उपनिषद् · Tārasāra 2.4
॥
देवनागरी
बिन्दुस्तुरीयाक्षरो भवति । नादः पञ्चमाक्षरो भवति । कला षष्ठाक्षरो भवति
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
bindusturīyākṣaro bhavati | nādaḥ pañcamākṣaro bhavati | kalā ṣaṣṭhākṣaro bhavati
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
बिन्दुः तुरीय-अक्षरः भवतिbinduḥ turīya-akṣaraḥ bhavatithe dot is the fourth syllable
नादः पञ्चम-अक्षरः भवतिnādaḥ pañcama-akṣaraḥ bhavatithe resonance is the fifth syllable
कला षष्ठ-अक्षरः भवतिkalā ṣaṣṭha-akṣaraḥ bhavatithe fraction is the sixth syllable
अनुवाद
«The dot is the fourth syllable, the resonance the fifth, the fraction the sixth».
संस्करण
e1e8693f855e · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Three parts are added that are absent from the usual analysis: bindu ("dot"), nāda ("resonance"), kalā ("fraction"). All three are not sounds, but what accompanies sound. Bindu is the superscript dot marking the nasal echo. Nāda is the humming that lingers after the syllable has been pronounced. Kalā means "fraction, part, a sixteenth," and in the teaching on sound denotes what remains when the humming fades to inaudibility.
It is worth examining what is actually described here, for the description is precise and accessible to anyone. Say oṃ, drawn out. First a and u are heard; then the lips close on m; then a humming remains in the nose; then the humming grows ever fainter; and finally comes a moment when you no longer know whether you hear it or not.
This last moment is called kalā; and what lies beyond it, kalātīta, "beyond the fraction." This description, then, is a description of the fading of sound; and the eight parts are eight stages of that fading. The purpose of the exercise is intelligible: attention is led along with the sound to the limit of audibility, and at that limit it finds itself without an object, yet still in motion.
The Vaiṣṇava side does not make use of such fading, and it is worth saying why. Its sound does not fade: the Name is uttered again and again, and attention rests not at the border of audibility but on the One who is called. The difference here is not in technique, but in what is recognized as the end: silence, or a response.