The Serpent Power - Arthur Avalon

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concealed to prevent misuse.{283} What, however, is not understood in the West is the particular form of thought-science which is Mantravidyā. Those familiar with the Western presentment of similar subjects will more readily understand{284} when I say that, according to the Indian doctrine here described, thought (like mind, of which it is the operation) is a power or Shakti. It is, therefore, not only as real, but in a sense more real than outer material objects, which are themselves but the projections of the creative thought of the World-thinker. The thought-movement vehicled by and expressed in speech is Mantra.{285} Mantra is the manifested Shabdabrahman.

      But what is Shabda or “sound”? Here the Shākta-Tantra Shāstra follows the Mīmāngsā doctrine of Shabda, with such modifications as are necessary to adapt it to its doctrine of Shakti. Sound (Shabda), which is a quality (Guna) of ether (Ākāsha), and is sensed by hearing, is twofold—namely, lettered (Varnātmaka shabda) and unlettered, or Dhvani (Dhvanyātmaka shabda).{286} The latter is caused by the striking of two things together, and is meaningless. Shabda, on the contrary, which is Anāhata (a term applied to the Heart Lotus), is that Brahman sound which is not caused by the striking of two things together. Lettered sound is composed of sentences (Vākya), words (Pada), and letters (Varna). Such sound has a meaning.{287} Shabda manifesting as speech is said to be eternal.{288} This the Naiyāyikas deny, saying that it is transitory. A word is uttered, and it is gone. This opinion the Mīmāngsā denies, saying that the perception of lettered sound must be distinguished from lettered sound itself.{289} Perception is due to Dhvani caused by the striking of the air in contact with the vocal organs—namely, the throat, palate, and tongue. Before there is Dhvani there must be the striking of one thing against another. It is not the mere striking which is the lettered Shabda. This manifests it. The lettered sound is produced by the formation of the vocal organs in contact with air, which formation is in response to the mental movement or idea, which by the will thus seeks outward expression in audible sound.{290} It is this perception which is transitory, for the Dhavni which manifests ideas in language is such. But lettered sound, as it is in itself—that is, as the Consciousness manifesting as idea expressed in speech—is eternal. It was not produced at the moment it was perceived. It was only manifested by the Dhvani. It existed before, as it exists after, such manifestation, just as a jar in a dark room which is revealed by a flash of lightning is not then produced, nor does it cease to exist on its ceasing to be perceived through the disappearance of its manifester, the lightning. The air in contact with the voice organs reveals sound in the form of the letters of the alphabet, and their combinations in words and sentences. The letters are produced for hearing by the effort of the person desiring to speak, and become audible to the ear of others through the operation of unlettered sound or Dhvani. The latter being a manifester only, lettered Shabda is something other than its manifester.

      Before describing the nature of Shabda in its different forms of development it is necessary to understand the Indian psychology of perception. At each moment the Jīva is subject to innumerable influences which from all quarters of the universe pour upon him. Only those reach his Consciousness which attract his attention, and are thus selected by his Manas. The latter attends to one or other of these sense impressions, and conveys it to the Buddhi. When an object (Artha) is presented to the mind and perceived, the latter is formed into the shape of the object perceived. This is called a mental Vritti (modification), which it is the object of Yoga to suppress. The mind as a Vritti is thus a representation of the outer object. But in so far as it is such representation the mind is as much an object as the outer one. The latter—that is, the physical object—is called the gross object (Sthūla artha), and the former or mental impression is called the subtle object (Sūkshma artha). But besides the object there is the mind which perceives it. It follows that the mind has two aspects, in one of which it is the perceiver and in the other the perceived in the form of the mental formation (Vritti) which in creation precedes its outer projection, and after the creation follows as the impression produced in the mind by the sensing of a gross physical object. The mental impression and the physical object exactly correspond, for the physical object is, in fact, but a projection of the cosmic imagination, though it has the same reality as the mind has; no more and no less. The mind is thus both cognizer (Grāhaka) and cognized (Grāhya), revealer (Prakāshaka) and revealed (Prakāshya), denoter (Vāchaka) and denoted (Vāchya). When the mind perceives an object it is transformed into the shape of that object. So the mind which thinks of the Divinity which it worships (Īshtadevatā) is at length, through continued devotion, transformed into the likeness of that Devatā. By allowing the Devatā thus to occupy the mind for long it becomes as pure as the Devatā. This is a fundamental principle of Tantrik Sādhanā or religious practice. The object perceived is called Artha, a term which comes from the root “Ri,” which means to get to know, to enjoy. Artha is that which is known, and which therefore is an object of enjoyment. The mind as Artha—that is, in the form of the mental impression—is an exact reflection of the outer object or gross Artha. As the outer object is Artha, so is the interior subtle mental form which corresponds to it. That aspect of the mind which cognizes is called Shabda or Nāma (name), and that aspect in which it is its own object or cognized is called Artha or Rūpa (form). The outer physical object of which the latter is, in the individual, an impression is also Artha or Rūpa, and spoken speech is the outer Shabda. Subject and object are thus from the Mantra aspect Shabda and Artha—terms corresponding to the Vedantic Nāma and Rūpa, or concepts and concepts objectified. As the Vedānta says, the whole creation is Nāma and Rūpa. Mind is the power (Shakti), the function of which is to distinguish and identify (Bhedasangsargavritti Shakti).

      Just as the body is causal, subtle, and gross, so is Shabda, of which there are four states (Bhāva), called Parā, Pashyantī, Madhyamā, and Vaikharī—terms further explained in Section V. of this Introduction. Parā sound is that which exists on the differentiation of the Mahābindu before actual manifestation. This is motionless causal Shabda in Kundalinī in the Mūlādhāra center of the body. That aspect of it in which it commences to move with a general—that is, non-particularized—motion (Sāmānya spanda) is Pashyantī, whose place is from the Mūlādhāra to the Manipūra Chakra, the next center. It is here associated with Manas. These represent the motionless and first moving Īshvara aspect of Shabda. Madhyamā sound is associated with Buddhi. It is Hiranyagarbha Shabda (Hiranyagarbharūpa) extending from Pashyantī to the heart. Both Madhyamā sound, which is the inner “naming” by the cognitive aspect of mental movement, as also its Artha or subtle (Sūkshma) object (Artha), belong to the mental or subtle body (Sūkshma or Linga sharīra). Perception is dependent on distinguishing and identification. In the perception of an object that part of the mind which identifies and distinguishes, or the cognizing part, is subtle Shabda, and that part of it which takes the shape of the object (a shape which corresponds with the outer thing) is subtle Artha. The perception of an object is thus consequent on the simultaneous functioning of the mind in its twofold aspect as Shabda and Artha, which are in indissoluble relation with one another as cognizer (Grāhaka) and cognized (Grāhya). Both belong to the subtle body. In creation Madhyamā Shabda first appeared. At that moment there was no outer Artha. Then the cosmic mind projected this inner Madhyamā Artha into the world of sensual experience, and named it in spoken speech (Vaikharī Shabda). The last or Vaikharī Shabda is uttered speech developed in the throat issuing from the mouth. This is Virāt Shabda. Vaikharī Shabda is therefore language or gross lettered sound. Its corresponding Artha is the physical or gross object which language denotes. This belongs to the gross body (Sthūla sharīra). Madhyamā Shabda is mental movement or ideation in its cognitive aspect, and Madhyamā Artha is the mental impression of the gross object. The inner thought-movement in its aspect as Shabdārtha, and considered both in its knowing aspect (Shabda) and as the subtle known object (Artha), belong to the subtle body (Sūkshma sharīra). The cause of these two is the first general movement towards particular ideation (Pashyantī) from the motionless cause, Parashabda, or Supreme Speech. Two forms of inner or hidden speech, causal and subtle, accompanying mind movement thus precede and lead up to spoken language. The inner forms of ideating movement constitute the subtle, and the uttered sound the gross, aspect of Mantra, which is the manifested Shabdabrahman.

      The gross Shabda, called Vaikharī or uttered speech, and the gross Artha, or the physical object denoted by that speech, are the projection of the subtle Shabda and Artha through the initial activity of the Shabdabrahman

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