Re "Almost everyone in India where TM got started knows that the TM mantras are sounds found in nature and are related to the devas. For example, the bija 'phat' is the 'crack', 'pop' sound made by an India two-stroke motor rikshaw, heard all over Delhi - phata-phata.":
Very droll. Re "Likewise, all TM bijas are formed around the name of a particular deva and often come from the syllables in the devas referent name or associated attributes - they didn't come out of a void.": Cart before the horse. Isn't the simplest explanation for the source of the bija mantras this: ask a newbie to sit quietly with eyes closed adopting a passive attitude to their thoughts. Eventually a dominant, insistent sound will emerge from their subconscious. Take that sound as your mantra and allow it to pulse gently and use it as a vehicle to take you deep . . . Now something like that procedure must have occured long, long ago. The sages who pioneered such meditation would have compared notes and tried and tested which sounds were most efficacious. Later, the common people linked the names of gods and goddesses to the most widely used mantras. The bijas came first; the attributions much, much later.
