We start the conversation with the parable of the desire of Shiva, Lord of Consciousness, to know Himself. When he sees his reflection, it is that of Shakti. We discuss the mystical significance of vowels and consonants, vowels as “lingas,” and consonants as “yonis.”

And therefore, the syllable “a” is the syllable of Shiva. It’s the syllable of consciousness. Therefore, we call it anuttara, that which there is nothing greater. 

Now, a funny thing that happens with “a.”  There’s a what you might call a device, called visarga, which is much more than device, because it is the thing that actually makes speech manifest and it’s the thing that makes the world manifest. Visarga, you can think of it as reflection in the same way that when Shiva looked into the mirror to see himself he saw a reflection, the reflection of Shaki.  And it also means an echo. So the visarga of “a,” the echo of “a” is the anahat, the untouched, the unstruck syllable of “ha.”

… what I want you to see is that there are specific points of contact, and specific spaces, because these will become analogs of other things.  These will become analogs of the stars in the sky.  Of the geography of the earth.  Of the elements.

I think of this as sort of sacred geography of the mouth. And that we can make a pilgrimage to these different spaces in the mouth. And when we visit those temples, in those spaces, then we have options of silent prayer, or ringing the bells, or beating the drum. There are various analogies that we can start invoking when we make these pilgrimages in the sacred geography of our mouths.