Читать книгу The Serpent Power - Arthur Avalon - Страница 8

The transcendental consciousness is called the Supreme Ātmā. The consciousness which is either in fact embodied or liable to be embodied is the Jīvātmā. These are but names for differing aspects of the same Self or Ātmā. In the first case consciousness is liberated from, and in the second it is with, form. As Consciousness is in itself formless, form is derivable from its power (Shakti). This power evolves itself into Prakriti Shakti—that is, the immediate source and the constituent of mind and matter. The corresponding consciousness aspect of the same power is called Purusha. This term is sometimes applied to the Supreme, as in the name Brahmapurusha.{180} Here is meant a limited consciousness—limited by the associated Prakriti and Her products of mind and matter. In this sense the term Purusha does not mean merely a human being, or indeed any animal, but all beings and things which are centers of expressed or hidden consciousness. In this sense an atom of sand is a Purusha—that is, a consciousness identifying itself with that particular form of solid matter faintly showing its existence in atomic memory and in its response to stimuli. For with that with which we identify ourselves, that we become. This is from the philosophical aspect. More popularly by Purusha, as by Jīva, is meant sentient being with body and senses—that is, organic life.{181} Man is a microcosm (Kshudrabrahmānda).{182} The world is the macrocosm (Brahmānda). There are numberless worlds and universes, each of which is governed by its own Lords, though there is but one great Mother of all whom these Lords themselves worship, placing on their heads the dust of Her feet. In everything there is all that is in anything else. There is thus nothing in the universe which is not in the human body. There is no need to throw one’s eyes into the heavens to find God. He is within, being known as the “Ruler within” (Antaryāmin) or “Inner self” (Antarātmā).{183} All else is His power as mind and matter. Whatever of mind or matter exists in the universe exists in some form or manner in the human body. So it is said in the Vishvasāra Tantra: “What is here is there. What is not here is nowhere.”{184} In the body there are the Supreme Shiva-Shakti who pervade all things. In the body is Prakriti Shakti and all Her products. In fact, the body is a vast magazine of power (Shakti). The object of the Tantric rituals is to raise these various forms of power to their full expression. This is the work of Sādhanā. The Tantras say that it is in the power of man to accomplish all he wishes if he centers his will thereon. And this must be so, for man is in his essence one with the Supreme Lord (Īshvara), and the more he manifests spirit the greater is he endowed with its powers. The center and root of all his powers is Kundalī Shakti. The center in which the quiescent consciousness is realized is the upper brain or Sahasrāra, whence in the case of the Yogī the Prāna escapes through the Brahmarandhra at death. (See Plate VIII.) The mind and body are constituted of the products of Prakriti. Both having the same origin, each, whether mind or matter, are “material” things—that is, they are of the nature of forces,{185} and limited instruments through which Consciousness functions, and thus, though itself unlimited, appears to be limited. The light in a lantern is unaffected, but its manifestation to those without is affected by the material through which the light shines. Prakriti is not scientific matter. The latter is only its grossest product, and has no lasting existence. Prakriti is the ultimate “material” or substantive cause of both mind and matter, and the whole universe which they compose. It is the mysterious fructescent womb (Yoni) whence all is born.{186} What She is in Herself cannot be realized. She is only known by Her effects.{187} Mūla Prakriti is the noumenal cause of the phenomenal world from which creation arises.{188} Ultimately, as it is in itself (Svarūpa), Prakriti Shakti, like all else, is Consciousness.{189} Consciousness, however, assumes the form of Prakriti—that is, creative power—when evolving the universe. That form consists of the Gunas or modes of this natural principle which are called Sattva, Rajas, Tamas.{190} The general action of Shakti is to veil consciousness. Prakriti, in fact, like the materia prima of the Thomistic philosophy, is a finitising principle. To all seeming, it finitises and makes form in the infinite formless Consciousness.{191} So do all the Gunas. But one does it less and another more. The first is Sattvaguna, the function of which, relative to the other Gunas, is to reveal consciousness. The greater the presence or power of Sattvaguna, the greater the approach to the condition of pure consciousness. Similarly, the function of Tamas Guna is to suppress or veil consciousness. The function of Rajasguna is to make active—that is, it works on Tamas to suppress Sattva, or on Sattva to suppress Tamas.{192} The object and the effect of evolution, as it is of all Sādhanā, is to develop Sattvaguna. The Gunas always coexist in everything, but variously predominate. The lower descent is made in the scale of nature the more Tamasguna prevails, as in so-called “brute substance,” which has been supposed to be altogether inert. The higher ascent is made the more Sattva prevails. The truly Sāttvik man is a divine man, his temperament being called in the Tantra Divyabhāva.{193} From pure Sattva passage is made to Sat, which is Chit or pure Consciousness, by the Siddhayogī, who is identified with Pure Spirit.

Prakriti exists in two states, in one of which (so far as any effect is concerned){194} She is quiescent. The Gunas are then in stable equilibrium, and not affecting one another. There is no manifestation. This is the unmanifest (Avyakta), the potentiality of natural power (natura naturans).{195} When, however, owing to the ripening of Karma, the time for creation takes place, there is a stirring of the Gunas (Gunakshobha) and an initial vibration (Spandana), known in the Tantras as Cosmic Sound (Shabdabrahman). The Gunas affect one another, and the universe made of these three Gunas is created. The products of Prakriti thus evolved are called Vikāra or Vikriti.{196} Vikriti is manifest (Vyakta) Prakriti (natura naturata). In the infinite and formless Prakriti there appears a strain or stress appearing as form. On the relaxation of this strain in dissolution forms disappear in formless Prakriti, who as power (Shakti) re-enters the Brahman-Consciousness. These Vikritis are the Tattvas issuing from Prakriti,{197} the Avidyā Shakti—namely, the different categories of mind, senses, and matter.

The bodies are threefold: causal (Kāranasharīra, or Parasharīra, as the Shaivas call it), subtle (Sūkshmasharīra), and gross (Sthūlasharīra). These bodies in which the Ātmā is enshrined are evolved from Prakriti Shakti, and are constituted of its various productions. They form the tabernacle of the Spirit (Ātmā), which as the Lord is “in all beings, and who from within all beings controls them.”{198} The body of the Lord (Īshvara) is pure Sattvaguna (Shuddhasattvagunapradhāna).{199} This is the aggregate Prakriti or Māyā of Him or Her as the Creator-Creatrix of all things. Jīva, as the Kulārnava Tantra{200} says, is bound by the bonds (Pāsha); Sadāshiva is free of them.{201} The former is Pashu, and the latter Pashupati, or Lord of Pashus (Jīvas). That is, Ishvarī{202} is not affected by Her own Māyā. She is all-seeing, all-knowing, all-powerful. Īshvara thus rules Māyā. Jīva is ruled by it. The body of the Mother and Her child the Jīva are not, thus, the same. For the latter is a limited consciousness subject to error, and governed by that Māyāshakti of Hers which makes the world seem to be different from what it in its essence is. The body of Jīva is therefore known as the individual Prakriti or Avidyā, in which there is impure Sattva, and Rajas and Tamas (Malinasattvagunapradhāna). But in the Mother are all creatures. And so in the Trishatī{203} the Devī is called “in the form of one and many letters” (Ēkānekāksharākritih). As Ekā She is the Ajnāna which is pure Sattva and attribute (Upādhi) of Īshvara; as Anekā She is Upādhi or vehicle of Jīva. Whilst Īshvara is one, Jīvas are many, according to the diversity in the nature of the individual Prakriti caused by the appearance of Rajas and Tamas in it in differing proportions. The Ātmā appears as Jīva in the various forms of the vegetable, animal, and human worlds.

The first or causal body of any particular Jīva, therefore, is that Prakriti (Avidyā Shakti) which is the cause of the subtle and gross bodies of this Jīva which are evolved from it. This body lasts until liberation, when the Jīvātmā ceases to be such and is the Paramātmā or bodiless Spirit (Videha Mukti). The Jīva exists in this body during dreamless sleep (Sushupti).

The second and third bodies are the differentiations through evolution of the causal body, from which first proceeds the subtle body, and from the latter is produced the gross body.

The subtle body, which is also called Linga Sharīra or Puryashtaka, is constituted of the first evolutes (Vikriti) from the causal Prakritic body—namely, the Mind (Antahkarana), the internal instrument, together with the external instruments (Bāhyakarana), or the Senses (Indriya), and their supersensible objects (Tanmātra). The third or gross body is the body of “matter” which is the gross particular object of the senses{204} derived from the supersensibles.

Shortly, this subtle body may be described as the mental body, as that which succeeds is called the gross body, of matter. Mind, which is called the “working within” or “internal instrument” (Antahkarana), is one only, but is given different names to denote the diversity of its functions.{205} The Sāngkhya thus speaks of Buddhi, Ahangkāra, Manas, to which the Vedānta adds Chitta, being different aspects or attributes (Dharma) of mind as displayed in the psychical processes by which the Jīva knows, feels, and wills.

These may be considered from the point of view of evolution—that is, according to the sequence in which the limited experience of the Jīva is evolved—or from that in which they are regarded after creation, when the experience of concrete sense objects has been had. According to the former aspect, Buddhi or Mahat Tattva is the state of mere presentation; consciousness of being only, without thought of “I” (Ahangkāra), and unaffected by sensations of particular objects (Manas and Indriyas). It is thus the impersonal Jīva Consciousness, a state of impersonal experience which, at least in some of its aspects, may be that which is spoken of as the subliminal consciousness.{206} Ahangkāra, of which Buddhi is the basis, is the personal consciousness which realizes itself as a particular “I,” the experiencer. The Jīva, in the order of creation, first experiences in a vague general way without consciousness of the self, like the experience which is had immediately on waking after sleep. It then refers this experience to the limited self, and has the consciousness “lam So-and-so.”

Manas is the desire which follows on such experience, and the senses and their objects are the means whereby that enjoyment is had which is the end of all will to life. Whilst, however, in the order of evolution Buddhi is the first principle, in the actual working of the Antahkarana after creation has taken place it comes last.

It is more convenient, therefore, to commence with the sense-objects and the sensations they evoke. Matter as the objective cause of perception is not in its character as such under the cognizance of the senses. All that can be predicated of it is its effect upon these senses, which is realized by the instrumentality of mind in its capacity as Manas. The experiencer is affected in five different ways, giving rise in him to the sensations of hearing, touch and feel,{207} color and form{208} and sight, taste, and smell.{209} But sensible perception exists only in respect of particular objects. Thus, sound as the gross object of the sense (Indriya) of hearing is either high, low, harsh, sweet, and so forth. Sound is thus perceived in its variations only. But there exist also general elements of the particulars of sense perception. That general ideas may be formed of particular sense objects indicates, it is said,{210} their existence in some parts of the Jīva’s nature as facts of experience; otherwise the generals could not be formed from the particulars given by the senses as the physical facts of experience. There is therefore an abstract quality by which sensible matter (Mahābhūta) is perceived. This abstract quality is called a Tanmātra, which means the “mere thatness,” or abstract quality, of an object. Thus, the Tanmātra of sound (Shabdatanmātra) is not any particular sensible form of it, but the “thatness” of sound—that is, sound as such apart from any of its particular variations stated. The Tanmātras have, therefore, aptly been called the “generals of the sense particulars”{211}—that is, the general elements of sense perception. These necessarily come into existence when the senses (Indriya) are produced; for a sense necessitates something which can be the object of sensation. These Sūkshma (subtle) Bhūta, as they are also called, are not ordinarily themselves perceived, for they are supersensible (Atīndriya). Their existence is only mediately perceived through the gross particular objects of which they are the generals, and which proceed from them. They can be the objects of immediate (Pratyaksha) perception only to Yogīs.{212} They are, like the gross sense objects derived from them, five in number—namely, sound as such (Shabdatanmātra), touch and feel as such{213} (Sparshatanmātra), color and form as such (Rūpatanmātra), flavor as such (Rasatanmātra), and odor as such (Gandhatanmātra). Each of these evolves from that which precedes it.{214}

Sensations aroused by sense objects are experienced by means of the outer instruments (Bāhyakarana) of the Lord of the body, or senses (Indriya), which are the gateways through which the Jīva receives worldly experience. These are ten in number, and are of two classes: viz., the five organs of sensation or perception (Jnanendriya), or ear (hearing), skin (feeling by touch), eye (sight), tongue (taste), and nose (smell); and the five organs of action (Karmendriya), which are the reactive response which the self makes to sensation—namely, mouth, hands, legs, anus, and genitals, whereby sneaking, grasping, walking, excretion, and procreation, are performed, and through which effect is given to the Jīva’s desires. These are afferent and efferent impulses respectively.

The Indriya, or sense, is not the physical organ, but the faculty of mind operating through that organ as its instrument. The outward sense organs are the usual means whereby on the physical plane the functions of hearing and so forth are accomplished. But, as they are mere instruments and their power is derived from the mind, a Yogī may accomplish by the mind only all that may be done by means of these physical organs without the use of the latter.

With reference to their physical manifestations, but not as they are in themselves, the classes into which the Indriyas are divided may be described as the sensory and motor nervous systems. As the Indriyas are not the physical organs, such as ear, eye, and so forth, but faculties of the Jīva desiring to know and act by their aid, the Yogī claims to accomplish without the use of the latter all that is ordinarily done by their means. So a hypnotized subject can perceive things, even when no use of the special physical organs ordinarily necessary for the purpose is made.{215} The fact of there being a variety of actions does not necessarily involve the same number of Indriyas. An act of “going” done by means of the hand (as by a cripple) is to be regarded really as an operation of the Indriya of feet (Padendriya), even though the hand is the seat of the Indriya for handling.{216} By the instrumentality of these Indriyas things are perceived and action is taken with reference to them. The Indriyas are not, however, sufficient in themselves for this purpose. In the first place, unless attention co-operates there is no sensation (Ālochana) at all. To be “absent-minded” is not to know what is happening.{217} Attention must therefore co-operate with the senses before the latter can “give” the experiencer anything at all.{218} Nextly, at one and the same moment the experiencer is subject to receive a countless number of sensations which come to and press upon him from all sides. If any of these is to be brought into the field of consciousness, it must be selected to the exclusion of others. The process of experience is the selection of a special section from out of a general whole, and then being engaged on it, so as to make it one’s own, either as a particular object of thought or a particular field of operation.{219} Lastly, as Western psychology holds, the senses give not a completed whole, but a manifold—the manifold of sense. These “points of sensation” must be gathered together and made into a whole. These three functions of attention, selection, and synthesizing the discrete manifold of the senses, are those belonging to that aspect of the mental body, the internal agent (Antahkarana), called Manas.{220} Just as Manas is necessary to the senses (Indriya), the latter are necessary for Manas. For the latter is the seat of desire, and cannot exist by itself. It is the desire to perceive or act, and therefore exists in association with the Indriyas.

Manas is thus the leading Indriya, of which the senses are powers. For without the aid and attention of Manas the other Indriyas are incapable of performing their respective offices; and as these Indriyas are those of perception and action, Manas, which co-operates with both, is said to partake of the character of both cognition and action.

Manas, through association with the eye or other sense, becomes manifold, being particularized or differentiated by its co-operation with that particular instrument, which cannot fulfill its functions except in conjunction with Manas.

Its function is said to be Sangkalpa-Vikalpa. That is, selection and rejection from the material provided by the Jnānendriya. When, after having been brought into contact with the sense objects, it selects the sensation which is to be presented to the other faculties of the mind, there is Sangkalpa. The activity of Manas, however, is itself neither intelligent result nor moving feelings of pleasure or pain. It has not an independent power to reveal itself to the experiencer. Before things can be so revealed and realized as objects of perception, they must be made subject to the operation of Ahangkāra and Buddhi, without whose intelligent light they would be dark forms unseen and unknown by the experiencer, and the efforts of Manas but blind gropings in the dark. Nor can the images built up by Manas affect of themselves the experiencer so as to move him in any way until and unless the experiencer identifies himself with them by Ahangkāra—that is, by making them his own in feeling and experience. Manas, being thus an experience of activity in the dark, unseen and unrevealed by the light of Buddhi, and not moving the experiencer until he identifies himself with it in feeling, is one in which the dark veiling quality (Tamasguna) of Shakti Prakriti is the most manifest.{221} This Guna also prevails in the Indriyas and the subtle objects of their operation (Tanmātra).

Ahangkāra the “I-maker” is self-arrogation{222}—that is, the realization of oneself as the personal “I” or self-consciousness of worldly experience, in which the Jīva thinks of himself as a particular person who is in relation with the objects of his experience. It is the power of self-arrogation whereby all that constitutes man is welded into one Ego, and the percept or concept is referred to that particular thinking subject and becomes part of its experience. When, therefore, a sensation is perceived by Manas and determined by Buddhi, Ahangkāra says: “It is I who perceive it.”

This is the “I” of phenomenal consciousness as distinguished from “this” the known. Buddhi functions with its support.{223} Buddhi considered with relation to the other faculties of experience is that aspect of the Antahkarana which determines (Adhyavasāyātmikā buddhih).{224} “A man is said to determine (Adhyavasyati) who, having perceived (Manas), and thought, ‘I am concerned in this matter’ (Ahangkāra), and thus having self-arrogated, comes to the determination, ‘This must be done by me’ (Kartavyam etat mayā).”{225} “Must be done” here does not refer to exterior action only, but to mental action (Mānasīkriyā) also, such as any determination by way of the forming of concepts and percepts (“It is so”) and resolutions (“It must be done”). Buddhi pervades all effects whatever other than itself. It is the principal Tattva because it pervades all the instruments (Indriya), is the receptacle of all the Sangskāras or Karmic tendencies, and is in Sāngkhya the seat of memory.{226} It is the thinking principle which forms concepts or general ideas acting through the instrumentality of Ahangkāra, Manas, and the Indriyas. In the operations of the senses Manas is the principal; in the operation of Manas Ahangkāra is the principal; and in the operation of Ahangkāra Buddhi is the principal. With the instrumentality of all of these Buddhi acts, modifications taking place in Buddhi through the instrumentality of the sense functions.{227} It is Buddhi which is the basis of all cognition, sensation, and resolves, and makes over objects to Purusha—that is, consciousness. And so it is said that Buddhi, whose characteristic is determination, is the charioteer; Manas, whose characteristic is Sangkalpavikalpa, is the reins; and the Senses are the horses. Jīva is the Enjoyer (Bhoktā)—that is, Ātmā conjoined with body, senses, Manas, and Buddhi.{228} In Buddhi Sattvaguna predominates; in Ahangkāra, Rajas; in Manas and the Indriyas and their objects, Tamas.

Chitta{229} in its special sense is that faculty (Vritti) by which the mind first recalls to memory (Smaranam) that of which there has been previously Anubhava or Pratyaksha Jnāna—that is, immediate cognition. This Smaranam exists only to the extent of actual Anubhava. For remembrance is the equivalent of, and neither more than less than, what has been previously known;{230} remembrance being the calling up of that. Chinta, again, is that faculty whereby the current of thought dwells, thinks, and contemplates upon (Chinta){231} the subject so recalled by Smaranam, and previously known and determined by Buddhi. For such meditation (Dhyāna) is done through the recall and fixing the mind upon past percepts and concepts. According to Vedānta, Buddhi determines but once only, and the further recall and thought upon the mental object so determined is the faculty of the separate mental category called Chitta. Sāngkhya, on the principle of economy of categories, regards Smaranam and Chintā to be functions of Buddhi.{232} In the works here translated and elsewhere Chitta is, however, currently used as a general term for the working mind—that is, as a synonym for the Antahkarana.{233}

To sum up the functions of the subtle body: the sense-objects (Bhūta, derived from Tanmātra) affect the senses (Indriya) and are perceived by Manas, are referred to the self by Ahangkāra, and are determined by Buddhi. The latter in its turn is illumined by the light of consciousness (Chit), which is the Purusha; all the Principles (Tattva) up to and including Buddhi being modifications of apparently unconscious Prakriti. Thus all the Tattvas work for the enjoyment of the Self, or Purusha. They are not to be regarded as things existing independently by themselves, but as endowments of the Spirit (Ātmā). They do not work arbitrarily as they will, but represent an organized co-operative effort in the service of the Enjoyer, the Experiencer, or Purusha.

The subtle body is thus composed of what are called the “17,” viz., Buddhi (in which Ahangkāra is included), Manas, the ten senses (Indriya), and the five Tanmātra. No special mention is made of Prāna by the Sāngkhya, by which it is regarded as a modification of the Antahkarana, and as such is implicitly included. The Māyāvādins insert the Prāna pentad instead of the Tanmātra.{234}

The Jīva lives in his subtle or mental body alone when in the dreaming (Svapna) state. For the outside world of objects (Mahābhūta) is then shut out, and the consciousness wanders in the world of ideas. The subtle body or soul is imperishable until liberation is attained, when the Jīvātmā, or seemingly conditioned consciousness, ceases to be such, and is the Supreme Consciousness or Paramātmā Nirguna Shiva. The subtle body thus survives the dissolution of the gross body of matter, from which it goes forth (utkraman), and reincarnates{235} until liberation (Mukti). The Lingasharīra is not all-pervading (Vibhu), for in that case it would be eternal (Nitya), and could not act (Kriyā). But it moves and goes (gati). Since it is not Vibhu, it must be limited (parichinna) and of atomic dimension (anuparimānam). It is indirectly dependent on food. For though the material body is the food-body (annamaya), mind is dependent on it when associated with the gross body. Mind in the subtle body bears the Sangskāras which are the result of past actions. This subtle body is the cause of the third or gross body.

The whole process of evolution is due to the presence of the will to life and enjoyment, which is a result of Vāsanā, or world-desire, carried from life to life in the Sangskāras, or impressions made on the subtle body by Karma, which is guided by Īshvara. In its reaching forth to the world, the Self is not only endowed with the faculties of the subtle body, but with the gross objects of enjoyment on which those faculties feed. There therefore comes into being, as a projection of the Power (Shakti) of Consciousness, the gross body of matter called Sthūla Sharīra.

The word Sharīra comes from the root “Shri,” to decay; for the gross body is at every moment undergoing molecular birth and death until Prāna, or vitality, leaves, the organism, which as such is dissolved. The soul (Jīvātmā) is, when it leaves the body, no longer concerned therewith. There is no such thing as the resurrection of the body. It returns to dust, and the Jīva when it reincarnates does so in a new body, which is nevertheless, like the last, suited to give effect to its Karma.

The Sthūla Sharīra, with its three Doshas, six Koshas, seven Dhatus, ten Fires, and so forth,{236} is the perishable body composed of compounds of five forms of gross sensible matter (Mahābhūta), which is ever decaying, and is at the end dissolved into its constituents at death.{237} This is the Vedāntik body of food (Annamaya Kosha), so called because it is maintained by food which is converted into chyle (Rasa), blood, and the other material components of the gross organism. The Jīva lives in this body when in the waking (Jāgrat) state.

The human, physical, or gross body is, according to Western science, composed of certain compounds, of which the chief are water, gelatin, fat, phosphate of lime, albumen, and fibrin, and of these water constitutes some two-thirds of the total weight. These substances are composed of simpler non-metallic and metallic elements, of which the chief are oxygen (to the extent of about two-thirds), hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus. Again, to go one step farther back, though the alleged indestructibility of the elements and their atoms is still said by some to present the character of a “practical truth,” well-known recent experiments go to re-establish the ancient hypothesis of a single primordial substance to which these various forms of matter may be reduced, with the resultant of the possible and hitherto derided transmutation of one element into another; since each is but one of the plural manifestations of the same underlying unity.

Recent scientific research has shown that this original substance cannot be scientific “matter”—that is, that which has mass, weight, and inertia. Matter has been dematerialized and reduced, according to current hypotheses, to something which differs profoundly from “matter” as known by the senses. This ultimate substance is stated to be Ether in a state of motion. The present scientific hypothesis would appear to be as follows: There is no such thing as scientific “Matter.” If there seems to be such, this is due to the action of Shakti as Māyā. The ultimate and simplest physical factor from which the universe has arisen is motion of and in a substance called “ether,” which is not scientific “matter.” The motions of this substance give rise from the realistic point of view to the notion of “matter.” Matter is thus at base one, notwithstanding the diversity of its forms. Its ultimate element is on the final analysis of one kind, and the differences in the various kinds of matter depend on the various movements of the ultimate particle and its succeeding combinations. Given such unity of base, it is possible that one form of matter may pass into another.

The Indian theory here described agrees with the Western speculations to which we have referred, that what the latter calls “scientific matter” does not really—that is, permanently—exist, but says that there are certain motions or forces (five in number) which produce the appearance of “matter,” and which are ultimately reducible to ether (Ākāsha). Ākāsha, however, and scientific “ether” are not in all respects the same. The latter is an ultimate physical substance, not “matter,” having vibratory movements and affording the medium for the transmission of light. Ākāsha is one of the gross forces into which the Primordial Power (Prakriti Shakti) differentiates itself. Objectively considered it is a vibration{238} which produces the psychical experience of space in which the other forces are observed to be operating. Lastly, Ākāsha is not an ultimate, but is itself derived from the supersensible Tanmātra, with its quality (Guna) whereby Ākāsha affects the senses; and this Tanmatra is itself derived from the mental I-making principle (Ahangkāra), or personal consciousness produced from the super-personal Jīva-consciousness as such (Buddhi), emanating from the root-energy, or Prakriti, the cause and basis of all forms of “material” force or substance. At the back of “matter” there is mind, and at the back of mind the creative energy (Shakti) of the Supreme who is the cause of the universe and Consciousness itself.

Matter affects the Jīva in five different ways, giving rise in him to the sensations of smell, taste, sight, touch and feel, and hearing.

As already explained, the Tanmātra are supersensible, being abstract qualities, whilst the senses perceive their variations in particular objects only. These sense-particulars are produced from the generals.

From the Shabda Tanmātra and from the combinations of the latter with the other Tanmātras are produced the gross Bhūtas (Mahābhūta), which as things of physical magnitude perceivable by the senses approach the Western definition of discrete sensible “matter.” These five Mahābhūta are Ākāsha (Ether), Vāyu (Air), Tejas (Fire), Apas (Water), and Prithivi (Earth). Their development takes place from the Tanmātra, from one unit of that which is known in sensible matter as mass (Tamas), charged with energy (Rajas) by the gradual accretion of mass and redistribution of energy. The result of this is that each Bhūta is more gross than that which precedes it until “Earth” is reached. These five Bhūtas have no connection with the English “elements” so called, nor, indeed, are they elements at all, being derived from the Tanmātra. Dynamically and objectively considered they are (proceeding from Ākāsha) said to be five forms of motion, into which Prakriti differentiates itself: viz., non-obstructive, all-directed motion radiating lines of force in all directions, symbolized as the “Hairs of Shiva,”{239} affording the space (Ākāsha) in which the other forces operate; transverse motion{240} and locomotion in space (Vāyu); upward motion giving rise to expansion (Tejas); downward motion giving rise to contraction (Apas); and that motion which produces cohesion, its characteristic of obstruction being the opposite of the non-obstructive ether in which it exists and from which it and the other Tattvas spring. The first is sensed by hearing through its quality (Guna) of sound (Shabda);{241} the second by touch through resistance and feeling;{242} the third by sight as color;{243} the fourth by taste through flavor; and the fifth by the sense of smell through its odor, which is produced by matter only in so far as it partakes of the solid state.{244}

The hard and stable obstructive “earth” is that which is smelt, tasted, seen, and touched, and which exists in space which is known by hearing—that is, the sounds in it. The smooth “water” is that which is tasted, seen, and touched, in space. “Fire” is what is seen and touched—that is, felt as temperature—in space. “Air” is what is so felt in space. And sound which is heard is that by which the existence of the “Ether” is known. These Bhūtas when compounded make up the material universe. Each thing therein being thus made of all the Bhūtas, we find in the Tantra that form, color, and sound, are related, a truth which is of deep ritual significance. Thus, each of the sounds of speech or music has a corresponding form, which have now been made visible to the eye by the Phonoscope.{245} Thus the deaf may perceive sounds by the eye, just as, by the Optophone, the blind may read by means of the ear.

In the same Shāstra various colors and figures (Mandalas) are assigned to the Tattvas to denote them. Ākāsha is represented by a transparent white circular diagram in which, according to some accounts there are dots (Chhidra), thus displaying the interstices which Ākāsha produces; for Ākāsha, which is all-pervading, intervenes between each of the Tattvas which are evolved from it.

Vāyu is denoted by a smoky grey, six-cornered diagram;{246} Tejas, red, triangular diagram; Apas, white, crescent-shaped diagram; and Prithivī, yellow, by the quadrangular diagram which as the superficial presentation of the cube well denotes the notion of solidity.

Similarly, to each Devatā also there is assigned a Yantra, or diagram, which is a suggestion of the form assumed by the evolving Prakriti or body of that particular Consciousness.

The gross body is, then, a combination of the compounds of these Mahābhūtas, derivable from the Ākāsha (“Ether”) Tattva.

The Bhūtas and the Tanmātra, as parts of these compounds, pervade the body, but particular Bhūtas are said to have centers of force in particular regions. Thus the centers (Chakra) of “earth” and “water” are the two lower ones in the trunk of the body. “Fire” predominates in the central abdominal region, and “air” and “ether” in the two higher centers in the heart and throat. These five Tanmātras, five Bhūtas, and the ten senses (Indriyas) which perceive them, are known as the twenty gross Tattvas which are absorbed in Yoga in the centers of the bodily trunk. The remaining four subtle mental Tattvas (Buddhi, Ahangkāra, Manas) and Prakriti have their special center of activity in the head. Again, the Bhūtas may be specially displayed in other portions of the bodily organism. Thus, Prithivī displays itself as bone or muscle; Apas as urine and saliva; Tejas as hunger and thirst; Vāyu in grasping and walking. Fire is manifold, its great mystery being saluted by many names. So Tejas manifests both as light and heat, for, as Helmholtz says, the same object may affect the senses in different ways. The same ray of sunshine, which is called light when it falls on the eyes, is called heat when it falls on the skin. Agni manifests in the household and umbilical fires; as Kāmāgni in the Mūlādhāra center; Vadavā or submarine fire and in the “Lightning” of the Sushumnā in the spinal column.

Matter thus exists in the five states etheric,{247} aerial,{248} fiery,{249} fluid,{250} and solid.{251} Prithivī does not denote merely what is popularly called Earth. All solid (Pārthiva) odorous substance is in the Prithivī state. All substance in the fluid (Āpya) state is in the Apas state, as everything which has cohesive resistance is in that of Prithivī. This latter, therefore, is the cohesive vibration the cause of solidity of which the common earth is a gross compounded form. All matter in the aerial (Vāyava) condition is in the Vayu state. These are all primary differentiations of cosmic matter into a universe of subtly fine motion. The Tattvas regarded objectively evoke in the Indriyas smell, taste, sight, touch, and hearing.

The gross body is thus a combination of the compounds of these Mahābhūta, derivable ultimately from ether (Ākāsha), itself evolved in manner described.

The gross and subtle bodies above described are vitalized and held together as an organism by Prāna, which is evolved from the active energy (Kriyā Shakti) of the Linga Sharīra. Prāna, or the vital principle, is the special relation of the Ātmā with a certain form of matter which by this relation the Ātmā organizes and builds up as a means of having experience.{252} This special relation constitutes the individual Prāna in the individual body. The cosmic all-pervading Prāna is not Prāna in this gross sense, but is a name for the Brahman as the author of the individual Prāna. The individual Prāna is limited to the particular body which it vitalizes, and is a manifestation in all breathing creatures (Prānī) of the creative and sustaining activity of the Brahman, who is represented in individual bodies by the Devī Kundalinī.

All beings, whether Devatās, men, or animals, exist only so long as the Prāna is within the body. It is the life duration of all.{253} What life is has been the subject of dispute in India as elsewhere. The materialists of the Lokayata school considered life to be the result of the chemical combinations of the elements, in the same manner as the intoxicating property of spirituous liquors results from the fermentation of unintoxicating rice and molasses, or as spontaneous generation was supposed to occur under the influence of gentle warmth. This is denied by the Sāngkhya. Though Prāna and its fivefold functions are called Vāyu, life, according to this school, is not a Vāyu in the sense of a mere biomechanical force, nor any mere mechanical motion resulting from the impulsion of such Vāyu.

According to the view of this school, Prāna, or vitality, is the common function of the mind and all the senses, both sensory Jnānendriya and motor (Karmendriya), which result in the bodily motion. Just as several birds when confined in one cage cause that cage to move, by themselves moving, so the mind and senses cause the body to move while they are engaged in their respective activities. Life is, then, a resultant of the various concurrent activities of other principles or forces in the organism.

The Vedantists agree in the view that the Prāna is neither Vāyu nor its operation, but deny that it is the mere resultant of the concomitant activities of the organism, and hold that it is a separate independent principle and “material” form assumed by the universal Consciousness. Life is therefore a subtle principle pervading the whole organism which is not gross Vāyu, but is all the same a subtle kind of apparently unconscious force, since everything which is not the Ātmā or Purusha is, according to Māyāvāda Vedānta and Sāngkhya, unconscious or, in Western parlance, “material” (Jada).{254} The gross outer body is heterogeneous (Parāchchhinna) or made up of distinct or well-defined parts. On the other hand, the Prānamaya self which lies within the Annamaya self is a homogeneous undivided whole (Sādhārana) permeating the whole physical body (Sarvapindavyāpin). It is not cut off into distinct regions (Asādhārana) as is the Pinda, or microcosmic physical body. Unlike the latter, it has no specialized organs each discharging a specific function. It is a homogeneous unity (Sādhārana) present in every part of the body, which it ensouls as its inner self. Vāyu{255} which courses through the body is the manifestation, self-begotten, the subtle, invisible, all-pervading, divine energy of eternal life. It is so called from the fact of its coursing throughout the universe. Invisible in itself, yet its operations are manifest. For it determines the birth, growth, and decay, of all animated organisms, and as such it receives the homage of all created being. As vital Vāyu it is instantaneous in action, radiating as nerve force through the organism in constant currents. In its normal condition it maintains a state of equilibrium between the different Doshas{256} and Dhātus,256 or root principles of the body. The bodily Vāyu is divided, as are the principles called Pitta256 and Kapha,256 into five chief divisions according to the differences in location and function. Vāyu, known in its bodily aspect as Prāna, the universal force of vital activity, on entry into each individual is divided into tenfold functions (Vritti), of which the five chief are: Breathing, bearing the same name (Prāna) as that given to the force considered in its totality—the function whereby atmospheric air with its pervading vitality, which has been first drawn from without into the bodily system, is expired.{257}

On the physical plane Prāna manifests in the animal body as breath through inspiration (Sa), or Shakti, and expiration (Ha), or Shiva. The male principle of Prāna throws out, and the female principle draws in, in accordance with the nature of Shakti as Shabdabrahman (Kulakundalinī). Breathing is itself a Mantra, known as the Mantra which is not recited (Ajapāmantra), for it is said without volition.{258}

The divine current is Hang and Sa or the motion of Ha and Sa. This motion, which exists on all the planes of life, is for the earth plane (Bhūrloka) created and sustained by the Sun, the solar breath of which is the cause of human breath with its centrifugal and centripetal movements, the counterpart in man of the cosmic movement of the Hangsah or Shiva-shakti Tattvas, which are the soul of the Universe. The Sun is not only the center and upholder of the solar system,{259} but the source of all available energy and of all physical life on earth. Accompanying the sunshine there proceeds from the orb a vast invisible radiation, the prerequisite of all vegetable and animal life. It is these invisible rays which, according to science, sustain the mystery of all physical life. The Sun whose body is the great luminary is in itself the Solar God, a great manifestation of the inner Spiritual Sun.{260}

Apāna, the downward “breath” which pulls against Prāna, governs the excretory functions; Samāna kindles the bodily fire and governs the processes of digestion and assimilation; Vyāna, or diffused “breathing,” is present throughout the body, effecting division and diffusion, resisting disintegration, and holding the body together in all its parts; and Udāna, the ascending Vāyu, is the so-called “upward breathing.” Prāna is in the heart; Apāna in the anus; Samāna in the navel; Udāna in the throat; and Vyāna pervades the whole body.{261} The five minor Vāyu are Nāga, Kūrmma, Krikara, Devadatta, and Dhananjaya, which manifest in hiccup, closing and opening the eyes, digestion,{262} yawning, and in that Vāyu “which leaves not even the corpse.”{263} The functions of Prāna may be scientifically defined as follows: Appropriation (Prāna), Rejection (Apāna), Assimilation (Samāna), Distribution (Vyāna), and that vital function whereby the relation between the subtle and the gross body is maintained (Udāna). The Prāna represents the involuntary reflex action of the organism, and the Indriyas one aspect of its voluntary activity.

In the case of the individualized Prāna, or principle which vitalizes the animal organism during its earth life, it may be said, when regarded as an independent principle, to be a force more subtle than that which manifests as terrestrial matter which it vitalizes. In other words, according to this theory, the Ātmā gives life to the earth organisms through the medium of terrestrial Prāna, which is one of the manifestations of that Energy which issues from and is at base the all-pervading Ātmā, as Shakti.

Ātmā as such has no states, but in worldly parlance we speak of such. So the Māndukya Upanishad{264} speaks of the four aspects (Pada) of the Brahman.

Chaitanya, or consciousness in bodies, is immanent in the individual and collective gross, subtle, and causal bodies, and as Chit transcends them. One and the same Chit pervades and transcends all things, but is given different names to mark its different aspects in the Jīva. Chit, being immutable, has itself no states; for states can only exist in the products of the changing Prakriti Shakti. From, however, the aspect of Jīva several states exist, which, though informed by the same Chit, may from this aspect be called states of consciousness.{265}

In the manifested world, Consciousness appears in three states (Avasthā):{266} waking (Jāgrat), dreaming (Svapna), and dreamless slumber (Sushupti). In the waking state the Jīva is conscious of external objects (Bahishprajna), and is the gross enjoyer of these objects through the senses (Sthūlabhuk).{267} The Jīva in this state is called Jāgarī—that is, he who takes upon himself the gross body called Vishva. Here the Jīva consciousness is in the gross body.

In dreaming (Svapna) the Jīva is conscious of inner objects (Antahprajna), and the enjoyer of what is subtle (Praviviktabhuk)—that is, impressions left on the mind by objects sensed in the waking state. The objects of dreams have only an external reality for the dreamer, whereas the objects perceived when awake have such reality for all who are in that state. The mind ceases to record fresh impressions, and works on that which has been registered in the waking state.

The first (Jāgrat) state is that of sense perception. Here the ego lives in a mental world of ideas, and the Jīva consciousness is in the subtle body. Both these states are states of duality in which multiplicity is experienced.{268}

The third state, or that of dreamless sleep (Sushupti), is defined as that which is neither waking nor dreaming, and in which the varied experiences of the two former states are merged into a simple experience (Ekībhuta), as the variety of the day is lost in night without extinction of such variety. Consciousness is not objective (Bahishprajna) nor subjective (Antahprajna), but a simple undifferenced consciousness without an object (Prajnānaghana). In waking the Jīva consciousness is associated with mind and senses; in dreaming the senses are withdrawn; in dreamless slumber mind also is withdrawn. The Jīva called Prajna is for the time being merged in his causal body—that is, Prakriti inseparably associated with Consciousness—that is, with that state of Consciousness which is the seed from which the subtle and gross bodies grow. The state is one of bliss. The Jīva is not conscious of anything,{269} but on awakening preserves only the notion, “Happy I slept; I was not conscious of anything.”{270} This state is accordingly that which has as its object the sense of nothingness.{271} Whilst the two former states enjoy the gross and subtle objects respectively, this is the enjoyer of bliss only (Ānandabhuk)—that is, simple bliss without an object. The Lord is always the enjoyer of bliss, but in the first two states he enjoys bliss through objects. Here he enjoys bliss itself free from both subject and object. In this way the Sushupti state approaches the Brahman consciousness. But it is not that in its purity, because it, as the other two states, are both associated with ignorance (Avidyā)—the first two with Vikriti, and the last with Prakriti. Beyond, therefore, this state there is the “fourth” (Turīya). Here the pure experience called Shuddhavidyā is acquired through Samādhi-yoga. Jīva in the Sushupti state is said to be in the causal (Kārana) body, and Jīva in the Turīya state is said to be in the great causal (Mahākārana) body.{272}

Beyond this there is a fifth state, “beyond the fourth” (Turīyātīta), which is attained through firmness in the fourth. Here the Īshvara Tattva is attained. This is the Unmesha{273} state of consciousness, of which the Sadākhya Tattva is the Nimesha.273 Passing beyond “the spotless one attains the highest equality,” and is merged in the Supreme Shiva.

The above divisions—Vishva, Taijasa, and Prajna—are those of the individual Jīva. But there is also the collective or cosmic Jīva, which is the aggregate of the individual Jīvas of each particular state.{274} In the macrocosm these collective{275} Jīvas are called Vaishvānara (corresponding to the individual Vishva body), Hiranyagarbha, and Sūtrātmā{276} (corresponding to the individual Taijasa body); and Īshvara is the name of the collective form of the Jīvas described as Prājna. Cosmically, these are the conscious Lords of the objective, subjective, and causal worlds, beyond which there is the Supreme Consciousness.

Yoga experience and liberation is attained by passing beyond the first three states of ordinary experience.