The Sequence of Numbers 237 



employ the Sanskrit nomenclature for the Tattvas; 

 because Sanskrit being a pure, primitive tongue, is 

 rich in onomatopoetic words like our cool, fiery, 

 rustling, brilliant, scurry. There is great probabil- 

 ity that the names of the Tattvas bear a metrical re- 

 lation to their signification, quality, and action on 

 the gross plane of matter. Hence it is very impor- 

 tant that they be correctly pronounced. To facilitate 

 this, the accepted phonetic spelling (that adopted 

 by the Sanskrit scholars who appreciate the need) 

 has been strictly followed; and to give further aid 

 a glossary of all the Sanskrit words it has been 

 necessary to use is appended to this book. 



The marvellous building and formative power 

 in sound has always been recognized in Hindu re- 

 ligion and philosophy, and it has led the East In- 

 dian people to have an unshakable faith in the 

 potency of their most sacred Word. They believe 

 the manifestating Word of God is Om (Aum}, 

 and, being " double in its pronunciation and triple 

 in its essence," that it expresses every power of 

 generation, preservation, and destruction; that is, 

 correspondence with their Trimurti (Trinity) 

 Brahma, the creator; Vishnu, the preserver; and 

 Shiva, the destroyer; " all one in different aspects." 



Although there are hundreds of words in differ- 

 ent languages signifying God, there must be some 

 root thought, generalization, or common ground 

 from which all the symbols spring; and that root 



