Śabda

Sound, word, primordial vibration. In the Upaniṣads, śabda is elevated to śabda Brahman: sound as the manifest aspect of the absolute, a bridge between the manifest and the unmanifest. The Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra exploits this path by proposing the contemplation of internal sound ([[nāda]]) as a means of dissolving the mind into pure consciousness. The entire nāda yoga is grounded in śabda: from the syllable OM to the unstruck sound (anāhata), vibration is the thread that leads from the ear to the Self.