René Guénon
Chapter 51

### VERBUM, LUX, & VITA

We have just alluded to the action of the Word that produces the 'illumination' which is at the origin of all manifestation, and which is also found analogously at the beginning of the initiatic process. Although the question may appear to be somewhat outside our principal subject (although, because of the correspondence between the 'macrocosmic' and 'microcosmic' points of view, this is so only in appearance), this leads us to the close link that, from the cosmogonic point of view, exists between sound and light, which is very clearly expressed by the association and even identification made at the beginning of the Gospel of Saint John between the words Verbum, Lux, and Vita.[1] It is known that the Hindu tradition, which considers 'luminosity' (taijasa) to be characteristic of the subtle state (and we will soon see how this relates to the last of the three terms we have just mentioned), affirms on the other hand that the primordiality of sound (shabda) among the sensible qualities corresponds to ether (ākāsha) among the elements. So stated, this affirmation immediately refers to the corporeal world, but at the same time it is also susceptible of transposition to other domains,[2] for in reality it only translates the process of universal manifestation with respect to the corporeal world, which, in the final analysis, is merely a particular case. If manifestation is considered in its totality, this same affirmation is that by which all things, whatever their state, are produced by the divine Word or divine Utterance, which is thus at the beginning or, better (for this is something essentially 'timeless'), at the principle of all manifestation,[3] which is explicitly stated at the beginning of the Hebrew Genesis where, as we have just said, the first word spoken at the starting-point of manifestation is the Fiat Lux by which the chaos of possibilities is illuminated and organized. This reveals precisely the direct relationship that exists in the principial order between what by analogy can be called sound and light, that is to say those realities of which sound and light in the ordinary meaning of these terms are the respective expressions in our world.

Here we should make an important remark. The verb amar, which is used in the biblical text and which is usually translated as 'to say', in reality has in both Hebrew and Arabic the principal meaning of 'to command' or 'to order'. The divine Word is the 'order' (amr) by which creation, that is to say the production of universal manifestation, either in its entirety or in some one of its modalities, is effected.[4] Likewise, according to Islamic tradition, the first creation is Light (an-Nūr), which is called min amri Llah, that is, 'proceeding immediately from the divine order or command'; and this creation is situated so to speak in the 'world', that is to say the state or degree of existence which, for that reason, is called 'alam al-amr and forms the purely spiritual world properly speaking. Indeed, the intelligible Light is the essence (dhāt) of the 'Spirit' (ar-Rūh), which, when it is considered in its universal sense, is identified with the Light itself. This is why the expressions an-Nūr al-Muhammadi [the Light or Reality of Muhammad] and ar-Rūh al-Muhammadiyah [the Spirit of Muhammad] are equivalents, both designating the principial and total form of 'Universal Man',[5] who is Awwal khalqi' Llah, 'the First of the Divine Creation. This is the true 'Heart of the World' the expansion of which produces the manifestation of all beings and the contraction of which brings them back in the end to their Principle;[6] and thus it is both 'the first and the last' (al-awwal wa 'l-akher) with respect to creation, just as Allah himself is 'the First and the Last' in the absolute sense.[7] 'Heart of hearts and Spirit of spirits' (Qalb al-qulūbi wa Rūh al-arwāh), it is in his bosom that the particular 'spirits', the angels (al malā'ikah) and the 'separated spirits' (al-arwāli al-mujarradah), are differentiated, which are thus formed of the primordial Light as their unique essence, with no admixture of elements representing the determining conditions of the lower degrees of existence.[8] If we now pass on to the more particular considerations of our world, that is to say to the degree of existence to which the human state belongs (this state here considered in its entirety and not restricted to its corporeal modality alone), we must find in it, as 'center', a principle that corresponds to the 'Universal Heart', of which it is as it were only a specification with respect to this state. It is this principle that the Hindu doctrine designates as Hiranyagarbha; it is an aspect of Brahina, that is, of the Word that produces manifestation,[9] and at the same time it is also 'Light', as is indicated by the designation _taijasa_ given to the subtle state that forms its proper 'world', the possibilities of which it contains essentially within itself.[10] Here we find the third of the terms mentioned at the beginning. For the beings manifested in this domain, and in conformity with their particular conditions of existence, this cosmic Light appears as 'Life': _Et Vita erat Lux hominum_ ['and that Life was the Light of men'], as the Gospel of Saint John says in exactly this sense. _Hiranyagarbha_ is therefore in this respect like the 'vital principle' of this entire world, and this is why it is called _jiva-ghana_, all life being principally synthesized in it. The word _ghana_ indicates that the global' form we spoke of above in connection with the primordial Light is also found here, so that 'Life' appears as an image or reflection of the 'Spirit' at a certain level of manifestation;[11] and this same form is also that of the 'World Egg' (_Brahmanda_) of which _Hiranya- garbha_ is, as its name signifies, the vivifying 'seed'.[12]

In a certain state corresponding to the first subtle modality of the human order that properly constitutes the world of _Hiranyagarbha_ (although of course without identification with this 'center' itself),[13] the being is aware of itself as a wave of the 'primordial Ocean',[14] without it being possible to say whether this wave is a sonorous vibration or a luminous wave. In reality, it is simultaneously the one and the other, indissolubly united in principle, and beyond all differentiation, which arises only at a later stage in the development of manifestation. We speak analogously here, which goes without saying, for it is evident that in the subtle state there can be no question of sound or light in the ordinary sense, that is to say as sensible qualities, but only of those realities from which these respectively proceed; and on the other hand, vibration or undulation in their literal meanings necessarily imply the conditions of space and time proper to the domain of corporeal existence; but the analogy is nonetheless exact, and here it is the only possible mode of expression. The state in question is therefore directly related to the very principle of Life in the most universal sense in which this can be understood;[15] and an image of this is found in the primary manifestations of organic life itself, those that are strictly indispensable to its preservation, such as the pulsation of the heart and the alternate movements of respiration. And this is the true foundation of those multiple applications of the 'science of rhythm' the role of which is extremely important in most methods of initiatic realization. This science naturally includes the mantra-vidyā, which corresponds to its 'sonic' aspect;[16] on the other hand, since the 'luminous' aspect appears more particularly in the nādis of the 'subtle form' (sūkshma-sharira), [17] one can see without difficulty the relation of all this to the double nature, luminous (jyotirmayi) and sonorous (shabdamayi or mantramayi), that the Hindu tradition attributes to Kundalini, the cosmic force that, insofar as it resides within the human being in particular, acts there as 'vital force'.[18] Thus we always find the three terms, Verbum, Lux, and Vita, inseparable even at the origin of the human state; and on this point as on so many others, we can recognize the perfect accord of the different traditional doctrines, which in reality are only different expressions of the one Truth.

Footnotes

[1]It is not without interest to note in this connection that, in the Masonic organizations which have most completely preserved the ancient ritual forms, the Bible placed on the altar must be opened precisely at the fust page of the Gospel of Saint John.
[2]This obviously results from the fact that the theory on which the science of mantras (mantra-vidyā) is based distinguishes different modalities of sound: parā or non-manifested, pashyanti and vaikhari, which is the spoken word. Only this last refers strictly to sound as a sensible quality, belonging to the corporeal order.
[3]These are the very first words of the Gospel of Saint John In principio erat Verbum.
[4]We must recall here the connection that exists between the two different meanings of the word 'order' that we have already mentioned in an earlier note
[5]See The Symbolisin of the Cross, chap. 6.
[6]The symbolism of the double movement of the heart must be seen here as the equivalent of the two inverse and complementary phases of respiration, which are especially well known in the Hindu tradition. In both cases there is an alternating expansion and contraction which correspond to the two terms roagula and solve of Hermeticism, on the condition that it be carefully kept in mind that the two phases must be taken inversely according to whether they are considered in reference to the principle or in reference to manifestation, so that it is the principial expansion that determines the 'coagulation' of the manifested, and the principial contraction that determines its 'solution.
[7]This is also connected to the role of Metatron in the Hebrew Kabbalah [See The King of the World, chap. 3 ED |
[8]It is easy to see that this can be identified with the domain of supra-individual inanifestation
[9]It is 'producer' with respect to our world, but is at the same time 'produced' with respect to the Supreme Principle, which is why it is also called Karya-Brahmă
[10]See _Man and His Becoming according to the Vedanta_, chap. 14. This luminous nature is indicated in the very name _Hiranyagarbha_, for light is symbolized by gold (_hiranya_), which itself is 'mineral light' and corresponds among the metals to the sun among the planets; and we know that in the symbolism of all traditions the sun is also a figure of the 'Heart of the World'.
[11]This remark can help to define the relationships between the 'spirit' (_ar- rūh_) and the 'soul' (_an-nafs_), the last being the 'vital principle' of each particular being.
[12]Cf. _The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times_, chap. 20
[13]The state in question is what Islamic esoterism calls a _hāl_, whereas the state corresponding to the identification with this center is properly a _maqām_
[14]In keeping with the general symbolism of the Waters, the 'Ocean' (in San- skrit, _samudra_) represents the totality of possibilities contained within a certain state of existence. Within this totality each wave thus corresponds to the determina- tion of a particular possibility
[15]In the Islamic tradition this refers especially to the aspect or attribute expressed by the divine name al-Hayy, ordinarily translated by 'the living, but which can be rendered much more exactly as 'the Vivifying'
[16]It goes without saying that this does not apply exclusively to the mantras of the Hindu tradition but equally to what corresponds to them elsewhere, for example to the dhikr in the Islamic tradition in a very general way it is a question of sonorous symbols that are ritually used as sensible 'supports' of 'incantation' taken in the sense we explained earlier.
[17]See Man and His Becoming according to the Vedānta, chaps 14 and 21.
[18]Since Kundalini is symbolically represented by a serpent coiled about itself in the form of a ring (kundala), one might recall here the relationship in traditional symbolism between the serpent and the 'World Egg' to which we just alluded in [^]: connection with Hiranyagarbha 'Thus, among the ancient Egyptians, Knepli in the forin of a serpent produces the 'World Egg' from his mouth (which implies an allusion to the essential role of the Word as producer of manifestation); and we will also mention the equivalent symbol of the 'serpent egg' of the Druids which was represented by the fossil sea urchin
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