The characters (Sanscrit, "charitra") of the Sanscrit language, the parent language of all languages, are born with creation. They are entities in Nature, form-expressions of her forces. They are eternal and indestructible "akshara," as characters are called. The vowels are masculine forces, the consonants are feminine forces. The masculine characters (vowels) are independent, the feminine characters (consonants) are dependent. The vowels can be pronounced by themselves, the consonants can only be pronounced when united with the vowels. The vowels are the expressions of the Essence of the Deity (Krishna), the consonants are the expressions of the Will-Force of the Deity ("Prakriti," that which procreates). Nature. Nature is born of Sound, the attribute of Ether, (Akas) which was the first manifestation of creation. That first sound was "AUM"—mispelled and mispronounced in English as The vowel A, (pronounced "Au" in Sanscrit), the initial letter of "AUM" is the parent of all letters and languages. This "AUM" in sound represents the distant vibrations of Krishna's Flute, the Music of Love, while its character-form in Sanscrit resembles the Form of Krishna playing on His Flute as the reader will see from the little outline picture of Krishna with its back-ground of "AUM" in Sanscrit character printed on the title-page of this book. This is the mystery of what Krishna Himself says in the Gita, "I am the Word AUM." The different combinations of the other Sanscrit characters (forms of natural forces), called words, represent, similarly, pictures of sound-forms of different attributes and objects. Sanscrit words, in fact, are sound-shells which hold within them essences of the attributes they represent and the objects they signify. The letters K, R, I, SH, N, A joined together form the word Krishna, which is the sound-shell of the Essence of Love, Nature's Absolute Attribute, produced by the fusion of the forces of which the composing characters are sound-forms. When frequently repeated together with the Love-Passion Seed word, its vibrations, after purifying the atmosphere of the mind, illumine in time its inner chamber, the heart, which is the door of the soul, and fills it with the ecstasy of Bliss. The Tulsi plant is the most spiritual plant in the world, hence its leaf is the best medium for conveying prayers, especially when it is smeared with sandal-wood paste, the perfume of which is much like the aroma of the Lord's Body.