The celebrated Varadātantra explains the meanings of each of the letters forming this Bījamantra in its sixth chapter:
Om̐ is the main sound from which all sounds (Bījamantra-s included) have arisen.
हकाराः शिववाची स्याद्रेफः प्रकृतिरुच्यते।
महामायार्थ इशब्दो नादो विश्वप्रसूः स्मृतः।
दुःखहरार्थको बिन्दुर्भुवनां तेन पूजयेत्॥
Hakārāḥ śivavācī syādrephaḥ prakṛtirucyate|
Mahāmāyārtha iśabdo nādo viśvaprasūḥ smṛtaḥ|
Duḥkhaharārthako bindurbhuvanāṁ tena pūjayet||
The letter (kāraḥ) "ha" (ha) is expressive (vācī) of Śiva (śiva), (while) repha or (the letter) "ra" (rephaḥ) is said (ucyate) to be (syāt) Prakṛti (prakṛtiḥ). The sound (śabdaḥ) "i" (i) means (arthaḥ) Mahāmāyā (mahāmāyā) (and) nāda or half-moon (nādaḥ) is declared (smṛtaḥ) (to be) the Mother (prasūḥ) of the universe (viśvam).
Bindu or dot (tena) means (arthakaḥ) destroyer (hara) of pain (duḥkha). One should worship (pūjayet) Bhuvanā (bhuvanām) by means of that (seed-mantra) (tena)||
Commentary
The Tantra-s (revealed scriptures, see Tantricism for more information) are presented as a dialogue between Śiva and Śakti. Pretty generally, Śiva acts as the spiritual preceptor or guru, and Śakti as his disciple or śiṣyā. Varadātantra is no exception to the rule.
Śiva is the Supreme Lord, obviously, as this is a Tantric scripture and not a Vedic one.
"Repha" is the name of the letter "ra". Some others letters also have a name, e.g. Visarga (ḥ), Anusvāra (ṁ), etc., but not all the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet have one like in the Greek language.
Prakṛti is the source of matter. The entire material universe shines forth from her. See Tattvic Chart for more information.
Anunāsika (half-moon and dot) is also known as Nādabindu, being "nāda" the half-moon and "bindu" the dot. Read Meditation 6 for more information about Nādabindu, please.
Mahāmāyā or great Māyā (the veiling power) is according to Trika (Non-dual Shaivism of Kashmir) a special kind of Māyā which is operating in the tattva-s 3 to 5. She is called like that because subject ("I") and object ("this") exist as two realities, but the subject experiences unity with the object though. In turn, under the influence of the common "Māyā", the subject experiences no unity with the object, but he feels different and separated from it. See the documents in "Trika/Trika (overview)" section for more information.
In this seed-mantra, "nāda" (the half-moon in Anunāsika) is the Mother of the universe, i.e. the Supreme Śakti or Power from which the entire cosmos has been manifested.
Even though you can see that the letters forming the seed-mantra are: "h", "r", "ī" and Anunāsika (half-moon and dot), the consonants in the Sanskrit alphabet have an appended "a". What is the reason? Because "a" is Śiva, the Supreme Self, and without Him all consonants are barren, as it were, that is, they have no power at all. Thus, Śiva describes the original consonants including "a" in the stanza, i.e. "ha" and "ra" despite they appear without "a" in the seed-mantra itself.
"Bhuvanā" is another way to call "Bhuvaneśvarī", the Mistress (īśvarī) of the worlds (bhuvana). In other terms, She is the Sublime Śakti or Power of Lord Śiva.
This seed-mantra is Śāktapraṇava, i.e. the main one out of those whose deity is Śakti.
Bīja-s or seed-mantra-s are always monosyllabic
शिववाची हकारस्तु औकारः स्यात् सदाशिवः।
शून्यं दुःखहरार्थं तु तस्मात्तेन शिवं यजेत्॥
Śivavācī hakārastu aukāraḥ syāt sadāśivaḥ|
Śūnyaṁ duḥkhaharārthaṁ tu tasmāttena śivaṁ yajet||
The letter (kāraḥ) "ha" (ha) (is) certainly (tu) expressive (vācī) of Śiva (śiva), (and) the letter (kāraḥ) "au" (au) is (syāt) Sadāśiva (sadāśivaḥ). Śūnya or Void (śūnyam) means (artham) destroyer (hara) of pain (duḥkha) indeed (tu). Therefore (tasmāt), one should worship (yajet) (Lord) Śiva (śivam) by means of that (seed-mantra) (tena)||
Commentary
The Tantra-s (revealed scriptures, see Tantricism for more information) are presented as a dialogue between Śiva and Śakti. Pretty generally, Śiva acts as the spiritual preceptor or guru, and Śakti as his disciple or śiṣyā. Varadātantra is no exception to the rule.
Śiva is the Supreme Lord, obviously, as this is a Tantric scripture and not a Vedic one.
In Trika, Sadāśiva is the first emanation or manifestation of Śakti or Divine Power. See Tattvic Chart for more information.
Anunāsika (half-moon and dot) is also known as Nādabindu, being "nāda" the half-moon and "bindu" the dot. Read Meditation 6 for more information about Nādabindu, please.
In this seed-mantra, "nāda" (the half-moon in Anunāsika) does not seem to have any special connotation, as only bindu (the dot above nāda) has been described.
Even though you can see that the letters forming the seed-mantra are: "h", "au" and Anunāsika (half-moon and dot), the consonants in the Sanskrit alphabet have an appended "a". What is the reason? Because "a" is Śiva, the Supreme Self, and without Him all consonants are barren, as it were, that is, they have no power at all. Thus, Śiva describes the original consonant including "a" in the stanza, i.e. "ha" despite it appears without "a" in the seed-mantra itself.
Śūnya is synonymous with bindu (the dot above the half-moon in Anunāsika). Both terms means "zero". In this case that means "no external objects" or "void". Bindu is Śakti or Divine Power in the form of a mass of Consciousness appearing as a dot of light.
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