The Acoustic Roots of the Indo-Aryan Alphabet
Every vibration in this universe has colour and sound. Every vibration also represents a particular idea, and hence each idea has a vibrational sound and vibrational colour. Many vibrational waves are too long or too short to be perceived by human beings – we cannot hear their sound or see their colour – but they do exist. We can speak of them as causal matrices in the realm of vibrational colour; and consider them as the biija mantras [acoustic roots] of the ideas with which they are concerned.
1984-1985, Calcutta
Vibration, Form and Colour
Among the vibrations in this created world, colour occupies the position of secondary importance after the sound tanmátra. All forms in this universe are chromatic and the distinction between objects is indeed discernible through colour, for colour indicates the attributional difference. The three binding principles of Saguńa Brahma, sattva (sentient), rajah (mutative), and tamah (static), are also colour. Whenever there is an excess of sattva in any particular entity, the vibrations emanating from that object will be sentient. If you perceive those sentient vibrations with your eyes, or through any other means, you will find that they have created a white colour on your mental plate or Citta. Thus, the vibration of colour indicates the attribute or quality of an entity. Sattva is white, rajah is red, and tamah is black. The greater degree of purity, the more predominance of sattva and proportionately whiter in colour. That is why in India whiteness and purity are often used synonymously. What is this white colour? White is not a colour; it is the combination of all colours. And what is black colour? Black is also not a colour; it is the absence of all colours. That is why black is the symbol of inertness, for it is the colour of the static principle. It is due to the absence of any vibration or one’s inability to apprehend them that an object appears black. In darkness we see everything as black.
A difference in forms means a difference in colours. While tamah is the prototype of staticism, sattva is diametrically the opposite. Although Saguńa Brahma possesses all three gunas, yet in Him, Sattva is dominant. Thus Saguńa Brahma appears to be effulgent white to the Sádhaka.
Hirańmaye pare kośam virajaḿ Brahma niśkalaḿ
Tacchubhraḿ jyotisáḿ jyotiśtad yadátmavidoviduh.–Atharvaveda
But the question arises: Is Parama Puruśa or Supreme Consciousness characteristically coloured? The answer is “no”. All colours belong to Prakrti. The colour of that Parama Puruśa cannot be apprehended for He is beyond all colours.
Sa eko’varńo bahudhá shakiyogát
Varńánanekán nihitártho dahháti
Vicaeti cánte vishvamádao sa devah
Sa no buddhyá shubhayá samyunaktu.–Yajurveda
He Himself is colourless. He has, however, emanated various colours with the help of Prakrti. Through Prakrti’s sentient, mutative and static principles, white, red, and black colours are created. That supremely benevolent entity is essentially sentient and this is intrinsically white. This white colour is composed of the seven component colours: violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. The universe is the play of these colours, like the seven-hued rainbow reflected in water, like the “Seven Horses” of the Puráńas.
The human mind is partial to appearances or forms of tanmátras and it is colour that impresses it most. You may recall that when your mind is attracted to any object, it is form that attracts you most. The science of chromatics is a wonderful science. The ploy of colours determines the affinity between object and object, animal and animal and between human and human. Due to this chromatic affinity we are attracted to an unknown person, even though we are not at all acquainted with him. You must have noticed in your individual lives that you like some people immediately without any apparent reason, and you hesitate to associate with other people, in spite of their widely publicized praise. Behind this experience is the same chromatic play, which you feel but cannot explain.
I have already told you that the sentient principle is white. So the people in whose minds white vibrations are flowing we call Sattvaguńii or sentient (also known as vipravarńa). The mutative principle is red. So those people whose minds are filled with red vibrations we call Rajoguńii or mutative. Due to the greater crudeness in the mutative principle, the Rajoguńii mind is more partial to crude activities than the sattvic one. Such mutative people are popularly considered to be of the Kśatriya Varńa or warrior temperament, possessing energy and valour. The sentient principle is cognitive, and the mutative principle is energetic. Vaeshyavarńa, the temperament of the business class is concerned with activities much cruder than those of the Vipra and the Kśatriya. Here the Citta or the mental plate is dominated by yellow vibrations, which are created by the combined influence of the mutative and static principles.
Those whose Citta is predominately influenced by the static principle, naturally possess a greater degree of inertness than others: they have neither the knowledge of the sentient persons nor the valour of the mutative ones nor the capacity for activating things of those dominated by the mutato-static principles. This static inertness or crudeness is black. Those whose minds are predominately black are popularly known as shúdras or the labour class. Thus all the colours are related to one’s mental waves, and according to these waves a person is called a Brahmin, Kśatriya, Vaeshya or Shúdra. But it should be emphasized that any person can achieve Vipravarńa by means of Sádhaná (spiritual practice). In order to change the form and colour of the vibrations, it is necessary to change the mental tendency. From the Puránas we know that the King Vishvámitra was a Kśatriya in the early part of his life, but he attained Bráhminic qualities through Sádhaná. Lord Krśna’s father, Vasudeva, was a kśatriya. His relative Nanda of Gokul, was a Vaeshya for he earned his living through dairy farming. Still another of his relatives, Garga Muni, who christened Krśńa was a Vipra.
The indication of colour is most glaring in the form-tanmátras. But it is not found only in the form-tanmátras. Whenever there is vibration there is tanmátra, and there is colour as well. If the proper instrument is used the colour and the subtle form of every vibration can be detected. Where there is a line, a form must necessarily be there. According to the rhythm of the vibration, sound must also be present. Any variation in the rhythm will cause variation in the sound and colour as well. The radiated vibration of an object in an object in the day will be quite different from that of the same object in the night due to differences in the light-waves, and so the object will appeal differently to your eyes. Why? Because it changes its colour. Since mundane vibrations are mainly dependent upon the sun, the vibrations of the human nervous system vary according to the presence or absence of the sun in the sky. Daylight imposes mutative influence on the human nerves and night-time imposes a static influence, causing the inertness of sleep in the body and mind. The periods of sunrise, sunset, moon and midnight (the sandhyás) bring about a sentient transparency in the Citta. Thus, it is clear how great is the vibrational influence of the variability of colour, sound and mood, and people are naturally disposed to such influences. Ladies are not inclined to choosing expensive saris or cloths at night, for the colour is not then properly discernible.
We apprehend phonic as well as alphabetical difference quite accurately due to these vibrational differences. Short, long or galloping intonations are merely degrees of vibrational differences. The differences in Svaravarńas (vowels) and Vyaiṋjanvarńas (consonants) are also totally dependent on the difference in their vibrational characteristics. In the Saḿskrta language, the letters of the alphabet are called Varńas or colours and all the consonants end in the first vowel “a”. So you see that Varńa-Paricaya (the first book of the alphabet) literally means “acquaintance with colour” and this colour is, of course, the colour vibration. The Giitá also says that the four Varńas or castes are evolved from the differences of attributes of activities. The differences in attributes account for the differences in activities and the differences in activities account for the differences in colours. With the change of attributive activity, the colour will also change. Hence the distinction of Varńa or caste in social life is not an unchangeable or inviolable institution. The varńa has evolved according to one’s activities and by changing one’s activities one can change the caste.
Phálgunii Púrńimá 1956 DMC
Twice Born
Now you see, so far as mental colour is concerned – according to the mental tendency, the mind has colour, and that colour is according to the wavelengths of thoughts. For a vipra it will be whitish, for a kśatriya reddish, for a vaeshya yellowish, and for a shúdra blackish. Black here means not the colour of the skin, not the complexion, you know, but the mental colour. Actually it concerns – what? Mental colours. And one may change one’s mental colour by dint of one’s sádhaná.
17 December 1971 morning, Patna
Supreme Desideratum
All the manifestations of the world are vibrational. The fundamental reality is vibrational. It is so not only for the realm of those quinquelementalities, but also for the ectoplasmic and supra-ectoplasmic strata. These vibrational manifestations come in contact with the living being through different cells and organs. Amongst the sensory organs, the most important experience living beings acquire is ocular experience. Ocular experience is received through the optical nerves.
In the realm of vision, colour is a very important factor. White represents the sentient principle, red represents the mutative principle, and black represents the static principle. There are seven controlling colours, and the process of permutation and combination to convey the large number of colours is not infinite. Had it been infinite in character, this expressed universe would also necessarily have been infinite. But actually this expressed universe is big, but not infinite.
That singular entity, with the help of different expressions of Prakrti, or different – what should I say – tactics of Prakrti, can emanate innumerable vibrations. That is why it is said that although He Himself is colourless, His creation is in innumerable colours. It is a colourful universe, with so many colours attracting living beings.
White is no colour. The combination of all the colours is white. Black is no colour. Want of colour is black.
With the help of different manifestations of the Operative Principle, the noumenal cause remains a singular entity, but the phenomenal expressions are many. The noumenal world is singular in character; the phenomenal world is multifarious in character.
But why does He create this universe of so many colours, where there is a mess of so much colour? Why? What for? What is the intention? Why does He create like this?
“Varńánanekáni nihitártha.” Why? The inner spirit, the intention, is known only to Him and to nobody else, and whoever comes in close contact with Him, whoever is in deep love with Him, can understand the inner spirit. A jiṋánii cannot know it, only devotees can know it, because devotees can come in close contact with Him and know the secret from Him secretly.
If one moves towards the emanative point, the point from which all vibrations emanate, one will discover that the starting-point is the Supreme Entity and that one is moving forward as per pulsation of vibrations emanating from that Entity. One finds that the culminating point, of these vibrations is also that Supreme Desideratum, that Parama Puruśa. That is, the starting point is that Supreme Entity, and the culminating point of these vibrations is also that Supreme Entity. And to the Puruśa who is the starting-point and who is the Desideratum, to Him I say that He should attach our intellect with the spirit of welfare, with the spirit of shubha. This should be the only prayer for each and every living being.
3 September 1978, Patna