स्पर्शस्तस्याभवज्जीवः स्वरो देह उदाहृत ।
ऊष्माणमिन्द्रियाण्याहुर् अन्तःस्था बलमात्मनः ।
स्वराः सप्त विहारेण भवन्ति स्म प्रजापतेः ॥ ४७ ॥
sparsas tasyabhavaj jivah
sparsah-the set of letters from ka to ma; tasya-his; abhavat-became; jivah-the soul; svarah-vowels; dehah-his body; udahrtah-are expressed; usmanam-the letters sa, sa, sa and ha; indriyani-the senses; ahuh-are called; antahsthah-the set of letters so known (ya, ra, la and va); balam-energy; atmanah-of his self; svarah-music; sapta-seven; viharena-by the sensual activities; bhavanti sma-became manifested; prajapateh-of the lord of the living entities.
Brahma's soul manifested as the touch alphabets, his body as the vowels, his senses as the sibilant alphabets, his strength as the intermediate alphabets and his sensual activities as the seven notes of music.
In Sanskrit there are thirteen vowels and thirty-five consonants. The vowels are a, a, i, i, u, u, r, r, l, e, ai, o, au, and the consonants are ka, kha, ga, gha, etc. Amongst the consonants, the first twenty-five letters are called the sparsas. There are also four antahsthas. Of the usmas there are three s's, called talavya, murdhanya and danta. The musical notes are sa, r, ga, ma, pa, dha, and ni. All these sound vibrations are originally called sabda-brahma, or spiritual sound. It is said, therefore, that Brahma was created in the Maha-kalpa as the incarnation of spiritual sound. The Vedas are spiritual sound, and therefore there is no need of material interpretation for the sound vibration of the Vedic literature. The Vedas should be vibrated as they are, although they are symbolically represented with letters which are known to us materially. At the ultimate issue there is nothing material because everything has its origin in the spiritual world. The material manifestation is therefore called illusion in the proper sense of the term. For those who are realized souls there is nothing but spirit.