tasya vācakaḥ praṇavaḥ
The transcendental sound personifying Him is AUṀ
In his commentary Vyāsa says that there is an inherent relationship between
Īśvara and AUṀ which is eternal, and it is not dependent upon social usage,
unlike conventional names. For instance, or as an example, if we refer to a
particular animal - 'cow', and people in the English-speaking world all agree that
this is the name that we will use that represents this particular animal, this
is a social convention; it's dependent upon social usage. And so the point that
Vyāsa in his commentary is making, is that the connection between Īśvara and
AUṀ is not something that is created by man, or created by any person or people
within the material world, and that this connection is actually eternal. So he
uses the example of the relationship between a lamp and the light which
emanates from a lamp. Wherever the lamp is, and of course it's
understood that it is a burning lamp, there must always and necessarily be
light. And in a similar manner, wherever AUṀ is vibrated, Īśvara is
there and wherever there is Īśvara, AUṀ is also there. So this is the nature of
the relationship between Īśvara and AUṀ. So Īśvara...he states -
Vyāsa in his explanation...His being known by the syllable AUṀ. He was known in
previous creations, as well as for all eternity. So this an eternal
designation, and just stressing once again, it's not something assigned by
human beings. This is quite a deep subject, dealing with what's called
spiritual or transcendental sound. So if we recall from the previous verse
commentary, Vyāsa has stated that just as Īśvara existed as a perfect being at
the beginning of this creation, so He was also the same in previous creations,
and this explains why AUṀ is then treated in the same way. The Vedas
refer to spiritual or transcendental sound as Śabda Brahma. Spiritual sound, or
transcendental sound, is not anything like or connected to mundane or
prakṛtik sound - sound of the material world, or the material energy. So just as Īśvara
is not subject to time or any material laws, similarly those spiritual sounds
that I'm speaking of - AUṀ being an example - these spiritual sounds which
designate or name Īśvara, are also considered non-different from
Him, and we'll explain about that a little more in a moment. Or maybe,
continuing with that idea, spiritual sound was considered vastly different
than material sound, in that it contained a spiritual potency. As an example, if I
say the name, or use the syllables that state the name of a mango, that name
may refer to...or something that we can sort of recollect in our mind in terms
of shape, a taste, a flavor, an experience of eating. The sound of the name and the
actual fruit that it represents, are entirely different. I could for instance,
try to chant "Mango, mango, mango, mango, mango" all day, and I will not actually
experience the reality of the mango. This Śabda Brahma, or the
transcendental sound referencing the names of Īśvara are completely different in
nature, in that Īśvara is actually present
within that sound along with all possible spiritual
experience. And so, for this reason, there were categories of transcendentalists
who speak of these transcendental sounds in a deeply personal way,
speaking of them and addressing them as spiritual personality. We can begin to
appreciate this to some degree perhaps... like for instance, in the
Bhagavad-gīta there are three verses that I can think
of right now where Śrī Kṛṣṇa states that He is this syllable AUṀ. It's not
that it just represents Him, or indicates Him - it actually is non-different from Him.
This would be in Chapter Seven in the eighth verse or śloka, and then again in
the ninth chapter, the seventeenth śloka, and also in the tenth chapter in the twenty-
fifth śloka, Kṛṣṇa makes this quite emphatic statement. And we also have
another reference in the Bhagavad-gīta, that the letters that make up this
praṇavaḥ are to be considered "the supreme combination of letters", above all
else. In the Upaniṣads there are also
numerous references to this syllable - AUṀ.
One of the Upaniṣads...the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad...deals in great length with the
divine syllable AUṀ, but we also have a reference in the Śvetāśvatara
Upaniṣad, which states that through the practice of meditating upon AUṀ - this
praṇavaḥ, one can see (and they use the term
literally - paśyet), "one can see God (or devam).” And this is in
the first section, in the fourteenth śloka in the Śvetāśvatara
Upaniṣad. So this...you know, begins to offer somewhat of a revelation to the
sincere and very humble practitioner, that it is going to be possible to
actually come to encounter Īśvara through this transcendental sound
AUṀ. We also have a another verse in the Padma Purāṇa which elucidates in a quite
amazing way, and with significantly more depth, on this supreme combination of
letters or this transcendental vibration AUṀ. And it states that, in relation
to this mantra AUṀ, that the first letter ‘a’ it signifies
Lord Viṣṇu, who has been designated as Īśvara.
Then it says that the letter ‘u’ - the second letter, it signifies Goddess
Lakshmi or Śrī - the goddess of fortune; the eternal consort of Vishnu. And then
the final letter ‘ṁ’ refers to their servant,
meaning the jīva; the living being who is the twenty-fifth element. So as we've
previously mentioned in the Saṅkya philosophy that was
propounded by Kapiladeva, that Prakṛti is made up of twenty-four elements, then
the twenty-fifth element was considered to be the jīva, the ātmā, or the ātman
or puruṣaḥ. And the twenty-sixth element was considered Īśvara
or Parama Puruśa. And so the Vedas are filled with wonderful
descriptions of the glories of the supreme combination of letters - this
syllable AUṀ. And it is not possible for me to adequately glorify or speak about
its great spiritual importance, as being not just a representation of, but
actually a way in which one can directly come into
contact with Īśvara through the recitation of this syllable AUṀ,
which will be taken up by Patañjali in the next sutra. Thank you.
you