Understanding वर्ण
Introduction
when someone speaks, the sound waves are different every time if we compare them minutely.
During evolution, about 140.7 crore year ago, the abiliity to identify some spoken sounds into an abstract “class” evolved where even if individual sounds are different, if they were within some tolerance limit, they can be interpreted as equal. This is ability to set tolerance level that ignores minnute variations as noise and identifies signal correctly enabled communication by sound. This “signal” is called वर्ण.
By “Meaning of वर्ण” refers to a set of neural connections that get activated when वर्ण is activated. Typically by speaking, hearing or thinking the वर्ण.
Neural circuitry for each वर्ण has at the lelast, auditory and kinetic/motor connections. Without auditory connections, it becomes mere movement without sound and without motor connections it becomes sound that can be heard but can not be spoken. वर्ण must have “speak” and “listen” both components at the least.
Besides these, वर्ण also has other neural connections. I classify these connections in two types - hard wired + naturally acquired and acquired by use of language. When i refer to meaning of वर्ण I specifically exclude connections acquired thru use of language. Connections acquired thru use of language did not exist and could not be used for communication at emergence of language as they did not exist. Connections acquired thru use of language are “derived” meanings. connections that are hard wired + naturally acquired, are original meanings.
When I refer to “meaning of वर्ण” i refer to all original and derived meanings up to the point when वर्ण समास came into usage. I take this view because upto this poiint i am considering language to be so primitive as not to have affected वर्ण meaning in any meaningful way. And all associations acquired uto this point can be considered as acquired in antural course of things and not thu use of language.
I also accept this as limitation because I am tryinig to decipher meaning of वर्ण from corpus of वर्ण समास. My approcach is to find meaning of व from वर्ण समास like वाचा, वेद, वाद, देव, घाव, वंद etc and then cross check if meaning of व fits in. Once i level of वर्ण, all i am left with is व. I have no way to decipher whether व came to mean speach because lips had wave like movement or waves came to mean व because they had lip like movement. I ca not know whether व came to mean wind because it has corelation with speech or speech got associated with व because it had something to do with wind. So once i reach to a set of meanings that are assigned to a वर्ण, like व, i can tno go back further by comparing words made form that वर्ण. I try and understand which one ir original based on archaeological or evolution or technological developememnt sequence when we know that. For example, क meant “hand held” before it acquired meaning “stone.” So within क, between these two meanings, i can derive that “hand held”/hand is original and “stone” is derived. Before Stone age क could not hve meant stone and would have meant only hand/hand-held. But this does not help much. As a result, i am not trying to separate original from derived before वर्ण समास Era.
In context of all he language structure built on top of it, वर्ण are ahrd wired in brain circiutry and are foundational, rooted parts. Unlike meanings of words (everything from वर्ण समास to पद), meaning of वर्ण does not change across time. Hence वर्ण are called अक्षर/शाश्वत. To understand why वर्ण meanings do not change, read ऋऌक्. Once language moved to वर्ण समास, meanings of वर्ण prevailing in society at that time, becae building block on which remaining linguistic struture evolved. And liike evolution, ancestor foot print is there in all descedent meanigns. This fact, heredity of meaning, helps in deciphering meanign of वर्ण. The fact that Sanskrit is Special helps. With other languages, where evolution paths are blurred, it is nearly impossible to arrive at वर्ण meaning.
Meaning of वर्ण is not defined/created by any individual and in this sense they are called अ-पौरुषेय.
Guidelines to understand meaning of वर्ण in शिव सूत्र
Imagine yourself tobe in the वर्ण or वर्ण-समास Era. This is prerequisite for context in which original meanings are to be understood
Because all concepts like सुप तीङ, काल, वचन, पुरुष, कृत, तद्धित, अव्यय, and all those aspects that are not yet expressed in words but are understood in context - all these were convbeyed by वर्ण alone. Because there was nothing else to communnicat with; when you try to grasp meaning of वर्ण, all these are considered to have been encompassed in वर्ण.
Same is true for धातु.
धातु can be understood to express meaning of every word that can be derievd from धातु - All 18 verb forms, all 21 noun(सुप) forms, all 10 काल, all 3 लिंग, all 3 वचन, as कृत, as तद्धित, as विकरण. It also encompasses everything that language and grammar are not articulating.
To reiterate, वर्ण encompasses all linguistic forms tat can be derived. वर्ण is itself करता, किरीय, कर्म, करण, संप्रदान, अपादान, अधिकरण. It encompases all काल, It encompases past present, future and remaining 7 काल. It is male and female and neuter, it is एकवचन, द्वि वचन and बहु वचन. And it is all those, and beyond (what is not expressed in words but is understood from context), at once.
To give an example -
If we are interpreting a र वर्ण, it can mean, blood, flow (property of blood), invigorating /strengthening (property of blood) water (object that has property of flow), sharp (what causes blood), shining (property of sharp), fire (flowing/shining), emotions associated with blood, flow, sharp, shining, fire; meaning (as abstraction of flow), enchanting (property of fire)…
Upto धातु era, most of meaning was contextual and “meaning” were more in “wave state” than “object state”, to use analogies form physics. Only after settled life when repeatation became rampant indaily encounters, meaning in their “object state” became crystalized. धातु पाठ is crystalized meanings. धातु are yet more wave like compared to पद, but more object like compared to वर्ण/वर्ण-समास.
so, to interprete वर्ण you need to do पद to धातु like abstraction/distillation from धातु to वर्ण. This is normal because as you reduce number of symbols with which you have to expdrience and express world, each symbols has to carry more meanings and that are to beunderstood from context.
Footnotes
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Jorgewich-Cohen and others https://www.sci.news/biology/acoustic-communication-11333.html ↩