second in order to achieve its non-duality. The Mimamsakas took the view that nothing but exhaustion of all actions can lead to liberation. Significance Yama tells Naciketa (Katha Upanishad I.iii.13) that the discriminating mind should merge the organ of speech into the mind; he who has extracted and tasted the real essence enjoys true happiness in total silence and all alone united with the source and protecting it (Rig Veda I.79.3). Sankara explains this unity by citing Badhva's response to Bashkalin. The silence referred to by Badhva as the indescribable nature of Brahman is meant to be felt somewhere deep within. It is of far greater magnitude than mere looking into one's own mind, far more acute than even the sharpest intellect that can ever read into and decipher its codes. This silence compels the framing of questions, and by itself is the answer not merely in the sound of speech that covers it and reaches the ears. The letters of the alphabet and the words they constitute do not emit the sound or sounds they represent; the sounds they depict are of no value if there is no meaning attached. The silence spoken of by Badhva by itself speaks out most eloquently because it has a meaning attached to it; we are that meaning as also the interpretation of its subtleness. Rishi Ayasya (Rig Veda IX.46.2) prays – परिष्कृतास इन्दवो योषेव पित्र्यावती | वायुं सोमा असृक्षत || He states that having acquired the knowledge of the Highest the learned people easily unravel the deeply hidden meaning of the most subtle kind. The letters of the alphabet are the limiting adjuncts of the sounds they denote. The space that exists between two lines is the same that exists between sentences, between words and between letters making up those words. But this space denotes no sound; it is devoid of limiting adjuncts or barriers, the same as the Supreme Being who is a mass of Pure Consciousness devoid of limiting adjuncts. Thus, Space which is silent, unchangeable, eternal and infinite is Brahman. Silence is the Avyakta, the only reality whereas sound is the other Avyakta which is Maya or Prakrti that projects itself on account of its three qualities (gunas). Turiya is beyond utterance and is therefore called the Amatra. Sankara tells us that ignorance is the cause of all conditioned experiences, from the darkness of ignorance arises the sense of