Prakriti and Creation process Part-IV

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(Continued from the previous post)

 

91. Consciousness associated with this totality is called sutrAtma,1

hiranyagarbha, and prAna2 etc.,3 because it is immanent everywhere

and because it identifies itself with the five great uncompounded

elements4 endowed with the powers of knowledge, will, and activity.

 

1.sutrAtma-That Soul which pervades the universe as a thread

runs through a garland.

2.prAna—It is called prAna on account of its possessing the power

of activity. As regards the conception of hiranyagarbha, compare

the following Sruti passages: hiranyagarbaH samavartetaAgre— " First

there came hiranyagarbha " (Rg-Veda 10. 121. 1). hiranyagarbham

janayAmasa pUrvam— " He first produced hiranyagarbha " (6vet. Up. 3.

4). Katam eko deva iti pranaH— " Which is that one deity?—praAna "

(Br. Up. 3. 9. 9).

 

3.Etc.—Such epithets as prajApati and brahmA are also included.

 

4.Uncompounded elements—The five great elements not yet

combined with one another. See note 4 on para. 59. The term

will be explained later on.

 

92.This aggregate made up of the three sheaths such as

vijnAnamayakoSha etc. (which forms the limiting adjunct) of

hiranyagarbha is called the subtle body as it is finer than the

gross universe. It is also called the dream state,1 as it consists

of the impressions of the waking state; and for that very reason it

is known as the merging place2 for the gross universe.

 

1.Dream State—Because it corresponds to our dream state,

which is the state intermediate between the waking state and the

state of dreamless sleep. Cp. " The third or the dream state is the

meeting place of this world and the next " (By. Up. 4. 3. 9).

 

2.Merging place etc.—The gross physical phenomena seen in the

waking state are experienced in the dream state as mere ideas. As

the same thing also happens on a cosmic scale, the gross universe is

transformed on the plane of hiranyagarbha into a subtle universe.

Hence this state is designated as one in which the gross universe is

merged, just as it happens in dreams.

 

93.Consciousness associated with each individual subtle body is

known as taijasa (full of light) on account of its being associated

with the effulgent1 inner organ (antahkarana).

 

1.Effulgent—It means full of ideas as opposed to gross experiences.

 

94.The individual limiting adjunct of taijasa too, made up of the

three sheaths, such as vijnAnamayakoSha etc., is called the subtle

body, as it is finer than the gross body. It is also called the

dream state, as it consists of the impressions of the waking state,

and for that very reason it is known as the merging place for the

gross body.

 

95.The sutratma and taijasa, at that time,1 through (subtle)

functioning of the mind, experience the subtle objects.2 Witness

such3 Sruti passages as, " taijasa is the enjoyer of subtle objects "

(Mand. Up. 3).

 

1.At that time—During the dream state.

2.Subtle objects—The dream-objects have merely an appearance

and have no reality. They are prAtibhasika or illusory. A dream

is not mere memory because it is perceived directly. Nor is it

sound sleep because we perceive in that state some objects. Again

it is not a waking experience, because there is no reality about the

objects, place, or time seen in a dream. " There are no (real)

chariots in that state, no horses, no roads, but he himself creates

chariots, horses, and roads " (Br. Up. 4. 3. 10).

 

3.Such etc.—Cp- tasmAdesha praviviktAhAratara ivaiva " Therefore, he

(taijasa) takes finer food, as it were, than the corporeal Self

(vaishvAnara) " (Br. Up. 4. 2. 3).

 

96.Here also the aggregate and individual subtle bodies are

identical, like a forest and its trees or like a lake and its

waters, and the sUtratma and the taijasa, which have those bodies as

their limiting adjuncts, are also identical like the spaces enclosed

by a forest and its trees or like the skies reflected in the lake

and its waters.

 

97.Thus do the subtle bodies originate.

 

THE NATURE OF THE GROSS BODIES

 

98.But1 the gross elements are all compounded.

 

1.But—This shows the difference in composition of the gross elements

from those of the subtle ones.

 

99.The compounding takes place thus: Each of the five elements, viz

ether etc., is divided into two equal parts; of the ten parts thus

produced five—being the first half of each element—are each sub-

divided into four equal parts. Then leaving one half of each

element, to the other half is added one of these quarters from each

of the other four elements. At the time of creation the five

elements remain in an uncom-pounded state. As such they cannot

produce the phenomenal objects of the universe. These subtle

elements are then said to remain in the apanchkrita state.

Afterwards these elements combine with one another in a certain

ratio, viz half of itself plus one-eighth of each of the other four.

 

(Note: Please refer the chart depicting the process of panchikaraNam

in the advaita for the novice folder.)

 

100.Thus it has been said: " By dividing each element into two equal

parts, and sub-dividing the first half of each element into four

equal parts, and then adding to the other half of each element one

sub-division of each of the remaining four, each element becomes

five in one. " The reference is to Pancadasi 1. 27.

 

101.The authoritativeness of this method of compounding should not

be questioned for the triple combination1 described in the Sruti

indirectly2 refers to this.

 

1.Triple combination—The process of trivritkaraNa is mentioned

in the Shruti— " Let me make each of these three tripartite " (Ch.

Up. 6. 3. 3). According to this passage the Lord first created fire,

water, and earth and combined them according to the process of

trivrtkaraNa. This process is also similar to that of pancikaraNa.

Each of the gross elements fire, water, and earth contains half of

its own kind and one fourth of each of the other two.

 

2.Indirectly—Though in the scriptural passage regarding trivrit-

karaNa there is no mention of ether and air, yet other passages

speak of them. Cp. AtmanaH AkaSha samBhutaH— " Ether came out

of the Self. " The creation of five elements is supported by the

Shruti and smriti.- Ether and air have been apparently left out in

the trivritkaraNa process.This apparent contradiction has been

reconciled in the vedAnta Sutras. vidvattamAcarya, a great Vedantic

teacher, remarks that as ether is all-pervading and without it

nothing can exist, and as force, symbolised by air, is also at the

root of all movement, and nothing can exist apart from it, therefore

ether and air are to be taken for granted along with fire, water,

and earth, and the Sruti speaks of trivrtikarNa only as a more

convenient mode of expression. Therefore the Shruti passages about

trivritkarNa indirectly refer to panchIkaraNa..

 

102.Though these five gross elements are alike in so far as each of

them contains the five elements, yet they are differently named as

ether etc. owing to the " preponderance1 of a particular element in

them " (Brahma Sutras 2. 4. 22).

1 Preponderance—Each is named after the element it contains in the

largest proportion.

 

103.At that time1 ether manifests2 sound; air manifests sound and

touch; fire sound, touch, and form; water sound, touch, form, and

taste; and earth manifests sound, touch, form, taste, and smell.

 

(To Be Continued....)