Characteristics of Sanskrit alphabets as per Mantra shastra

What is behind the power of mantras?

Of course, they are vibrations.

Also, the fact that the constituents of mantras are alphabets of Sanskrit. And the alphabets of Sanskrit are made up of the forces of nature. We have already discussed this. Ekakshara Nighantu gives detailed description of the natural forces in each Sanskrit alphabet.

And we have also seen that these 51 alphabets are the organs of Devi's body.

Mantra Shastra deals with the characteristics of the Sanskrit alphabets in a way that is relevant to this shastra. This is called varna vyakti kathanam, meaning how the alphabets manifest.

You know the 51 alphabets:

• The swaras — 16 in number, starting from akara to the visarga (aha)

• Then there are the sparshas — 5 x 5 = 25, also called the vargas

  • Ka-varga

  • Cha-varga

  • ... five in each varga

• Then the 10 alphabets starting from yakara to ksha
  These, in Mantra Shastra, are called the vyapakas

Out of these:

• The devata of swaras is Soma, Chandra

• The devata of the vargaksharas is Surya

• The devata of vyapakas is Agni

All three, if you see, are light-emitting. Surya is witness to everything during the day. Chandra at night. And Agni during action on earth, in which energy is involved. All energies are different forms of Agni only.

In the sixteen swaras:
The short vowels — the hraswaksharas — are male.
The long vowels — the deerghaksharas — are female.

The vargaksharas and vyapakas, starting from kakara and ending with ksha, can be pronounced only with the help of swaras. When we say ka, it is actually k + a. In this, akara is the swara. K cannot be pronounced independently. Even if you say k, that is not the actual pronunciation of kakara — it still has a little bit of akara in it.

That is why Sanskrit alphabets are called shivashaktyatmaka — they are always together. Swaras are Shakti. The vargaksharas and vyapakas are Shiva. Shiva cannot exist independent of the Shakti.

The 25 sparshaksharas from kakara to makara — among these, makara is the atma of the rest of the 24. These twenty-four, going in the reverse order from bhakara, are the 24 tatwas.

Again, the 25 vargaksharas — the alphabets of each varga stand for:

• Vayu

• Agni

• Prithvi

• Jala

• Akasha — the Pancha Bhutas

As we said earlier, the Soma, Surya, and Agni nature of the alphabets:

• The Soma Kalas are in the 16 swaras. Their names are —
  (not provided in the text)

• The 12 Kalas of Surya — they repeat twice in the vargaksharas
  Once in the forward order from kakara to ṭhakara
  And once in the reverse order from bhakara to ḍhakara
  The names of these Surya Kalas are —
  (not provided in the text)

• Makara, as we saw, is the atma of these 24 aksharas.

• Then the 10 Kalas of Agni — they are in the 10 vyapakaksharas starting from yakara and ending in ksha. Their names are —
  (not provided in the text)

We know that the origin of the universe is from pranava omkara. How do the alphabets of Sanskrit connect to Omkara?

Omkara has got five parts:

• Akara

• Ukara

• Makara

• Bindu

• Nada

• The ka-varga and cha-varga — 10 aksharas — are connected to akara of Omkara

• The ṭa-varga and tha-varga — these 10 aksharas — are connected to the ukara of Omkara

• Pa-varga and the first 5 vyapakas — ya, ra, la, va, sha — they are connected to the makara of Omkara

• The next five alphabets of vyapaka — ṣa... ksha — are connected to the bindu of Omkara

• The 16 swaras are connected to the nada of Omkara

See what all the alphabets of Sanskrit are made up of:

• Shiva Tatwa, Shakti Tatwas

• The Pancha Bhutas

• Soma, Surya, Agni

• All the 24 elements of creation

• Their atma

• And they are all derived from Shabda Brahma — Omkara

This is why mantras are so powerful.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi