Matrika (the power of sound inherent in the letters of the alphabet) is the source of limited knowledge.

Shiva Sutra 1.4 When Parashakti - who is also called Citi Bhagavati, the universal Consciousness - limits Herself, She manifests in the form of matrika, the group of letters, o r sound-syllables. Matrika is the cause of one's pain and pleasure. all the thou ghts and feelings that arise in the mind - happiness and unhappiness, desire, ag itation, love, expectation, and jealousy - are the work of matrika. Neither lang uage, nor terminology, nor poetry, nor scriptures, nor words of praise and blame can pass beyond the world of letters. Matrika arises from the heart, from the inner speech. There are four levels of s peech corresponding to the four bodies. Everyone is aware of the speech of the t ongue. It is called vaikhari and corresponds to the gross body. With the subtle intellect, one can also know the second level of speech, which is in the throat. There, words have taken form but have not yet emerged. This level is called mad hyamah and corresponds to the subtle body. At a deeper level, words exist in the heart. This is the third level of speech, pashyanti, which corresponds to the c ausal body. Here, words are hidden, and what arises at this level is matrika. Be neath this level, parah, which corresponds to the supracausal body. Some say tha t parah is in the navel region, but in actuality this subtlest level of speech p ervades everywhere. Since it is all-pervading, it can be known anywhere. Matrika has its source in the parah level. Letters combine to form a word - for example, m-a-n-g-o becomes mango. Each word has its own meaning, the meaning creates its own image, and that image has its own feeling. Whenever an image is created in the mind, one experiences an emotion, whether it is happiness or unhappiness, friendship or enmity. For example, if I call someo ne a fool, the letters come together and compose words, the words compose a sent ence, the sentence has it's own meaning and the meaning creates it's own image. When I utter a sentence "That girl is a fool," it strikes her, and a painful and angry feeling arises in her mind. Matrika creates infinite images. If one doesn't identify with the images or thei r objects, one doesn't experience suffering. Matrika is the source, not only of our pleasure and pain but of this entire univ erse. This world has arisen from the sound-syllables of the Sanskrit alphabet, w hich are nothing but matrika. Just as it creates the outer world, matrika create s infinite inner worlds. Different feelings arise in the heart, and the individu al soul keeps moving among these feelings throughout it's life, experiencing pai n and pleasure. Day and night, the matrika shakti creates these things within us . Even when we sleep, it doesn't sleep. It is alive even in the savikalpa state of samadhi, the samadhi with thought. It dies only when one attains the state of thoughtlessness, nirvikalpa samadhi. Matrika is the source of the three malas, the impurities that cause knowledge to become contracted. Due to anavamala, one feels imperfect; due to mayiyamala, on e becomes lost in duality; and due to karmayamala, one becomes caught up in the fruit of one's good and bad actions. Instead of understanding that one is the Se lf, one understands oneself to be a mere human being. One feels, "I am a man," " I am a priest," "I am a woman," "I am thin," and in this way, one makes oneself small. In the inner space, matrika shakti creates letters and one experiences th em. One begins to dwell in them, one becomes infatuated with them, and as a resu lt, one performs actions in this world. This is worldliness. However, just as matrika helps us to contract, it also helps us to expand oursel

ves. The moment one understands the matrika shakti and its work, one is no longe r a human being. When the matrika shakti expands within, in this very body, one becomes Shiva. Sit quietly and watch the play of matrika shakti. Watch how the matrika gives ri se to letters, how the letters compose words, how the meaning of the words compo se images in the mind; watch how you become involved in these images. The yogi pursues matrika shakti; he watches it and makes it steady. He brings it under his control, he manipulates it any way he likes. He turns evil thoughts i nto good thoughts. The matrika shakti works according to his will. Such a yogi i s called a conqueror of the senses. One who understands the play of matrika shakti and makes it still rises above pa in and pleasure. One cannot attain peace as long as he is driven by the play of matrika shakti. For this reason, one has to practice yoga. Through yoga, the mov ements of the mind are stilled and the power of matrika is overcome. An exerpt from the Shiva Sutras 'Nothing Exists That Is Not Siva'