Lakṣmī Tantra Chapter 24—Structure of Tāraka (āūṁ)
Channel: Consciousness Research Centre
Date: 2021-01-03

This series is classified Vivartha-vāda | Rāja-yoga | Suśupti | Viśuddhi-cakra
“The Absolute Brahman, the ultimate dhāman (presence), the supreme and incomparable effulgence, Brahman which is identical with Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa is faultless and pure. It alone exists, pervading this entire world. It is the highest and greatest. I am the Absolute I-hood of that Brahman, the Supreme Soul. To help all living beings, I voluntarily manifest Myself in the forms of mātṛkā-mantras, containing śabda-brahman. In the form of the mantra, I follow each particular deity referred to in it. In the beginning the adept should evoke Me in My original tāra (carrying across, saviour, protector) form.” [24.1–4]
“First the adept should take the letter dhruva (a), then add the letter karṇa to it (a + u), then he should add the letter nābhi (ṃ) to that, and finally unite them together (ā + ū + ṃ = āūṃ). Having thus constructed āūṃ, the adept should first decorate that Brahma-tāraka with bindu, then with nāda. Then, as accompaniment to this tāraka he should meditate on the eternal Brahman made up of these three letters in the Vaiṣṇava form, the mind flowing towards it incessantly like the continuous flow of oil. In this tāraka, a represents Aniruddha, the fifth vowel (u) represents Pradyumna, ṃ represents Saṅkarṣaṇa and bindu represents Vāsudeva.” [24.5–8]
“O Śureśvara, the indivisible integral nature of these four letters is the nāda. The highest perfection of nāda is the I-hood of God, who is the highest Goddess. She is the most subtle Śakti, called the space that exists inside nāda. Nāda represents the Supreme Brahman, the essence or soul of everything. The space surrounding Brahman is called daharākāśa, the legendary abode of Brahman, or Brahman's very presence insofar as It can be grasped by the human mind. She, who is identical with Myself, is subtle, pervaded by śabda-brahman and all-pervasive.” [24.9–10]
“When the nāda ceases to be actively present, the Absolute and luminous Brahman called Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa becomes spontaneously manifest. Śabda-brahman represents the dawning of God’s creative activity which, though active, has not as yet created any object. It is the state of existence when God or Śakti is potentially creative. Thus I have now told you about the dhāman (Vaiṣṇava presence) of the Supreme Person. Listen now to the description of the essential traits of its form, which is tranquil and inert.” [24.11–12]
“First taking the visarga (ḥ), the adept should add sūrya (ṃ) to it. When these are firmly joined together there arises the powerful mantra āūṁ. Visarga is the natural inert pure Existence unrelated to creation, whereas bindu represents the state of dissolution when the creation is dissolved, or lies dormant in primordial nature (prakṛti), which is also the beginning of creation. As this praṇava contains both visarga and bindu, this is the highest presence, representing both Śakti and dissolution which, if constantly contemplated upon, reveals to the meditator the unalterable Absolute reality.” [24.13–14]
“Dissolving all objects belonging to both the pure and impure creations, Śakti, who is again ready to start creating, arranges the further movement on Sūrya or Puruṣa, who is eternal, supreme and is in the form of bhoktṛ (the enjoyer). Then, She reappears out of that state of existence which contains Agni and Soma, and attains dāṃpatya (the perpetual intermediary coupled condition) consisting of bindu and nāda. Śakti attains the subtle coupled condition identical with the divine inertia and exists in the divine, pervasive supreme Self. According to the learned the coupled condition, āūṁ has three and a half mātrās (measure-units): one measure for each of the three sounds a, u and m, while the dot ˙ (bindu) counts as only half a mātrā.” [24.15–18]

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