Sri Vidya Mantra: Unravelling the Cosmos Niraj Kumar
�� ������� ����� �� only a small part o reality, which again is relative to an observer. Human beings experience only a sliver—�� Hz to ��,��� Hz—o the vast world o sounds. For bats and some other creatures it is
T ���
a different sonic universe. Recent explorations in some branches o theoretical physics have led to the ormulation o the idea o a multiverse. Moreover, many astrophysicists suggest that only about five per cent o our universe comprises o visible PB May 2014
Sri Vidya Mantra: Unravelling the Cosmos
matter. Te rest is composed o dark energy and dark matter, whose properties are elusive. Te human mind is unaware o many things outside and inside the body. However, to an introspective person, the universe appears to be a graded existence rom the gross to the subtle. Sri Vidya is a subtle conception o tracing the relationship between various levels o existence. Tis vidya, science, structurally correlates the microcosm and the macrocosm and establishes a connection between bet ween the human body, body, the cosmic body, and the geographical geog raphical body. The Science of Vibration
Indian philosophers posited the primacy o vāk or śabda, sound, in their conception regarding both inner and outer worlds. Vāk is the creative orce o the universe. As the universe is in constant flux, each movement, big or small, produces sound. Tis vāk evolves in stages in the universe, which is also reflected in the hum human an body bo dy.. Te sages observed internal sounds through deep meditation and discovered the nature and place o their origin. In its principal stage vāk is called parā, absolute, and rests in the mūlādhāra, root receptacle. Te second stage is madhyama, middle, when it is still nebulous and unperceived. Te third is paśyanti, perceived, as thought, and finally to the vaikharī , audible words we utter and listen. Te sadhaka has to ollow the audible sound to its root in thought, rom there one has to plunge into its nebulous stage and then to the parā. One thus travels rom the relative and gross to the subtle and to the causal to reach the nāda, primordial vibration, which is the path path towards the Godhead. Te nāda corresponds to the ākāśa , space, the primordial element among the five mahābhūtas, great elements. Tis is the vibration o ‘emptiness’. Any mātra, phoneme, gets charged with a bindu, point, which the tantras view as the PB May 2014
29
usion o Shiva and Shakti—the spandana, vibratory, principle. Ordinarily, a bindu takes hal the time taken or uttering a phoneme. But the bindu also tapers into the subtler sound o nāda, which is equivalent to �/��th o a phoneme. Te urther subtle division o sound ends at the level le vel o unmanā, mind in extremely low vibration, which corresponds to �/���th o the time taken to utter a mātra. Since sparśa, touch, always produces sound, the sages developed a paradigm or phonemic emanation. Te bīja, seed, as vowels, are equated with Shiva, and the vyañjana s, consonants, as yoni, womb, with Shakti. Te vowels are bījas since no compound word can be ormed without them. Te world evolves rom a phonemic emanation through a grosser condensation o sound, and created through the three powers o icchā, desire, krīya, action, and jnana, knowledge. he great Kashmiri philosopher-mystic Abhinavagupta gives a meticulous description o phonemic emanation in his works Tantrasara Paratrishika-vivarana aratrishika-vivarana . In the infinite ākāśa and P operates the bimba, mirror- principle. principle . Te first letter that emerges due to the inherent power svātantr antrya ya , reedom, rom the prakā prakāśa śa — o svāt Shiva—is the vowel ‘ a a’. Tis is the anuttara, si a’ sees its reflection, it is filled lent one. When ‘ a fille d with ānan ānanda da , joy, and ‘ ā ā ’ emerges. It desires more and then the third vowel ‘ e/i ’ emerges. Tis inheres as the icchā-śakti. Similarly, ‘ u’ emerges with the inherent power o kriy kriyāā śaktii. Now, the first three short vowels—‘ a’, śakt ‘e’, ‘u’—have the Sun principle and their corresponding longer vowels—‘ ā ā’ , ‘ee ’, ‘ū’—have the Soma, lunar, principle, as the latter three rest on the ormer. When anuttara and ānanda vowelss use throug vowel throughh saṁg saṁghātta hātta , riction, ‘ ae ae’, ai ’, ‘ ao ao ’, ‘ au au ’ emanate. Tese also correspond ‘ ai to kriyā-śakti. When kriyā-śakti dissipates, all the vowels enter back into anuttara as a bindu
���
30
Prabuddha Pra buddha Bharata Bharata
añg ’.’. Te anuttara dissiand orm the vowel ‘ añg ah’, pates, visarga, into the bindu, and the vowel ‘ ah ends the cycle. While the anusvara ‘ṁ’ as the bindu represents the unity o Shiva and Shakti, the visarga, represented as two dots ‘:’, signifies the division o the ultimate Consciousness into two—Shiva and Shakti. Tis starts the emanation o the maniest universe in the orm o consonants, vyañjanas. Alphabets Corresponding to Creation
Te consonants evolve in a pattern rom the kaṇṭha, guttural, to osthya, labials. Tese are the five series o five alphabets, each orming a separate group o sparśa vyañjanas. Tese �� consonants also represent the �� tattvās, realities, o the Samkhya philosophy. Te five letters o the ka-varga class— ka, kha, ga, gha, ṅa—represent the five mahā-bhūtas: pṛthivī , earth; āp, water; tejas, fire; vāyu, wind; and ākāśa, space, respectively. Te next series ca-varga—ca , cha, ja, jha, ña—stand or the five tanmātrās, subtle elements, o gandha, smell; rasa, taste; rūpa, sight; sparśa, touch; and śabda, sound. Te next pentad o ṭa-var ṭa-varga—ṭ ga—ṭaa, ṭha, ḍa, ḍha, ṇa—corresponds karmendriya riyas, instruments o action— to the five karmend speech, hands, legs, and organs o evacuation and generation. Tence comes the ta-varga—ta, tha, da, dha, na—series corresponding to the five jñanendriyas, organs o knowledge—eyes, ears, skin, tongue, and nose. In the last pa-varga— pa, pha, ba, bha, ma—the series stands or Purusha; Prakriti; buddhi, intellect; ahamkāra, ego; and manas, mind. Even within a series, the letters are arranged according to condensation. Te fifh element in the series corresponds to the ākāśa element and the first one to the pṛthivī element, element, the second to water, the third to fire, and the ourth to wind. Tereore, all the five series end with nasal nasal sounds—ṅa, ña, ṇa, na, ma—and are termed as anunāsikas.
���
One can find another pattern in how sparśa consonants get subtler and subtler as they emanate both laterally and vertically. Te last sparśa consonant is ma, and here ends the maniest uni pratyāhāra āra verse o touch. touch. By employing Panini’s pratyāh technique�, the combination o the first sparśa consonant ka and the last ma orms the word kama. Te touch produces ānanda. Te addition ā ’ orms the word kāma , meano the vowel ‘ ā ing thereby the desire or touch in the material universe. It is this word that lies at the heart o the Sri Chakra, or Sri Yantra, which is the diagram representing Shiva and Shakti centred as the primordial desire, the primal seed o mind. antahstha ha, Te next series o consonants are antahst comprising semivowels o the ya-varga series— ya, ra, la , va. Here the order o materiality is reversed. La is the pṛthivī element, and thence come the three alphabets and elements: va, āp, water; ra, agni, fire; and ya, vāyu, wind. Te al phabets phab ets ya, ra, la, va also correspond to rāga, attachment; vidya, knowledge; kalā, division; and maya respectively. Te last series o ricatives, ūṣma, are produced by riction. Afer the three śa, ṣa, sa, the ha is the visarga. Here the emanation emanat ion o consonants ends. Ha is akin to the ā ’ and ‘ ah ah ’. Tese three two vowel visargas o ‘ ā kinds o visarga produce ānanda. In visarga, the mātrikā, syllable, rests, viśrāma. Ha has space as element, and this conjoins with the ya-varga series to complete the pentad o letters. Te three letters śa, ṣa, sa also correspond to śuddha vidya, pure knowledge, Ishvara, and Sadashiva Sada shiva in Abhinavagupta’s scheme. Apart rom the eight series, series , there is the ninth series that comprises a single compound letter: kṣa. Tis is ormed by the conjunction o two consonants: ka, the first one, and ṣa, the last one. By employing the pratyāhār pratyāhāraa technique, kṣa is the maniestation o all the consonants rom ka to ṣa, or the world o maniestation. Te seed syllables o PB May 2014
Sri Vidya Mantra: Unravelling the Cosmos
the mantras are derived rom the proper understanding o the mātrikā. Finally,, the sages pinned the source o lie Finally l ie to prāṇa. Breath is the carrier o prāṇa. Te sound o breath was observed to open up a simple path to the parā-vāk, supreme sound. Te sound o inhalation and exhalation, as sa and ha respectively, unlocked the secret o this phonemic path. Sag Sages es eulo eulogiz gized ed the combi combination nation o the two letters along with the nasal ṅa, or ñga, last o the ka-varga , as the haṁsa, the swan o wisdom, and its anadrome soham, I am Tat, postulating the non-duality o jiva and Brahman, the individual and cosmos. Te tantras also em phasize the conception co nception o prāṇa-śakti circulating through the mechanism o the sa and ha sounds. Sa is the sṛṣṭi, creation, bīja, and ha is the saṁhāra, dissolution, bīja. Sa represents the state o the maniested universe, where balance and harmony harmony is established. Tis is also known as the amṛta bīja , seed o elixir. In ha the maniest phonemic universe finally dissolves. Tis is the ultimate visarga. Hence ha is the seed o dissolution. I sa is jiva, ha is Shiva, the ultimate destroyer. Te inhalation and exhalation cycle produces the continuous sound o soham-haṁsa soham-haṁ sa, Tat I am-I am Tat, or jiva is Shiva. Te Sri Vidya V idya conceptualized a sequence o the akṣaras, alphabets, employing these seed syllables as the powerul Sri Mantra. Mantra. Fifteen-lettered Mantra
Te pañcadaśī , fifeen-lettered, mantra has been revealed by Acharya Shankara in the Saundaryalahari: ‘O Mother! Te parts that combine to orm thy name (Mantra) (Mantra) are three groups o syllables—first, the group ka, e, ī , and la indicated by the words Shiva, Shakti, Kama, and Kshiti; second, the group ha, sa, ka, ha, and la denoted by Ravi, Sitakirana, Smara, Hamsa, and Shakra; and, third, the group sa, ka, and la, denoted by PB May 2014
31
Para, Mara, and Hari, together with Hrllekha (syllable Hrim) added at the end o each o the three groups o syllables. syllables.’’� Te mantra has three kūṭas, divisions: (i) ka, e, ī , la; (ii) ha, sa, ka, ha, la; and (iii) sa, ka, la. Hṛīṁ is added at the end o each kūṭa. Te first division is the vāg-bhāva, the second is the kāma-rāja kāma-r āja, and the last one is Shakti. Tese kūṭas correspond to the process o dissolution, maintenance, and creation. Since the phoneme e, represents the knowledge principle, the vāg-bhāva has predominance o the subtle intellect and stands or Maha Sarasvati, great goddess o wisdom. Te second division has the first letter sa, meaning thereby wealth, and ka, or women and other objects o desire, while ha means to go or the attainment o these. According to Bhaskara Raya’s Varivasya-rahasya , the second division has the preponderance o valour, wealth, women, and ame, and hence the kāma-rā kāma-rāja ja also signifies Maha Lakshmi, great goddess o wealth. Te third division does not have any vowel or the letl et kūṭa ter ha, Shiva; hence it is known as the śakti- kūṭa and signifies Maha Kali. Te seed syllable hṛīṁ, or hṛllekha, is attached in all three kūṭas. Hṛīṁ is derived rom the root hṛ , which signifies destruction o the entire universe. A subtle nāda, sound, emanates when ṛ and and ī are pronounced along with the bindu and its nava-nāda , nine sounds. Hṛīṁ is also known as the nava-nāda in Sahasranama.� the Lalita Sahasranama. Tus, it is seen how the number nine emerges as the predominant number in the cosmogony and other ormulations o the Sri Vidya. Tree kūṭas also represent the three fires o time, sun, and moon respectively. Te first kūṭa begins rom the mūlādhāra and touches the anāhat anāhataa, the second kūṭa extends with the brilliance o anāhata ta to the ājña chakra, and the sun rom the anāha the third kūṭa touches the lalāta-madhya, middle o the orehead, rom the ajña chakra. Tus
���
32
Prabuddha Pra buddha Bharata Bharata
a homologous relationship is drawn between the subtle chakras within the human body and the three divisions o the mantra. Te Varivasya-rahasya explains the mantra’s first division in the ollowing way:� Ka signifies kameśvara, one who desires, and here it is Brahman; the second letter e, signifies the genital organ as it is triangular in shape; the third letter ī is is Shiva, who is immanent and all-sustaining. La signifies the Earth, and hṛīṁ is maya. In the second division, ha-sa-ka means smiling ace, since ka signifies the ace and ha-sa is hāsya, laughter. Te other hal o the second division is ka-ha-la . Ka is also the sun, ha is the moon, and la is the eye. One who has the sun and the moon as eyes is the ka-ha-la. Te second division would mean that Brahman is bliss with its cid-rūpa, orm o Consciousness Conscio usness (verses ���–�). Te third division sa-ka-la reers to jiva, as the jiva has three state statess o cons conscio ciousnes usness—wa s—wakking, dream, and deep sleep—and hṛīṁ is the
���
śakti-bīja. Tereore, the third kūṭa will imply that all is Brahman. Tis is the mahā-vākyartha,
meaning o the great saying, as per Bhaskara Raya (verses ���–�). Te same text mentions about sixteen different meanings o Sri Vidya. Te meaning o the three kūṭas is that Brahman is Shiva and also Shakti, since the concordance exists between Shiva and Shakti (verse ���). Tere are three pairs o alphabets in the mantra i one counts the hṛīṁ syllable as the mere appendix. appendix. While ka and ha are the Shiva principles, la and sa are the Shakti principles. Te two vowels are Shaktis. Hṛllekha Hṛllek ha itsel is the Para Brahman, as Shiva in orm o ha and Shakti in orm o ra use and vibrate unto the nava-nāda o hṛīṁkari-śakti . Another interpretation o the pañcadaśī man mantra is to connect the five Shakti triangles down wards, which constitute the Sri Yantra Yantra with the orm o the five bhūtas, elements. Tese bhūtas have a total o fifeen qualities: the earth element
PB May 2014
Sri Vidya Mantra: Unravelling the Cosmos
has the five qualities o smell, taste, sight, touch, sound; the water element has the other our except the quality o smell; the fire element has the other three except the the quality o smell and taste; the wind element has only touch and sound, and the space element has only sound. Tese fiteen kalās, divisions, transorm into time actors known as tithi, days, which wax or wane along with the Moon and are in act digits o the Moon. Tese fifeen orm the fifeen-lettered mantra mant ra which is the sound body o Goddess Go ddess Lalita o the Sri Vidya. But it is the sixteenth digit o the moon that is verily the moon. Tis ṣodaśī , sixteenth, syllable is very secret and not shared beyond the kula, lineage. New Revelations of the Mantra’ Mantra’ss Import Impor t
While contemplating contemplating over the mantra mantra or many many months I had a sudden flash o revelation. Te three divisions have a common pattern. Hṛīṁ tattva, earth element; is preceded by the pṛthivī tattva la in phonetic correspondence. Once we separate la and hṛīṁ only nine letters are lef, three in the first kūṭa, our in the second, and two t wo in the third. Tis is a nine-old code hidden beneath the fifeen-lettered pañcadaśi. We have already seen how hṛīṁ itsel is a nine-old sound, nava-nāda I one iners the meaning rom the combination pṛthivī vī bīja—and hṛīṁ—māya-bīja—this o la— pṛthi should give us the ollowing meaning: rom the earth la to the ākāśa ha the māya-bīja pervades. But what is this māya-bija? Ha is the ultimate visarga o the phonemic emanation. Ha is the ākāśa principle. When the universe dissolves each grosser element dissolves into its subtler element. All bhūtas finally dissolve into ākāśa , which is represented by ha, the last consonant. Ra is the rāhu that swallows ākāśa . Hṛ is is the dissolution o the maniest universe, which whi ch is noth nothing ing but a mer meree ill illusio usion, n, maya . But the same seed also contains the power o PB May 2014
33
creation in the orm o ī topped topped with spandana , vibratoryy power, o the bindu. Tus in each dis vibrator solution the seed o creation remains intact and the cyclic movement goes on. Hṛīṁ is the condensed potency o Shakti. Only this can express itsel in a new creation. With this new interp interpretat retation ion we can can decipher paṇcadaśī aśī mantra the elegant wisdom o the paṇcad mantra o the Sri Vidya. In the first kūṭa— ka, e, ī , la, hṛīṁ—the ormer three phonemes represent the primordial powers o will, knowledg knowledge, e, and ac kāmarāja-bīja ja ka ka; jñānation—icchā-śakti rom kāmarāja-bī śakti rom bīja e; and kriyā-śa kriyā-śakti kti rom bija ī . Te meaning o the kūṭa will then be as ollows: the three powers o will, knowledge, knowledg e, and action per vade everything rom the earth to space and also dissolve maya. In the second kūṭa—ha, sa, ka, ha, la, hṛīṁ—ha-sa is or hāsya, the laughter or joy principle, ānanda. Tis ānanda pervades rom ka to ha or across the maniest universe and ends the illusion o maya. In the third kūṭa— sa, ka, la, hṛīṁ— sa is the jiva and ka is Shiva. Te verse will mean thereby that there is absolute nonduality between jiva and Shiva, microcosm and macrocosm, individual and cosmos, imma immanence nence and transcendence. Te realization o this nonduality dissolves maya. Tough the sixteenth letter is secret and esoteric, the single phoneme appended with bindu śakti, will be the ourth or the turīya stage and ī - śakti o the ṣodaśa, sixteenth, Sri Vidya mantr mantra. a. The Nine-fold Pattern in the Human Perspective
Tere are various other nine-old characterizations. Te three Shaktis, composed o the three gunas and with three fires as her three eyes, is o nine aspects, the graha graha-rūpa rūpa , orm o the nine planets (verse ��). ime is divided into nine parts ranging rom ghatika, twenty-our minutes, to abda, a year. Te body is an island
���
34
Prabuddha Pra buddha Bharata Bharata
o nine gems, as per the Bhavana Upanishad , comprising tvak, touch; roma, hair; and seven dhātus, constituents.� A body has nine orifices. Interestingly, the human oetus grows in the womb or nine months. Probabl Probably, y, the human being that grows under the constraints o nonawareness, with awareness, with the pow power er o cons conscio ciousne usness ss slowly unolding, explores the nine-old patterns in the external and internal worlds. Indian sages have actorized alphabets into nine series, with kṣa as the last letter summing up all the fify alphabets. Corresponding to these fifyone letters are fify-one śakti- pīṭha lo cations, pīṭhas, locations, in the Indian geo-body spread across the subcontinent, which create an idea o a common cultural space. Te Sri Yantra, which generates orty-three triangles through three levels o urcation caused by intersection o nine triangles, has been held in awe by the sages and mystics across the religious spectrum o the subcontinent. Te Sri Vidya mantra and the Sri Yantra have developed the most elaborate method to connect time and space in a nested hierarchy in an abstract diagram and code sequence. Te methodical system reveals to a sadhaka how ultimately the whole universe throbs with the three powers o will, knowledge, and action and craves or more and more ānanda , attaining in the process the unity o all things. Tis scheme highlights the interrelation o each element with every other element el ement and how division and usion, creation and dissolution, potency and maniestation go together in the cosmos. he powerul seed syllable śṛ śṛñg ñg in the ṣodaśākṣ ṣod aśākṣarī arī , sixteen syllables, is derived rom the word śṛñg . Tis corresponds to the sixteenth digit o the moon also known as the digit o immortality. It is this connection o the number sixteen with the eternal power o renewal that the culture o the sixteen estivals; the sixteen kinds o śṛñgāra, erotic love; the sixteen kalās,
���
arts, o proficiency; and so on became popular in Indian culture. Te word śṛñga also denotes two horns as well as a mountain peak. In Buddhist and Vedanta philosophies the concept o the ‘hare’s horns’ is ofen given as an example o non-existence. Te Sri Vidya is the highest peakk o sadhana pea sadhana,, which also makes us real realize ize the usion o existence and non-existence, creation and dissolution, symbolized in the seed syllable hṛīṁ. In Indian mythology Yama, god o death, is represented with two horns. Te Sri Vidya, with its hidden seed-sound śṛñg , is the antidote against the ear o the horned Yama. Te mantra is the ultimate code to urther decipher the cosmic interrelationship. Sri Ramakrishnaa himsel was a great adept in this science krishn afer his initiation by the Bhairavi Brahmani. He went through the entire process very quickly astounding his guru. It was his grounding in this vidya that allowed him to experince the bliss o various spiritual paths. Afer attaining the Advaita experience Sri Ramakrishna boldly declared: ‘Jiva is Shiva’. Tis essential message o Sri Ramakrishna was preached by Swami P Vivekananda all over the world. Note and References �. Te comprehension of several letters or affixes into one syllable are effected by combining the first letter of a sutra with the final indicatory ind icatory let pratyāhāra āhāra of the ter. For instance, a-ṇa is the praty sutra a, e, u, ṇa. �. Saundarya Lahari of Śrī Śankarācārya, ��; trans. Swami Tapasyananda Tapasyananda (Madras: Ramakrishna Math, ����), ��. �. ‘ Nārāya Nā rāyaṇī ṇī nā nāda darū rūpā pā nā nāma marū rūpa pa vi vivar var ji jitā tā ; hṛīnkārī hṛīmatī hṛdyā heyopādeyavarjitā ’— Acharya Shankara, S hankara, Lalita Sahasranama , ��. �. See Sri Bhaskara-Raya Makhin, Varivasya Rahasya, with his own commentary ‘Prakasha’ , trans. Pandit S Subrahmanya Sastri (Adyar: Adyar Library, Librar y, ����), verses ��–�. �. Bhavana Upanishad, �. �. PB May 2014
