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140
THE SPEECE OF THE GODS
speech while pronouncing them; but it must in all cases be borne in mind that the intuitive is the primary meaning, though reasons for it cannot from its very nature, be stated argumentatively; in most cases, therefore, physiological reason alone will be given. For the convenience of those unacquainted with Sanskrit phonetics, we shall adhere as far as possible to the English alphabet.
To begin with B and M (pronounced ba and am), it we analyse their character and difference from other sounds and from each other, we find that with the exception P (Pa) a slight variant of B, they are the only sounds which require the complete closure of the mouth for their formation. Whether it be preceded or followed by a vowel, B cannot be corrctly pronounced without first closing the lips and then opening them. It is evident therefore that as Ba is the only sound which is made by the buisting forth of the breath from closed lips, it is more suited than afy other to express ''the beginning of life," or "life." M differs from B in this, that it is wade not by the breath coring from the just opened lips, but by close ing them and stopping the breath completely for a time, then the breath finds an outlet by its apper channel, the nose. Taking these facts into consideration, we perceive that it should mean something extreme, like “end," "height" or "death," or, more fully, the stoppage of the life energy and its transfer to a different channel. We may here remark that
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