Shabda
Śabda (IAST)
Translation: "sound"
A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: शब्द
Transliteration: Śabda
Translation: "verbal testimony; verbal knowledge; sound; word; scriptural authority (from the verb root śabd – “sound”)"
Translation: "sound"
A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: शब्द
Transliteration: Śabda
Translation: "verbal testimony; verbal knowledge; sound; word; scriptural authority (from the verb root śabd – “sound”)"
Definition:
- It is one of the valid means of knowledge. (See Pramāṇa.)
- It is one of the five subtle essences of the elements. (See Tanmātra.)
- According to Nyāya, it is the testimony of a trustworthy person – one who knows the truth and communicates it correctly.
- According to Advaita Vedānta, the truth revealed by Śabda is the fundamental unity of Being.
- According to Mīmāṃsā, its purport lies in the injunctive texts of the ritual sections of the Vedas.
- According to Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika, sound is a quality perceived by the ear. It belongs only to ether and is of two kinds: noise and alphabet; viz., inarticulate noise (Dhvani) and articulate alphabetic sounds (Varṇa). Mīmāṃsā holds that Varṇa is eternal while Nyāya maintains that every Varṇa is produced by God.
- Generally, four stages of sound are distinguished: supreme sound (Parā); visible sound which can be heard as Om (Paśyantī); middle sound which refers to a variety of basic sounds (Mātṛkā) that are very subtle (Madhyama); and manifest sound (Vaikharī) which is the grossest level of sound and is what is heard in ordinary speech.
Parā – परा
"The highest manifestation of sound energy; the primal voice; the divine voice; the supreme sound. The first manifestation of voice. In Parā, the sound remains in an undifferentiated form. The Parā voice becomes the root-ideas or germ thoughts. It finds manifestation only in Prāṇa. The Lord manifests Himself first, through his Māyāic power, as Parā Vani in the Mūladhara Cakra." [Swami Sivananda]
Paśyantī – पश्यन्ती
"(Visible Sound) visible sound which can be heard as Om; the first pre-articulated aspect of sound; sound in a subtle form as it starts to manifest before reaching the mind; visible sound." [John Grimes]
"Yogis who have subtle inner vision can experience the Paśyantī state of a word which has color and form, which is common for all languages and which has the vibrating homogeneity of sound. All creatures experience the same Bhāvanā of the thing in the Paśyantī state of voice or sound. Gesture is a sort of mute subtle language. It is one and the same for all persons. Any individual of any country will make the same gesture by holding his hand to his mouth in a particular manner when he is thirsty. As one and the same power of Śakti working through the ears becomes hearing, the same Paśyantī assumes different forms of sound when materialized. It finds manifestation in the mind. The seat of Paśyantī is the navel or Maṇipūra Cakra." [Swami Sivananda]
Madhyama – मध्यम
"(Middle Sound) middle standpoint; middling; a Nāḍī; intermediary voice. Sound in its subtle form as it exists in the mind/psyche before its gross manifestation." [John Grimes]
"The intermediate, unexpressed state of sound. It finds manifestation in the Indriya. The seat of Madhyama is the heart or Anāhata Cakra." [Swami Sivananda]
Vaikharī – वैखरी
"(Manifest Sound) speech; articulated speech; repetition of God’s name aloud. Power (Śakti) as gross speech or word." [John Grimes]
"The last and grossest expression of divine sound-energy. Manifest sound (Vaikharī) which is the grossest level of sound and is what is heard in ordinary speech. The seat of Vaikharī is the throat or Viśuddhi Cakra." [Swami Sivananda]
The Serpent Power (Arthur Avalon)
"But what is Śabda or “sound”? Here the Śakta-Tantra Śāstra follows the Mīmāṃsā doctrine of Śabda, with such modifications as are necessary to adapt it to its doctrine of Śakti. Sound (Śabda), which is a quality (Guṇa) of ether (Ākāśa), and is sensed by hearing, is two-fold – namely, lettered (Varnātmaka Śabda) and unlettered, or Dhvani (Dhvanyātmaka Śabda). The latter is caused by the striking of two things together, and is meaningless. Śabda, 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. Śabda manifesting as speech is said to be eternal. This the Naiyāyikas deny, saying that it is transitory. A word is uttered, and it is gone. This opinion the Mīmāṃsā denies, saying that the perception of lettered sound must be distinguished from lettered sound itself. 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 Śabda. 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 (This is only one form in which letters find sensible expression. Thus, writing gives visual expression, and to the blind, perforated dots give tactile expression). It is this perception which is transitory, for the Dhvani which manifests ideas in language is such. But lettered sound, as it is in itself – 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 becomes audible to the ear of others through the operation of unlettered sound or Dhvani. The latter being the manifester only, the lettered Śabda is something other than its manifester.
Before describing the nature of Śabda 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 Vṛtti (modification), which is the object of Yoga to suppress. The mind as a Vṛtti is thus a representation of the outer object. But in so far as it is such representation, it 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 (Sūkṣma 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 (Vṛtti) 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 (Prakā-Śaka) and revealed (Prakāśa), denoter (Vācakaḥ) 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 (Iṣṭa-Devatā) 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 Tantric Sādhana 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 a 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 Śabda 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 Śabda. Subject and object are thus from the Mantra aspect Śabda 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 (Śakti), the function of which is to distinguish and identify (Bheda-Saṃsarga-Vṛtti Śakti).
Four States of Sound (Śabda)
Just as the body is causal, subtle, and gross, so is Śabda of which there are four states (Bhāva), called Parā, Paśyantī, Madhyama, and Vaikharī – terms further explained in Section V of this introduction. Parā sound is that which exists on the differentiation of the Mahā Bindu before actual manifestation. This is motionless causal Śabda in Kuṇḍalinī in the Mulādhāra 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 Paśyantī, whose place is from the Mulādhāra to the Maṇipūra Cakra, the next center. It is here associated with Manas. These represent the motionless and first moving Īśvara aspect of Śabda. Madhyama sound is associated with Buddhi. It is Hiraṇyagarbha Śabda (Hiraṇyagarbha Rūpa) extending from Paśyantī to the heart. Both Madhyama sound, which is the inner “naming” by the cognitive aspect of mental movement, as also its Artha or subtle (Sūkṣma) object (Artha), belong to the mental or subtle body (Sūkṣma Śarīra or Liṅga Śarīra). 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 the subtle Śabda, 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 Śabda and Artha, which are in indissoluble relation with one another as cognizer (Grāhaka) and Cognized (Grāhya). Both belong to the subtle body. In creation, Madhyama Śabda first appeared. At that moment, there was no outer Artha. Then the cosmic mind projected this inner Madhyama Artha into the world of sensual experience, and named it in spoken speech (Vaikharī Śabda). The last or Vaikharī Śabda is uttered speech developed in the throat issuing from the mouth. This is Virāt Śabda. Vaikharī Śabda 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 Śarīra). Madhyama Śabda is mental movement or ideation in its cognitive aspect, and Madhyama Artha is the mental impression of the gross object. The inner thought-movement in its aspect as Śabda Artha, and considered both in its knowing aspect (Śabda) and as the subtle known object (Artha), belong to the subtle body (Sūkṣma Śarīra). The cause of these two is the first general movement towards particular ideation (Paśyantī) from the motionless cause, Parā Śabda, 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 Śabda Brahman.
The gross Śabda, called Vaikharī or uttered speech, and the gross Artha, or the physical object denoted by that speech, are the projection of the subtle Śabda and Artha through the initial activity of the Śabda Brahman into the world of gross sensual perception. Therefore, in the gross physical world, Śabda means language – that is, sentences, words, and letters, which are the expression of ideas and are Mantra. In the subtle or mental world, Madhyama Śabda is the mind which “names” in its aspect as cognizer, and Artha is the same mind in its aspect as the mental object of its cognition. It is defined to be the outer in the form of the mind. It is thus similar to the states of dreams (Svapna): as Parā Śabda is the causal dreamless (Suṣupti) and Vaikharī the waking (Jagrat) state. Mental Artha is a Saṃskāra, an impression left on the subtle body by previous experience, which is recalled when the Jīva re-awakes to the world experience and recollects the experience temporarily lost in the cosmic dreamless state (Suṣupti) which is dissolution (Mahāpralaya). What is it which arouses this Saṃskāra? As an effect (Kārya) it must have a cause (Karaṇa). This Karaṇa is the Śabda or name (Nāma), subtle or gross, corresponding to that particular Artha. When the word “Ghata” is uttered, this evokes in the mind the image of an object – a jar – just as the presentation of that object does. In the Hiraṇyagarbha state, Śabda as Saṃskāra worked to evoke mental images. The whole world is thus Śabda and Artha – that is, name and form (Nāma Rūpa). Those two are inseparably associated. There is no Śabda without Artha or Artha without Śabda. The Greek word Logos also means thought and word combined. There is thus a double line of creation, Śabda and Artha, ideas and language together with their objects. Speech, as that which is heard, or the outer manifestation of Śabda, stands for the Śabda creation. The Artha creation are the inner and outer objects seen by the mental or physical vision. From the cosmic creative standpoint, the mind comes first, and from it is evolved the physical world according to the ripened Saṃskāra, which led to the existence of the particular existing universe. Therefore, the mental Artha precedes the physical Artha, which is an evolution in gross matter of the former. This mental state corresponds to that of dreams (Svapna) when man lives in the mental world only. After creation, which is the waking (Jagrat) state, there is for the individual an already existing parallelism of names and objects.
Uttered speech is a manifestation of the inner naming or thought. This thought-movement is similar in men of all races. When an Englishman or an Indian thinks of an object, the image is to both the same, whether evoked by the object itself or by the utterance of its name. Perhaps for this reason a thought-reader whose cerebral center is en rapport with that of another may read the hidden “speech” – that is, the thought of one whose spoken speech he cannot understand. Thus, whilst the thought-movement is similar in all men, the expression of it as Vaikharī Śabda differs. According to tradition, there was once a universal language. According to the Biblical account, this was so before the confusion of tongues at the tower of Babel. Nor is this unlikely when we consider that difference in gross speech is due to difference of races evolved in the course of time. If the instruments by, and conditions under, which thought is revealed in speech were the same for all men, then there would be but one language. But now this is not so. Racial characteristics and physical conditions, such as the nature of the vocal organs, climate, inherited impressions, and so forth, differ. Therefore, so also does language. But for each particular man speaking any particular language, the uttered name of any object is the gross expression of his inner thought-movement. It evokes that movement and again expresses it. It evokes the idea and the idea is Consciousness as mental operation. That operation can be so intensified as to be itself creative. This is Mantra-Caitanya.
From the above account, it will be understood that, when it is said that the “letters” are in the six bodily Cakra, it is not to be supposed that it is intended to absurdly affirm that the letters as written shapes, or as the uttered sounds which are heard by the ear, are there. The letters in this sense – that is, as gross things – are manifested only in speech and writing. This much is clear. But the precise significance of this statement is a matter of great difficulty. There is, in fact, no subject which presents more difficulties than Mantra-Vidyā, whether considered generally or in relation to the particular matter in hand. In the first place, one must be constantly on guard against falling into a possible trap – namely, the taking of prescribed methods of realization for actualities in the common sense of that term. The former are conventional, the latter are real. Doubts on this matter are increased by some variations in the descriptive accounts. Thus, in some, Gaṇeśa is the Devatā of the Mulādhāra. In the Text here translated, it is Brahmā...
There are, however, another class of details which have possibly only symbolical reality, and which are placed before the Sādhaka for the purposes of instruction and meditation only. The letters as we know them – that is, as outer speech – are manifested only after passing through the throat. They cannot therefore exist as such in the Cakra. But they are said to be there. They are there, not in their gross, but in their subtle and causal forms. It is these subtle forms which are called Mātrikā. But as such forms they are Śabda of and as ideating movements, or are the cause thereof. Consciousness, which is itself (Svarūpa) soundless (Ni Śabda), in its supreme form (Parā Śabda) assumes a general undifferentiated movement (Sāmānya-Spanda), then a differentiated movement (Viśeṣa-Spanda), issuing in clearly articulate speech (Spashta-Tara-Spanda). The inner movement has outer correspondence with that issuing from the lips by the aid of Dhvani. This is but the Mantra way of saying that Consciousness moves as Śakti, and appears as subject (Śabda) and object (Artha) at first in the subtle form of Mind and its contents generated by the Saṃskāra, and then in the gross form of language as the expression of ideas and of physical objects (Artha), which the creative or Cosmic Mind projects into the world of sensual experience to be the source of impressions to the individual experiencer therein. It is true that in this sense the letters, as hidden speech or the seed of outer speech, are in the Cakra, but the allocation of particular letters to particular Cakra is a matter which, if it has a real and not merely symbolical significance, must receive the explanation given in my “Śakti and Śākta”.
In each of the Cakra there is also a Bīja (seed) Mantra of each of the Tattva therein. They are the seed of the Tattva, for the latter springs from and re-enters the former. The Natural Name of anything is the sound which is produced by the action of the moving forces which constitute it. He, therefore it is said, who mentally and vocally utters with creative force the natural name of anything, brings into being the thing which bears that name. Thus “Ram” is the Bīja of fire in the Maṇipūra Cakra, This Mantra “Ram” is said to be the expression in gross sound (Vaikharī Śabda) of the subtle sound produced by the forces constituting fire. The same explanation is given as regards “Lam” in the Mulādhāra, and the other Bīja in the other Cakra. The mere utterance, however, of “Ram” or any other Mantra is nothing but a movement of the lips. When, however, the Mantra is “awakened” (Prabudha) – that is, when there is Mantra-Caitanya (Mantra-consciousness) – then the Sādhaka can make the Mantra work. Thus in the case cited the Vaikharī Śabda, through its vehicle Dhvani, is the body of a power of Consciousness which enables the Mantrin to become the Lord of Fire. However this may be, in all cases, it is the creative thought which ensouls the uttered sound which works now in man’s small “magic,” just as it first worked in the “grand magical display” of the World creator. His thought was the aggregate, with creative power, of all thought. Each man is Śiva, and can attain His power to the degree of his ability to consciously realize himself as such. For various purposes the Devatās are invoked. Mantra and Devatā are one and the same. A Mantra-Devatā is Śabda and Artha, the former being the name, and the latter the Devatā whose name it is. By practice (Japa) with the Mantra, the presence of the Devatā is invoked. Japa or repetition of Mantra is compared to the action of a man shaking a sleeper to wake him up. The two lips are Śiva and Śakti. Their movement is the coition (Maithuna) of the two. Śabda which issues therefrom is in the nature of Seed or Bindu. The Devatā thus produced is, as it were, the “son” of the Sādhaka. It is not the Supreme Devatā (for it is actionless) who appears, but in all cases an emanation produced by the Sādhaka for his benefit only. In the case of worshippers of Śiva, a Boy-Śiva (Bala Śiva) appears, who is then made strong by the nurture which the Sādhaka gives to his creation. The occultist will understand all such symbolism to mean that the Devatā is a form of the consciousness of the Sādhaka which the latter arouses and strengthens, and gains good thereby. It is his consciousness which becomes the boy Śiva, and when strengthened the full-grown Divine power itself. All Mantras are in the body as forms of consciousness (Vijñāna-Rūpa). When the Mantra is fully practiced it enlivens the Saṃskāra, and the Artha appears to the mind. Mantras are thus a form of the Saṃskāra of Jīva, the Artha of which becomes manifest to the consciousness which is fit to perceive it. The essence of all this is – concentrate and vitalise thought and will power. But for such a purpose a method is necessary – namely, language and determined varieties of practice ‘according to the end sought. These, Mantra-Vidyā (which explains what Mantra is) also enjoins.
The causal state of Śabda is called Śabda Brahman – that is, the Brahman as the cause of Śabda and Artha. The unmanifest (Avyakta) power or Śabda, which is the cause of manifested Śabda and Artha, uprises on the differentiation of the Supreme Bindu from Prakṛti in the form of Bindu through the prevalence of Kriya Śakti. Avyakta Rava or Śabda (unmanifested sound) is the principle of sound as such (Nāda-Mātra) that is, undifferentiated sound not specialized in the form of letters, but which is, through creative activity, the cause of manifested Śabda and Artha. It is the Brahman considered as all-pervading Śabda, undivided, unmanifested, whose substance is Nāda and Bindu, the proximate creative impulse in Parāśiva and proximate cause of manifested Śabda and Artha. It is the eternal partless Sphoṭa which is not distinguished into Śabda and Artha, but is the Power by which both exist and are known. [[Sphoṭa, which is derived from Sphut, to open (as a bud does), is that by which the particular meaning of words is revealed. The letters singly, and therefore also in combination, are non-significant. A word is not the thing, but that through which, when uttered, there is cognition of the thing thereby denoted. That which denotes the thing denoted is a disclosure (Sphoṭa) other than these letters. This Sphoṭa is eternal Śabda.]] Śabda Brahman is thus the kinetic ideating aspect of the undifferentiated Supreme Consciousness of philosophy, and the Saguṇa Brahman of religion. It is Cit-Śakti vehicle by undifferentiated Prakṛti-Śakti – that is, the creative aspect of the one Brahman who is both transcendent and formless (Nirguṇa), and immanent and with form (Saguṇa). As the Haṭha Yoga Pradipika says: “Whatever is heard in the form of sound is Śakti. The absorbed state (Laya) of the Tattva (evolutes of Prakṛti) is that in which no form exists. So long as there is the notion of Ether, so long is sound heard. The soundless is called Parabrahman or Paramātman.” Śabda Brahman thus projects itself for the purpose of creation into two sets of movement – namely, firstly, the Śabda (with mental vibrations of cognition) which, passing through the vocal organs, become articulate sound; and, secondly, Artha movements denoted by Śabda in the form of all things constituting the content of mind and the objective world. These two are emanations from the same Conscious Activity (Śakti) which is the Word (Vāk or “Logos”), and are in consequence essentially the same. Hence, the connection between the two is permanent. It is in the above sense that the universe is said to be composed of the letters. It is the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet which are denoted by the garland of severed human heads which the naked Mother, Kali, dark like a threatening rain-cloud, wears as She stands amidst bones and carrion beasts and birds in the burning-ground on the white corpse-like (Śavarūpa) body of Śiva. For it is She who “slaughters” – that is, withdraws all speech and its objects into Herself at the time of the dissolution of all things (Mahāpralaya). Śabda Brahman is the Consciousness (Caitanya) in all creatures. It assumes the form of Kundalī, and abides in the body of all breathing creatures (Prāni), manifesting itself by letters in the form of prose and verse. In the sexual symbolism of the Śākta Tantras, seed (Bindu) issued upon the reversed union of Mahākāla and Mahākālī, which seed, ripening in the womb of Prakṛti, issued as Kundalī as Mahā-Mātrikāsundarī has fifty-one coils, which are the Mātrikā or subtle forms of the gross letters or Varna which is the Vaikharī form of the Śabda at the centers. Kundalī, when with one coil is Bindu; with two, Prakṛti-Puruṣa; with three, the three Śakti (Icchā, Jñāna, Kriyā) and three Guṇa (Sattva, Rajas, Tamas); with the three and a half She is then actually creative with Vikṛti; with four, She is the Devī Ekajatā, and so on to Shrīmātrikotpattisundarī with fifty-one coils. In the body, unmanifested Parā Śabda is in Kundalī Śakti. That which first issues from it is in the lowest Cakra, and extends upwards through the rest as Paśyantī, Madhyama, and Vaikharī Śabda. When Śakti first “sees”, She is Paramā Kalā in the mother-form (Ambikārupā), which is supreme speech (Parā Vāk) and supreme peace (Paramā Śāntā). She “sees” the manifested Śabda from Paśyantī to Vaikharī. The Paśyantī state of Śabda is that in which Icchā Śakti (Will) in the form of a goad (Amkushākāra) is about to display the universe, then in seed (Bīja) form. This is the Śakti Vāmā. Madhyama Vāk, which is Jñāna (knowledge), and in form of a straight line (Rijurekhā), is Jyeshthā Śakti. Here, there is the first assumption of form as the Mātrikā (Mātri-Kātvam Upapannā), for here is particular motion (Viṣesa-Spanda). The Vaikharī state is that of Kriya Śakti, who is the Devī Raudrī, whose form is triangular and that of the universe. As the former Śakti produces the subtle letters of Mātrikā which are the Vāsanā, so this last is the Śakti of the gross letters of words and their objects. These letters are the Garland of the Mother issuing from Her in Her form as Kuṇḍalinī Śakti, and absorbed by Her in the Kuṇḍalinī-Yoga here described."
References:
- Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
- Sivananda, Swami (1994). Kundalini Yoga. Uttar Pradesh, Himalayas: The Divine Life Society
- Avalon, Arthur (1950). The Serpent Power: Being the Shat-Chakra-Nirūpana and Pādukā-Panchakā. Adyar, Madras: Ganesh & Co. (Madras) Ltd. p. 85-102.
