‘a’ ( A )[19] is a suffix in every sparś or ‘mute consonant’ – i.e from ( k ) to ( ma ) and in the sibilants ( Sa¸ Ya¸ sa¸ h ). This is a very interesting structure in Sanskrit. Now not only ‘a’ ( A ) is a suffix in every consonant of the alphabet and from there it pervades into every spoken word or sentence, it is also the symbol for Brahman, the Unknown……and this is precisely what is stated in 2.3.8.6….

Brahman is called ‘a’ ( A ) and the individual ‘I’ is there contained.

This is reconfirmed in Gīta 10.33…

I am the letter ‘a’ among the vowels of the alphabet and the dwanda compound in relation to the words collectively. I am endless time. I am the Dispenser facing everywhere.[20]

[21]

Lord Visnu himself proclaimed – I am the ‘a’ among the vowels.

Now ‘a’ ( A ) is the immutable, the symbolic Unknown – if, this is the ‘whisper’ –as explained in Ait. Ār. II.3.6 above, then as we force the breath just a little, what we get is its aspirate sound ‘ah’ ( Ah ). This can also be written as ( A: ) which is the visarga sound, and is grouped as ‘a-yogavāha’ meaning : “those (sounds) that occur (in the actual language) without being part of the alphabet” ….another very interesting aspect of the structure of Sanskrit language !

If we see the Fig.3 – another level of symmetry emerges – ‘ah’ ( A: )[22] closes the circle pictorially signifying the internal – external division . The ‘individual ego’, the ahamkār ( AhMkar ) has taken form – there is an inside and there is an outside – with the language of consciousness as the dividing membrane !Fig. 3 – The Sanskrit-alphabet Ring

The last but not the least is the affirmation of this by twin shlökas of Brihad-āranyaka Up. V.5.3 & 4 – the 1^st shlöka says that at the beginning of this You-niverse there was just water and from this germinated satyam, the truth which is likened to the Brahman (this shlöka gives the three syllables of satyam cited earlier). The 2^nd shlöka says – what is true is the yonder sun ādityah. The purush who is there in the mandal and the purush who is here in the right eye, these two rest in each other. The 3^rd shlöka invokes the Gāyatrī equating the head, arms and the legs to bhū, bhuvah, svah and says that the name of the purush in the mandal is ‘ah’ ( Ah: ). The 4^th shlöka is identical to the previous except for the name of the purush in the right eye, it is aham (AhM ).