by Jiva » Thu Apr 03, 2014 11:20 pm
"I thought I'd also use this post/topic to ask if anyone knows if there are any traditions of gematria (or similar practices) in languages other than Arabic, Greek and Hebrew, for example Sanskrit or Asian languages? Sanskrit gematria is obliquely mentioned in David Fideler's Jesus Christ, Sun of God, but isn't expanded on at all."
After finding this chart called Kula-Akula-Cakra, which is a representation of the 50 letters of the Sanskrit alphabet divided in to five groups by the elements of Wind (Air), Fire, Earth, Water and Ether, from Georg Feuerstein's "Tantra - The Path of Ecstacy", I started thinking if I could find some info on how these alphabets could be linked to ideas of emanation in tantric tradition.
After some search I found from internet a pdf of this thesis written by Eric Robert Dorman called: "Pieces of Vāc - A Study of The Letters of The Sanskrit Alphabet and Their Metaphysical Role in The Emanation of Manifest Reality as Described in Select Hindu Tantras".
This thesis is very interesting thesis and if I understood correctly, it seems to link the letters to emanation for example according to Kashmir Shaivism.
I am a total rookie in the language and I've been planning to dig into the basics of Sanskrit language for a while now. I think that it was of great inspirational support for me to find these emanation theories combined to the alphabet. The forms of the Sanskrit alphabet seem a little challenging for me to remember so it feels that linking them with processes of emanation is supporting and vivifying my learning processes.
Deconstructing the alphabet from the top down, the first organizational aspect is the separation of the vowels (svaras) and the consonants (vyañjanas). The vowels come first and represent the initial stages of emanation. Depending on the particular view, the vowels represent either ultimate Śiva itself or his highest Śakti. Regardless, a through aḥ (visarga) represent the arising of manifestation and serve as the foundation of all other letters. Thus, Śiva or Śiva-Śakti are present throughout the alphabet.
A is said to be (citśakti), the sakti of consciousness, and the subsequent source of all letters. It is Śiva, the divine consciousness. Thus ā represents divine consciousness and itself, since phonetically, and thus metaphysically, ā is the product of a + a. This union of divine consciousness and itself represents the inseparable union (yāmala) of Śiva and Śakti in a state of absolute bliss (ānanda).
Next comes i, representing the power of will (icchaśakti), followed by ī, representing the power of sovereignty or of reigning (īśana). The beginnings of light into the process of manifestation occur at the emergence of u, which corresponds to awakening or coming forth (unmeṣa), culminating in the stage of power of knowledge (jñānaśakti). The first six sounds (a to ū) sum up in the form of ū, which represents the bīja, "seed," for the entirety of the svaras.
The next set of vowels (ṛ, ṝ, ḷ, and ḹ) hold a rather interesting place in the cosmogony of the Sanskrit alphabet and will be treated with much more detail below. For now it will suffice to say that they represent a pause in the emanation and offer a subtler transition of gradation. ṛ is the manifestation of icchaśakti in a purely settled form, while ṝ represents the same śakti in a more unsettled or perturbed form. The corresponding double representation of the power of will (icchaśakti) then puts forth ḷ and ḹ as it reaches the stability of the earth.
The diphthongs (e, ai, o, and au) reach the level of power of action (kriyāśakti) beginning with e, a euphonic combination of a and i, and its "long" form ai, the euphonic combination of a and e. The kriyāśakti becomes more manifest as the letter o emerges from the combination of a and u and reaches full manifestation at au, the combination of a and o.
The final two svaras (aṃ and aḥ) carry enough metaphysical weight to fill volumes. However, in the terms of basic phonetic emanation they provide both a summation of svaras and a fluid transition into vyañjanas. The bindu, or anusvara, represented as aṃ, depicts the entirety of the fourteen vowels already manifested and serves to represent the singular, dimensionless point of Śiva in his Absolute form, as is evidenced by its graphic use in the devanāgarī script as a singular dot (.). If the anusvara as a single point represents the unity of Śiva-Śakti then the meaning of aḥ. (visarga), graphically represented as two points (:), is self-apparent. The division of the ultimate consciousness into two, namely Śiva and Śakti, sets off the creation of the manifest world, and thus at the culmination of the vowels, representative of the divine powers of Śiva-Śakti, visarga sets the stage for the next round of emanation, represented by the consonants. Hoens remarks that the second-tier emanation also represents a "liberation" from condensed unity as is evidenced by the escape of breath that is the functional part of visarga.
The next stage of emanation of the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet covers the emergence of the consonants (vyañjanas). Consonants are secondary to the vowels and, in fact, can only exist, phonetically and metaphysically, with the aid of vowels. Vowels are the seeds (bījas), the expressive elements (vācaka), while the consonants are the wombs (yonis), the expressed elements (vācya). As Hoens quotes from Jayaratha's commentary on Abhinavagupta' s Tantrāloka, "the vowels are the ultimate cause of all the letters," and thus every letter from here on out condenses directly from the vowels, which are the themselves direct elements of the Absolute.
The condensation (ghanatā) of the consonants goes as follows: a condenses to form the gutturals (kaṇṭhya), which are the stops (sparśa) ka through gha and the nasal (anunāsika) ṅa; ṛ condenses to form the palatals (tālavya), which are the sparśa ca through jha and the anunāsika ña; r condenses to form the retroflexes (or cerebrals) (mūrdhanya), which are the sparśa ṭa through ḍha and the anunāsika ṇa; ḷ condenses to form the dentals (dantya), which are the sparsa ta through dha and the anunāsika na; and u condenses to form the labials (oṣṭhya), which are the sparśa pa through bha and the anunāsika ma. The semivowels (anataḥstha) emerge next as ya derives from i, ra from ṛ, la from ḷ, and va from u (+a). Then come the sibilants (ūṣman) as śa emerges from i, ṣa from ṛ, and sa from ḷ. The letter ha emerges at some point but does not receive direct treatment in this particular rendition of the alphabet. Hoens mentions only that ha is a gross form of visarga. Nonetheless, ha needs mention as it does count in the fifty letters. Finally, the last letter in the emanation of the alphabet is kṣa. This combination of ka and sa represents the entirety of the alphabet as it contains within itself the a element, which is supreme consciousness and root of all the vowels, all consonants, and the visarga element, as well as the first and last consonants, making it self-inclusive in the total of fifty Sanskrit letters.
- "Pieces of Vāc - A Study of The Letters of The Sanskrit Alphabet and Their Metaphysical Role in The Emanation of Manifest Reality as Described in Select Hindu Tantras" written by Eric Robert Dorman
Here is a link to a website where you can download the full thesis in pdf form for free. I ran virus scan and the file is clean.
https://1lib.sk/book/877282/ae3cf6?id=8 ... =recommend