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 Shabda 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. Similarly in the Rigveda a mysterious passage{291} speaks of the “three fathers and three mothers” by whose action, like that of the Elohim, “all comprehending speech” was made into that which was not so. 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 Mantrachaitanya.
From the above account it will be understood that, when it is said that the “letters” are in the six bodily Chakras, 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 Mantravidyā, 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 Ganesha is the Devatā of the Mūlādhāra. In the text here translated it is Brahmā. Similarly this Text gives Dākinī in the Mūlādhāra as the Devatā of the Asthi Dhātu (bony substance). When sitting in the prescribed Āsana (posture), the bones are gathered up around this Chakra, and, moreover, from it as the center of the body the bones run up and downwards. Another account, however, given to me places Devī Shākinī here.{292} Mistakes have also to be reckoned with, and can only be ascertained and rectified by a comparison of several MSS.{293} Again, four letters are said to be on the petals of the Mūlādhāra Lotus—namely, Va, Sha, Sha, and Sa. Why are these said to be there? Various statements have been made to me. As there are certain letters which are ascribed to each form of sensible matter (Bhūta), it seems obvious to suggest that the earth letters (Pārthiva varna) are in the earth center. But an examination on this basis does not bear the suggestion out. Next, it is said that the letters have colours, and the letters of a particular color are allocated to the lotuses of the same color. The Text does not support this theory. It has been said that certain letters derive from certain Devatā. But the letters produce the Devatā, for these are the Artha of the Mantra as Shabda. I have been also told that the letters are placed according to their seat of pronunciation (Uchchārana). But it is replied that the Mūlādhāra is the common source of this (Uchchāranasthāna) for all.{294} Again, it is said that the letters on the petals are Bījās of all activities (Kriyā) connected with the Tattva of the center, each letter undergoing variations according to the vowels.{295} All beings in Prithivī (earth) Tattva should be meditated upon in the Mūlādhāra. Here are, therefore (as we might expect), the organs of feet (Pādendriya), the action of walking (Gamanakriyā), smell (Gandha), the quality of Prithivī, the sense of smell (Ghrāna), Nivritti kalā,{296} and Brahmā (Lord of the Tattva). But we are also told that the letters Va, Sha, Sha, and Sa are the Ātmā and Bījas of the four Vedas,{297} of the four Yugas,{298} of the four oceans,{299} which are therefore called Chaturvarnātmaka, or in the self of the four letters. It is true that the four Vedas are in, and issue from, Parashabda, the seat of which is the Mūlādhāra. For Veda in its primary sense is the world as idea in the mind of the creative Brahman, portions of which have been revealed to the Rishis (seers) and embodied in the four Vedas. But why should Va be the seed of the Rigveda, Sha of the Yajurveda, and so forth? The ritual explanation, as given in the Rudrayāmala (xiv. 73, xv. 2, xvi. 1, 2), is that the petal Va is Brahmā (Rajoguna), and is the Bīja of Rik; Sha is Vishnu (Sattvaguna), and Sha, being Pundarīkātmā, is the Bīja of Yajus; Sha is Rudra (Tamoguna), and is the Bīja of Sāma. Sa is the Bīja of Atharva, as it is the Bīja of Shakti.{300} These four are in Parashabda in Mūlādhāra. It seems to me (so far as my studies in the Shāstra have yet carried me) that the details of the descriptions of the centers are of two kinds. There are, firstly, certain facts of objective and universal reality. Thus, for example, there are certain centers (Chakra) in the spinal column. The principle of solidity (Prithivī Tattva) is in the lowest of such centers, which as the center of the body contains the static or potential energy called Kundalī Shakti. The center as a lotus is said to have four petals, because of the formation and distribution of the Yoga-nerves{301} (Nādī) at that particular point. Solidity is denoted aptly by a cube, which is the diagram (Yantra) of that center. The consciousness of that center as Devatā is also aptly borne on an elephant, the massive solidity of which is emblematical of the solid earth principle (Prithivī). The forces which go to the making of solid matter may by the Yogī be seen as yellow. It may be that particular substances (Dhātu) of the body and particular Vritti (qualities) are connected with particular Chakras, and so forth.
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.{302} 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 Chakras. 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 Shabda of and as ideating movements, or are