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Re: The usage of Ka Varga SabdhAs by Swami Desikan in Varadaraja Sthavam

From: Vidyasankar Sundaresan (vidya_at_cco.caltech.edu)
Date: Sun Mar 16 1997 - 10:12:23 PST 

On Fri, 14 Mar 1997, Mani Varadarajan wrote:

> Sriman Vidyasankar writes:  
> > Many upanishads mention that the letter Ka stands for Brahman. 
> > Ka also stands for AkASa among the pancabhUtas.
> 
> This brought to mind the Chhandogya Upanishad vaakya which
> teaches this explicitly:
> 
> 	kam brahmA, kham brahmA
> 
> 	yad eva kham, tad eva kam
> 
> kam is understood as bliss; kham means the AkASa, colloquially
> the sky

Yes, kham is indeed understood as the sky. That is why Garuda, and
in general any bird, is called Khaga (kham gacchatIti khaga:), by virtue
of which there is the name KhagavAhana. 

Vidyasankar