|
The Tattvas
Purusha, Prakriti, Mahat (Vyakta), Ahamkara, Akasa, air, fire, water and earth - these are the nine principles I mentioned.
The ear, skin, eye, nose and palate are the five organs of knowledge (Jnana Indriyas); the tongue, hand, leg, genitals and anus are the five organs of action (Karma Indriyas). O dear one, the mind is both. These are the eleven principles or Tattvas.
Sound, touch, form or colour, taste and smell are the five sense-objects. Speech, work, motion, excretion, generation are the functions of the organs of action.
In the beginning when this universe is projected, Prakriti assumes the forms of cause and effect through the Gunas such as the Sattva etc., and is liable to every such state or modification. But the intelligent Purusha remains unmodified. He simply witnesses the work of Prakriti.
Mahat Tattva and other principles are charged with power through the glance of the Purusha. Being supported by the Prakriti they combine together and form the universe. At every stage of creation the gracious immanence of Purusha directs or gives the necessary impetus for the creation.
Some hold that the fundamental principles or categories are only seven and they are the five elements beginning with Akasa, Jiva, and the Supreme Self which is the substratum or support of both the seer and the seen, the subject and the object. From these seven arise the body, the senses and the Pranas.
|
|