element. All bhūtas finally dissolve tions. The three Shaktis, composed of the three into ākāśa, which is represented by ha, the last gunas and with three fires as her three eyes, is consonant. Ra is the rāhu that swallows ākāśa. of nine aspects, the graha-rūpa, form of the Hṛ is the dissolution of the manifest universe, nine planets (verse 84). Time is divided into which is nothing but a mere illusion, maya. nine parts ranging from ghatika, twenty-four But the same seed also contains the power of minutes, to abda, a year. The body is an island

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of nine gems, as per the Bhavana Upanishad, arts, of proficiency; and so on became popular comprising tvak, touch; roma, hair; and seven in Indian culture. The wordśṛñga also denotes dhātus, constituents.5 A body has nine orifices. two horns as well as a mountain peak. In Bud­ Interestingly, the human foetus grows in the dhist and Vedanta philosophies the concept of womb for nine months. Probably, the human the ‘hare’s horns’ is often given as an example being that grows under the constraints of non- of non-existence. The Sri Vidya is the highest awareness, with the power of consciousness peak of sadhana, which also makes us realize slowly unfolding, explores the nine-fold pat­ the fusion of existence and non-existence, cre­ terns in the external and internal worlds. In­ ation and dissolution, symbolized in the seed dian sages have factorized alphabets into nine syllable hṛīṁ. In Indian mythology Yama, god series, with kṣa as the last letter summing up all of death, is represented with two horns. The Sri the fifty alphabets. Corresponding to these fifty- Vidya, with its hidden seed-sound śṛñg, is the one letters are fifty-one śakti-pīṭhas, locations, antidote against the fear of the horned Yama. in the Indian geo-body spread across the sub­ The mantra is the ultimate code to further de­ continent, which create an idea of a common cipher the cosmic interrelationship. Sri Rama­ cultural space. The Sri Yantra, which generates krishna himself was a great adept in this science forty-three triangles through three levels of fur­ after his initiation by the Bhairavi Brahmani. cation caused by intersection of nine triangles, He went through the entire process very quickly has been held in awe by the sages and mystics astounding his guru. It was his grounding in across the religious spectrum of the subcontin­ this vidya that allowed him to experince the ent. The Sri Vidya mantra and the Sri Yantra bliss of various spiritual paths. After attaining have developed the most elaborate method to the Advaita experience Sri Ramakrishna boldly connect time and space in a nested hierarchy declared: ‘Jiva is Shiva’. This essential message in an abstract diagram and code sequence. The of Sri Ramakrishna was preached by Swami methodical system reveals to a sadhaka how Vivekananda all over the world. P ultimately the whole universe throbs with the three powers of will, knowledge, and action and Note and References craves for more and more , attaining in ānanda 1. The comprehension of several letters or affixes the process the unity of all things. This scheme into one syllable are effected by combining the highlights the interrelation of each element first letter of a sutra with the final indicatory let- with every other element and how division and ter. For instance, a-ṇa is the pratyāhāra of the fusion, creation and dissolution, potency and sutra a, e, u, ṇa. manifestation go together in the cosmos. 2. Saundarya Lahari of Śrī Śankarācārya, 32; trans. Swami Tapasyananda (Madras: Ramakrishna The powerful seed syllable śṛñg in the Math, 1987), 83. ṣodaśākṣarī, sixteen syllables, is derived from 3. ‘Nārāyaṇī nādarūpā nāmarūpa vivarjitā; the word śṛñg. This corresponds to the sixteenth hṛīnkārī hṛīmatī hṛdyā heyopādeyavarjitā ’— digit of the moon also known as the digit of im­ Acharya Shankara, Lalita Sahasranama, 70. mortality. It is this connection of the number 4. See Sri Bhaskara-Raya Makhin, Varivasya-­ Rahasya, with his own commentary ‘Prakasha’, sixteen with the eternal power of renewal that trans. Pandit S Subrahmanya Sastri (Adyar: the culture of the sixteen festivals; the sixteen Adyar Library, 1948), verses 60–1. kinds of śṛñgāra, erotic love; the sixteen kalās, 5. Bhavana Upanishad, 7.

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