Mv207a Upa-vesana n. the act of sitting down, a seat; the being devoted to or engaged in. ^ — avyaya ^T . Mv380a ^T 2. ca ind. and, both, also, moreover, as well as . . . Reflections: The following personal reflections are offered as illustrative of this process of study: they are neither right nor wrong, neither good nor bad; they are simply what were presented to the mind in considering the passage. In all languages the first letter of the alphabet is A. The primacy of its position at the head of the alphabet reflects its role as the source of the whole alphabet. In Sanskrit this is easy to demonstrate: the figure given in 1.A.6 summarizes the core role of 3T in forming all the vowels; and from the five mouth positions of these vowels, are derived all the consonants. All words are formed from sound, and all sounds are derived from 3T; they are all but a modified form of that 3T, which is their source and support. In responding to Arjuna's question, Krsna gives many examples of being the foremost of several classes, and here the illustration is being the A of letters. Here the allusion is also to Consciousness as being the underlying Source and Support of the manifest creation (-^/asa bhuvi, 'in this world'). The sounds of the alphabet are imperishable (aksara): they may be manifest, they may change, they may be unmanifest, but are not subject to absolute destruction. If the sounds of the alphabet are imperishable, how then does one describe their source and support, the ever-present 3T? This may be understood as referring to the immutable Consciousness underlying the whole creation. The mark of the dvandva samasa is that there is an equality between the joined elements, and each retain its individuality (see ll.B.l). Giving this as the foremost of the samasa — where there is no difference in importance between the elements — places the emphasis on that which links them together. By analogy it is Consciousness that underlies the ever-changing variety of creation, holding it all together as one, yet allowing the elements to retain their individuality. By way of illustration, the attention at the moment is on the words on this page, on their significance and meaning. But what of the letters which form the words? Or the ink that forms the letters? And what about the paper that holds the ink in place? The plain white paper, which is taken for granted, is like Consciousness; and all the words, which are deemed important and interesting, are like creation.
