Śivasaṃhitā 1.77

The sensory qualities of the elements as bridges between cosmology and direct experience. Ether is not an abstract concept: it is experienced as inner space and as the capacity to hear. Air is not just wind: it is the inherent mobility of all life and the sensation of touch that connects us to the other. Philosophy becomes practical when felt in one’s own body.

Śabdalakṣaṇa (having sound as its characteristic, whose mark is sound) describes ākāśa: ether is the medium in which sound propagates. Cañcalaḥ (restless, mobile, in perpetual movement) and sparśalakṣaṇa (having touch as its characteristic) describe vāyu: air is what touches. That ‘from Consciousness everything has emerged’ recalls that this cosmology is non-dualistic: ether and air are not autonomous substances but expressions of the single consciousness.

The assignment of śabda (sound) to ākāśa has profound implications in the tradition of mantra yoga. The sound OM (praṇava), considered the primordial sound, is the most direct manifestation of ether as vibrant consciousness. The Upaniṣads affirm that before creation only nāda (primordial sound) existed in the pure space of consciousness. Practicing japa or kīrtana is working directly with this element.