hindu-cosmosWe're still mapping where this idea was first discussed. Key passages and related ideas below.
Tattva 27 — Sound (Śabda)
Pure 'soundness': the subtle essence of audibility behind every actual sound.
Śabda, as a tattva, is the subtle element of sound — not any particular noise but the pure quality of audibility itself, the bare 'soundness' that the gross world's sounds are made of. It is the first of the five 'subtle elements' (tanmātras), the fine sensory essences that stand between the action-faculties and the gross physical elements. From it the gross element of space unfolds.
Key passages(7)
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Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4,5.8↗explains
Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)
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Vivekacūḍāmaṇi 76↗explains
Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)
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