The four entities (Brahma, Siva, Vișnu, and Para Sakti) are characterized as having form made of nāda
"All the above four have been said to be nāda-rūpa i.e. with form made of nāda."
VIMARŚA
153
Siva, and bija with Sakti and nada is a combination of the two. The first passage
(verse 5) which is broken, seems to refer to the second process and bija
appears to have been replaced with mātṛkās. The present passage where bindu is
born of nāda could be construed to refer to the first order of manifestation.
(cf. MM Gopinath Kaviraj, Bhāratīya Saṃskṛti Aur Sādhanā, pp. 23, 33, 34).
13. V\bar{a}k + maya = v\bar{a}nmaya, of the essence of speech or consisting of speech.
'Vāk' covers a very wide range, including nāda (tone) and syllable (varṇa)
and that way it could comprise of both music and literature. But by convention,
'vānmaya' stands for literature as distinct from geya (music)-
अनन्ता वाङ्मयस्याहो गेयस्येव विचित्रता ।
(Siśupālavadha II, 72)
"Lo! the variety of vānmaya (literature) is infinite like that of geya (music)."
In Sangitasastra also vak is identified with the text of music-
वाङ्मातुरुच्यते गेय धातुरित्यभिधीयते ।
(SRIII, 2 ab)
"Vāk (text) is known as mātu and geya (music) is known as dhātu."
14. Kanda lit. means a bulbous or tumorous root. Hence it is a synonym of
brahma-granthi (see note 9 above) (Also cf. SRI, 2.147, 150).
15. The word nada has been split into 'na' and 'da' and these two syllables
have been spoken of as padas. This is the way of interpretation known as
nirvacana, where a word is split into syllables and each syllable is accepted as
meaningful in itself. This is distinct from etymological derivation ( vyutpatti )
where a word is derived from a root (prakti) to which a suffix (pratyaya) is
added. The way of nirvacana is peculiar to Tantra. All the same, the two words
viz. vyutpatti and nirvacana or nirukti are also sometimes used as interchangeables.
This is how the dual verbal component (pada) of 'nāda' could be explained.
16. cf. S R I, 3.5 where the order of the first two has been reversed and names
of the third and fourth types of nada have been changed as follows -
1. atisūksma
2. sūksma
3. pusta
4. apuşta
and 5. kytrima.
Pārśvadeva (Sam S Sā II, 22-24) presents a paraphrase of this portion of
BrD, mentioning the name of Matanga, with the difference that the order and
names have been changed as in S R. This change of order seems to have been
prompted by the idea that 'very subtle' should be the first type and 'subtle' the
→ second one so that the 'very subtle' is located in the lowest portion in the vocal
apparatus, and 'subtle' in the next higher one; this seems to be the rational
order. I had occasion to ask the opinion of MM Pt. Gopinath Kaviraj on the
order described by Matanga and he had said that this view was correct, there
was nothing wrong with it. Hence the reverse order given by S R and other texts
need not be taken as a correction or rationalisation, but as a different opinion
represented in tradition.
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