The Serpent Power. Arthur Avalon

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      IV. THE GARLAND OF LETTERS (VARNAMĀLĀ)

      Reference is made in the Text and in this Introduction to Shabda, Varna, Mantra. It is said that the letters (Varna) of the alphabet are distributed throughout the bodily centers on the petals of the lotuses, as is shown on Plates II.-VII. In each of the lotuses there is also a seed Mantra (Bīja) of the Tattva of the center. Kundalinī is both light (Jyotirmayī) and Mantra (Mantramayī),{277} and Mantra is used in the process of rousing Her.

      There is perhaps no subject in the Indian Shāstra which is less understood than Mantra and Shabda, of which it is a manifestation. The subject is so important a part of the Tantra-Shāstra that its other title is Mantra-Shāstra. Commonly Orientalists and others describe Mantra as “prayer,” “formulae or worship,” “mystic syllables,” and so forth. These are the superficialities of those who do not know their subject. Whilst I am not aware of any work in any European language which shows a knowledge of Mantra and its science, yet there is perhaps no subject which has been so ridiculed—a not unusual attitude of ignorance. Mantra science may be well founded or not, but even in the latter case it is not the absurdity which some suppose it to be. Those who think so might except Mantras which are prayers, and the meaning of which they understand, for with prayer they are familiar. But such appreciation itself shows a lack of understanding. There is nothing necessarily holy or prayerful about a Mantra. Mantra is a power (Mantrashakti) which lends itself impartially to any use. A man may be injured or killed by Mantra;{278} by Mantra a kind of union with the physical Shakti is by some said to be effected;{279} by Mantra in the initiation called Vedhadīkshā there is such a transference of power from the Guru to the disciple that the latter swoons under the impulse of it;{280} by Mantra the Homa fire may and, according to ideal conditions, should be lighted;{281} by Mantra man is saved, and so forth. Mantra, in short, is a power (Shakti) which is thought-movement vehicled by and expressed in speech. The root “man” means “to think.”

      The creative power of thought is now receiving increasing acceptance in the West. Thought-reading, thought-transference, hypnotic suggestion, magical projections (Mokshana), and shields (Grahana),{282} are becoming known and practiced, not always with good results. The doctrine is ancient in India, and underlies the practices to be found in the Tantras, some of which are kept in general 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 СКАЧАТЬ