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The Comte De Gabalis

By Abbé N. de Montfaucon de Villars

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Divine Power of Letters

The sacred significance of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet is paralleled by that attached to those of the Sanskrit alphabet as used in the Sacred Writings of India.

"The god said--'Out of the will-power of the Supreme Being there originated a force whose exponents are the fifteen letters of the alphabet and from whom the universe has subsequently emanated. By worshipping that force, O goddess, I have come to know of all the knowables and I shall presently discuss the congery of Mantras that have arisen out of the five principal ones composed of the above said letters. These Mantras, O goddess, are the life and soul of all other Mantras. They form the back bone as it were, of the Vedas, Rik, Sam, Yajur, and the Arthava. The Mantras known as the Sadyajatas, etc., are but the different combinations of the abovesaid forms revealed in the phonetic energy of the abovesaid five letters (Mantras). Through them the gods such as Brahma, Vishnu, and Rudra, etc., have come into being. They are identical with the gods called Isha, Saptashikha, etc. The vowels A.E.I.O.U. are but the five phases of the supreme god head (Brahma). . . . . Oh Brahman, as fire potentially lying in the bosom of firewood remains invisible unless kindled in the proper way, so the divine energy (Shiva-Shakti) lies latent in the body of a man quite in the dark about its very existence even." "THE WEALTH OF INDIA," VOL. viii, PART I. AGNI PURANAM, PAGE 498.