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CHAPTER VIII
THE CONSTRUCTIN AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE COSMOS
Therefore, the Gita has added the
eighth element, namely, Mind, to the seven, namely Mahan,
Ahamkara, and the five Fine Elements, and has stated that
the inferior form of the Paramesvara is of eight kinds (Gl. 7. 5).
But, the ten organs are included in the Mind, and the five
primordial elements are included in the five Fine Elements.
Therefore, although the classification of the Gita, may seem
different from both the Samkhya and the Vedantic classifi-
cation, the total number of the elements is not, on that
account, either increased or decreased. The elements are
everywhere twenty-five. Yet, in order that confusion should
not arise as a result of this' difference in classification, I have
shown below these three methods of classification in the form
of a tabular statement. In the thirteenth chapter of the
Gita (13. 5), the twenty-five elements of the Samkhyas are
enumerated one by one, just as they are, without troubling to
classify them; and that shows that though the classification
may be different, the total number of the elements is every-
where the same :- I have thus concluded the description of how the homo-
geneous, inorganic, imperceptible, and gross Matter, which
was fundamentally equable, acquires organic heterogeneity
as a result of Individuation after it has become inspired by the
non-self-perceptible 'Desire' (buddhi) of creating the \!;ible
universe, and also how, later on, as a result of the principle
of the Development of Constituents (gunaparinama), namely
that, "'Qualities spring out of qualities " ( guna gunesu jayante},
the eleven sattvika subtle elements, which are the fundamental
elements of the organic world come into existence on the
one hand, and the five subtle Fine Elements ( tanmatras ),
which are the fundamental elements of the tamasa world come
into existence on the other hand. I must now explain in what
order the subsequent creation, namely, the five gross primordial
elements, or the other gross material substances which spring
from them, have come into existence. Samkhya philosophy
only tells us that the five gross primordial elements or Visesas
have come out of the five Fine Elements, as a result of guya-
parinama. But, as this matter has been more fully dealt with
in Vedanta philosophy, I shall also, as the occasion has
arisen, deal with that subject-matter, but after warning my
readers that this is part of Vedanta philosophy and not of
Samkhya philosophy. Gross earth, water, brilliance, air and
the ether are calhd the five primordial elements or Visesas.
Their order of creation has been thus described in the
Taittirtyopaaisad :-“atmanah akasah sambhutah I akasad vayuh I vayor agnih anger apah adbhyah prthivi prthivya osadhayah I
etc. [1].
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