Speech (vAk) as the material casue:

Any modification is accompanied by the form of its material cause. The modification of pot apparently means modification of clay, which is the material cause of the pot. Here, what is modified is non-different from its cause. Such as this universe is known cognizd by speech. Universe is a conglomeration of different objects. All objects are revealed by speech alone. Object's real content is its name and form. All names and forms have Speech as their source. Objects are dependent of speech. Without speech the object cannot be cognized at all. Therefore, by the rule of co-presence and co-absence (anvaya-vyatireka) we arrive that objectivity can never be independent of the speech and that speech is independent of the object. In the scriptural passage 'satyam, jnAnaM, anantaM brahma' - it is to be known that satyam = existence, jnAnaM = sound / knowledge and anantam = bliss. 


Cognition arises in the proximity between the seer and the seen, The seer is the one who attempts to know or cognize. Seen the object of cognition or knowledge. Seer is nothing but the mind associated with the pure consciousness or the praNava, which is sabda brahman. Association of the mind (antahkaraNa), which is reflexive consciousness with the object produces the cognition of 'I' in relation with the object that is cognized. The object is revealed by its name and form and is transmitted to the mind by speech. The image of the object's name and form appears to the 'I' cognition of the mind. The entire process of knowledge production is nothing but the vibration of the sound and it takes place in the sphere of mind. Mind constantly reverberated on the assimilated cognitions, which are nothing but the vibrations of objective-images. 'I' cognition propogates on the reflexive sounds in the form of thoughts. Thoughts are there attetuations of reflexive-propogated sounds. 


The pulsation devoid of thought-borne attenuations is called the 'aham' phenomena. All attenuations are appearances of the pure pulsation of aham. When the object is encountered by the mind, what is modified is not the sound-consciousness itself but the sound-attetuated in the mind. The attenuation in the mind is called avabhasa. Gaudapada calls this mano-spandita. Mandana articulates that Samkhyan proposal that when the pulsation of aham encounters the object, which is product of prakrti (primordial nature), then the unintelligent and unluminous phenomena receives a pulse of vibration in the proximity of aham. The association of prakrti with aham cooperated the production of an act of knowledge by causing reverberations on both external object and the reflexive-propogation of mind. However, what is to be noted is that the difference between the seer (dRk) and the seen (dRsya) is not real but apparent. Just as one sees oneself in the mirror, what is cognized in the mirror is the object. The objective reflection is 'actually' non-different from the seer. In other words the cognizer and the cognized are not different at all. The cognition of the non-duality that signifies the non-difference of cognition and the cognized, according to Mandana, is actually the transcendental reality, which is beyond the subject and the object itself. 


In the tarka-khanda of Brahma-Siddhi, Mandana Misra articulates that the loci of all cognition resides in the conjunction and it transcends what is conjoined. The thing when conjoined is not distinct from its form when unconjoined. In a meta-level, during all wordly perceptions the objectivity is translated to its corresponding  speech forms and during the process of constructive-cognitions (vikalpa pratyaya) speech alone appears to be articulated in the form of knowledge. The speech as the essence of all objectivities. The object that is cognized is reflected in the propogated waves of sound consciousness of the mind and is pulsated in relation to the 'I', which is ultimately the absolute cognition in-itself. Mandana gives an analogy 'just as moons in the waves of the water are of the moon only' (candramasA iva jalatarangacandramasaA iti)

Sound-Consciousness (1)

pratyag-dRSTi 

The pratyag-dRSTi is the pure-consciousness, which is also called samvit. The samvit-caitanya is non-different from vAk or sound. It is known as sabda-brahman. World is the trans-figuration (vivarta) of Sabda. The vak-sukta of the Veda declares : Sabda as the ultimate reality; 'I (vAk) move as Rudra-s and Vasu-s' (Rgveda Samhita: 19-125-1). The sound of speech caused the entire universe. Chandogya Upanisad  (6.4.2), states 'it is verily the vAk the source of all modifications of name and form'. The ultimate vAk is praNava, the OM. OM is everything, remarks Sankara in the mANDUkya kArikA bhASya, Every object of this world expressed by name is not distinct from name and since name is not distinct from OM, all this is nothing but OM. 

Amrtabindupanisad teaches the concept of Sabda Brahman in mantra 16 where it says the immutable Sound Brahman is Supreme (Sabdaksaram param Brahma). Upanisad Brahmendra comments on these terms to say ‘the attributeless Brahman is the immutable Sound Brahman which is para (Nirvisesa Brahma = Sabdaksaram param ‘OM’) and the same is known to be the ‘qualified’ Brahman, which is Pranava (Sabda Brahman = Savisesa Brahman). These two-fold aspects are taught as ‘dve vidya’ in the Upanisad [v.17] and Upanisad Brahmendra, insists the Advaitic position on the essential unity of the two aspects of same Brahman, savisesa and nirvisesa (Sabda Brahma param Brahma yat brahma dvividam – Saguna-Nirguna Brahma yAtatmyam). Sabda-aksara Brahman which is Nirvisesa, as Upanisad Brahmendra views, is the substratum for dissolution of all phonemes  (sabda-aksara vilayadhikaranam) and that it is beyond all epistemic positivities and the counter positivities (niSpratiyogika-svamAtra). 

Narayana Bhatta [16th C.E],remarks that the Supreme Sabda Brahman is the Consciousness (param brahma caitanyanca).  He interprets the term ‘svara’ [v. 7a] in a literal sense, as he considers it as the voice of preceptor or the Pranava (gurupadesena praNavena vA) but clearly gives scope to regard the term ‘svara’ as savisesha Sabda Brahman in consideration with his remark on the term ‘asvara’ as he calls it the transcendental to all Sounds (sabdAtItam) while Upanisad Brahmendra agrees to this point to place ‘asvara’ in absolute distinction from all 16 fold cosmogonic evolutionary principles including the life breath (pranadi ... shodaSakala vailakSaNyam asvaram), which eventually explains the transcendence with respect to spatio-temporal adjuncts within the experiential grounds and the ‘svara’ to denote the OM-kara connoting the NirguNa as well as saguNa Isvara.

Mandana Misra, the celebrated author of Brahma-Siddhi, mentions that the OM or the Sabda Brahman is all-comprehensive, the Self of all. Mandana contends that the ultimate sound-consciousness is transcendental and it is pure existence beyond all relegations of particularities (vyakti-s) and generalities (jAti-s). All forms of knowledge is non-different from the ultimate Sound-consciousness. The knowledge 'This is pot' in which the association of 'this-ness of pot' denotes the real existence of the pot and that the pot knowledge is none other than sound-consciousness itself. In other words, the object consciousness is said to be the nature of sound-consciousness (sabda-rUpatvaM) just as a pot which is always seen in association with clay is said to be of the nature of the clay and nothing else. Hence all forms of knowledge-awareness is invariably associated with sound-consciousness, which is OM. The relation of identity (tAdAtmya sambanda) between the object and the sound-consciousness reveals the knowledge or the awareness of the existence of an object. The absence of tAdAtmya sambanda the obscures the objectivity of the object. While the relation of identity is the means (upAya)  to reveal the knowledge of the object, the sound-consciousness (OM) is the actual content of all forms of knowledge.