THE ALPHABETICAL FORMULATION

In the Vedic tradition, the supreme wisdom was formulated by the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet: The first thirty-three layers above the half measure were represented by the thirty-three consonants in the classical alphabet, and the six joining layers were represented by six extraordinary consonants or sets of consonants formed by the process of phonetic conjunction.

The immortal realms that lie beyond the outermost shell of the cosmic egg were represented by the sixteen vowels of the Sanskrit alphabet. More specifically, the fortieth layer, which marks the shore of the immortal world, was represented by the visarga (the emitter) pronounced as the softly aspirated aha. The immeasurable fifty-fifth layer transcending the other fifty-four was represented by the vowel a pronounced as in father, which was deemed the immeasurable self (atman) of the other 39 + 15 = 54 letters.

In the Agama texts, the sixteen vowels were called the sixteen Nityas, “eternal ones,” because they represent the sixteen eternal states of the immortal soul, which lie above and beyond the finite and mortal universe. To illustrate the various gradations of eternal reality that abide within the immortal realms, the seers compared the sixteen eternal ones to the sixteen phases of the moon. In Sanskrit the term soma means both “moon” and the imperishable, flowing essence of pure consciousness that serves as the amrita rasa, or immortal blood of the Supreme Being. The sixteen phases of the moon correspond, then, to the sixteen gradations of soma inherent within the sixteen immortal layers.

In this analogy, the fortieth layer, represented by the visarga, was likened to the no-moon phase, when the reflected light of the moon is shadowed completely by the earth. The idea is that when the soul first arrives at the shore of the other world after traversing the thirty-nine evolutionary layers, it does not yet possess the eyes to see the transcendental light of the other world.

This gradual awakening of transcendental vision is represented by the sixteen phases of the moon, each of which is characterized by a different degree of moonlight, which can also be understood as soma light. On the scale of the fortieth layer, the soma light is present, but can scarcely be seen. Similarly, on the no-moon night, the moon is still present and can be seen if we look closely, but it appears almost empty or devoid of light.

As the soul ascends through the immortal layers, the soma light grows gradually in intensity. On the scale of the immeasurable fifty-fifth layer, represented by the letter a, the soma light becomes full. This immeasurable layer was likened, therefore, to the full-moon phase, because the light of soma is fully unshadowed. The other fourteen layers in between were likened to the fourteen phases that lie in between the emptiness of light (no moon) and the fullness of light (full moon).

Here is one version of the supreme wisdom, which pertains to the soma light of the self. Because the sixteen vowels represent the sixteen phases of this light, they were called svaras, “the radiances (ra) of the self (sva).”