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From: Vidyasankar Sundaresan (vidya_at_cco.caltech.edu)
Date: Fri Mar 14 1997 - 14:27:00 PST
On 13 Mar 1997, V. Sadagopan wrote: > Dear Devotees of Lord VaradarAjA : > > I mentioned in my earlier posting that Ka sabdham is > Brahma Sabdham as per Aadhi Sankara. He has written In this connection, here are a few of my observations. Many upanishads mention that the letter Ka stands for Brahman. Ka also stands for AkASa among the pancabhUtas. The reason for this is that Ka is the first in the list of consonants. In Mantrasastra, all consonants are considered to be denoted by Ka. Therefore, Ka is Brahman, the first. Similarly, the vowel "A" is equated with Brahman also, because it is the first vowel. In recent times, Muttuswami Dikshitar describes Goddess Kamalamba as "a-ka-ca-Ta-ta-pa-adi varNA" - denoting that all the letters of the alphabet are contained in Her. Such resonances are important in all Mantras, including the most basic one, Aum, which also denotes Brahman. Similarly, Aim denotes Vagdevi or Sarasvati, the Vedamata. Hri, Kri, Kli, Sri etc. denote various aspects of the Goddesses. These Mantras are a very ancient legacy. E.g. the Purusha Suktam makes "Hri" the patni of the Purusha. S. Vidyasankar