Assenting to which, Brahmā began thus: "Omkāra that is Brahman is the vyashti (individual) and the samashti (cosmic). What is the individual? What is the cosmic? Brahma-praṇava is of three kinds, samhāra- (destructive) praṇava, sṛshti- (creative) praṇava, and ubhayāṭmaka (belonging to both) praṇava, as being of two forms, internal and external. (It is also eight:) Anṭaḥ-praṇava, Vyāvahārika-praṇava, bāhya-praṇava, ārsha-praṇava, ubhayāṭmaka or virāt-praṇava, samhāra-praṇava, brahma-praṇava, and arḍhamāṭrā praṇava. Om is Brahman. Know that the manṭra of the one-syllabled Om is Praṇava. It has the eight differences of akāra, ukāra, makāra, arḍhamāṭrā, nāḍa, binḍu, kalā, and śakṭi. Know it is not four (alone). Akāra is associated with ten thousand limbs; ukāra, with one thousand limbs; makāra with one hundred limbs; arḍhamāṭrā is of the nature of endless limbs. That which is saguṇa (associated with guṇas) is virāt- (preservation) praṇava; that which is nirguṇa (not associated with guṇas) is samhāra- (or destruction) praṇava; that which is associated with guṇas and is not so associated, is uṭpaṭṭi- (or origination) praṇava. Pluṭa (the elongated accent) is virāt: pluṭapluṭa is samhāra. The virāt-praṇava is of the form of sixteen māṭrās and is above the thirty-six ṭaṭṭvas. The sixteen māṭrās are thus: Akāra is the first māṭrā; ukāra is the second; makāra is the third; arḍhamāṭrā is the fourth; nāḍa is the fifth; binḍu is the sixth; kalā is the seventh; kalāṭīṭa is the eighth; śānṭi is the ninth; śānṭyaṭiṭa is the tenth; unmanī is the eleventh; manonmanī is the twelfth; purīṭaṭi is the thirteenth; ṭanumaḍhyamā is the fourteenth; paṭi is the fifteenth; parā is the sixteenth. Then (again) having sixty-four māṭrās and their division into the two, Prakṛṭi and Purusha and resolving themselves into the one hundred and twenty-eight differences of māṭrās, it becomes saguṇa and nirguṇa. Though Brahma-praṇava is one only, it is the substratum of all, the support