Similarly ‘a’ ( A ) combines phonetically with the fourth pure vowel ‘ri’ ( ? ) to give ( ?+A) – ‘ra’ ( r ) and this is the bija-mantra for the Navel or Manipur chakra. Ritah is the word for ‘order’ and it is through the navel that the umbilical cord introduces prana into the human body.

In the same manner‘a’ ( A ) combines phonetically with the third & fifth pure vowels ‘u’ ( ] ) & ‘lri’ ( ; ) respectively to give ( ]+A) – ‘va’ ( va ) and ( ;+A) – ‘la’ ( la ) these are the bija-mantras for the lowest two charkas – ‘la’ for the Genitals and ‘va’ for the Faecal position. These are called the Swadishthan & Muladhar chakras respectively.These four aksharas are also called the yam ( yama\ ) symbols. And this is the name of Lord of Death in the Vedas thus it signifies time-bound decaying of energies. Interestingly, if we look at the akshara-wheel ( ma ) and ( ya ) are contiguous. If we go clockwise ‘yam’ ( yama\ ) could be the pratyahara for the entire alphabet signifying its closure or death. On the other hand if we go anti-clockwise from ( ma ) to ( ya ) and add an extra matra or meter to each syllable for extension in time – we get the unfolding of maya !