akshara
अक्षर akṣaraThe imperishable; a term the Upanishads use for the unchanging absolute, as in Yajnavalkya's teaching to Gargi. Literally 'that which does not perish,' it also means a syllable.
Where this term appears
- The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: the forest of Yajnavalkya Treatise
…is the finest negative description in the text, the imperishable, the akshara : "It is neither coarse nor fine, neither short nor long, neither red nor fluid; it is without shadow, without darkness, having no w…
- The Mandukya Upanishad: twelve verses, four states, one sound Treatise
Hume notes that the word the text uses for "syllable," akshara , also means "imperishable," so the opening sentence carries a double sense: this syllable, and this imperishable, is all this.
- The Mundaka Upanishad: two birds, and the lower knowledge Treatise
…onomy); but the higher knowledge is that by which the Indestructible (akshara) is apprehended." (Mundaka 1.1.4–5, tr.
- The Ones Who Asked Treatise
This time she asks after the imperishable, the akshara , that on which all of space itself is woven.
- The Garland of Letters Treatise
And there is a word for the point where these sounds touch the eternal: akshara .