I bring forth the Father, at the summit of this (cosmos). My womb (ori-
gin) is within the waters, in the ocean. Thence I extend myself through-
out all the worlds; yonder heaven also I touch with my peak.I also blow forth (pervading everything) like the wind, taking to myself
all the worlds. Beyond the heaven, beyond this earth, so have I become
in grandeur.
RV 10: 125.7–8 (trans. Edgerton)Mantra Yoga uses the ontological power of the word in the context of
T ̄antric sadhana’s ̄ interiorization of cosmic forces. A mantrais a ‘seed-
sound’ or sequence of seed-sounds, called b ̄ıjas(b ̄ıja,‘seed’). Each mantra
has “a characteristic pronunciation and intonation that the disciple nor-
mally learns from his g ̄uru.”^43 The verbal root of mantrais √man, ‘to
think,’ but more broadly, ‘to consider,’ ‘to learn,’ ‘to understand.’ As re-
gards the meaning of mantras, some are composed of actual words, while
others are composed purely of non-word combinations of seed-sounds.
In either case, the seed-sounds comprising the mantrahave esoteric
meanings understood by the mantra’spossessor. Mantrastranscend the
realm of representational language; the seed-sounds are considered to be
of the nature of Brahmanand manifestations of Íaktior cosmic energy.
According to the ViÓsva-s ̄ara Tantra, Brahmanin its fundamental form as
sound, ́sabda-brahman, is the substance of all mantras, and exists in the
body of the person, j ̄ıv ̄atma. Íabda-brahmanhas an ‘unlettered form’
(dhvani),that is, a primal sound not produced by the human voice, and
also a ‘lettered’ form (varÓna), which is produced by the voice. Dhvaniis
the source of varÓna, and is a subtle aspect of the j ̄ıva’s ̄ vital sakti ́.^44 Mantra
is a ‘symbol’ in the archaic sense: “It is simultaneously the symbolized
‘reality’ and the symbolizing ‘sign.’”^45
Important practical and philosophical aspects of mantra are the use
of the b ̄ıjasor phonemes as supports for concentration and “the elabora-
tion of a gnostic system and an interiorized liturgy through revalorization
of the archaic traditions concerning ‘mystical sound.’”^46 A central in-
stance of the interiorization of mystical sound is KuÓnÓdalin ̄ı Yoga’s con-
cept that each of the cakrashas a certain number of petals on which ap-
pear the written forms of particular seed-sounds or b ̄ıja-mantras,
together comprising the forty-nine sounds of the Sanskrit alphabet.^47
Consonant with the Vedic view that the world emerged ultimately from
the vibration of sabda-brahman ́ , the sounds of the Sanskrit alphabet are
thought to embody the constituent energies of the universe, and thus the
sounds are sometimes called m ̄atÓrka ̄ ‘sources’ (matÓr, ‘mother’).^48 In
Woodroffe’s words: “as from a mother comes birth, so from m ̄atÓrka ̄ or
150 religious therapeutics