Gita Rahasya -Tilak 193

Gita Rahasya -Tilak

CHAPTER VIII THE CONSTRUCTIN AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE COSMOS The red (lohita) colour, which is to be found in the gross fire or the Sun or in electricity, is the result of the subtle fundamental element of brilliance ; the white (sukla) colour, of the fundamental subtle element of water ; and the black (krsna) colour, of the funda- mental subtle element of earth. In the same way, subtle fire, subtle water, and subtle food (prthvi) are the three fundamental elements which are contained even in the food which man eats. Just as butter comes to the surface when you churn curds, so when this food, made up of the three subtle elements enters the stomach, the element of brilliance in it, creates gross, medium and subtle products in the shape of bones, marrow and speech respectively ; and similarly, the element of water (apaj creates urine, blood and Vital Force ; and the element of earth (prthvi) creates the three susbstances, excrement, flesh and mind" . This system of the Chandogyopanisad of not taking the primordial elements as five, but as only three, and of explaining the creation of all visible things by the union of these three substances ( trivrtkarana ) has been mentioned in ^the Vedanta-Sutras , and Badarayanacarya does not even mention the word 'Pancikarana'. Nevertheless, in the 'Taittiriya (2. 1), Prasna and other Upanisads, and in the Svetasvatara itself (2. 12) and in the Vedanta-Sutras (2. 3. 1-14) and lastly in the , five primordial elements are mentioned instead of three ; and in the Garbhopanisad, the human body is in the very beginning stated to be 'pancatmaka', that is, made up of five; and the Mahabharata and the _ Puranas give clear descriptions of Pancikarana . From this it becomes quite clear, that the idea of the 'union of five' (pancikarana) becomes ultimately acceptable to all Vedanta philosophers and that although the 'union of three' ( trivitkarana ) may have been ancient, yet, after the primordial elements came to be believed to be five instead of three, the idea of Pancikarana was based on the same sample as the Trivrtkarana, and the theory of Trivrtkarana went out of vogue. Not only is the human body formed of the five primordial elements, but the meaning of the word Pancikarana has been extended to imply that each one of these five is divided in five different ways in the body. For instance, the quinary of akin, flesh, bone, marrow, and muscles grows out of earth etc. etc.. This idea also seems to have been inspired by the description of Trivrtkarana in the Chardogyopanisad mentioned above. There also, there is a statement at the end that brilliance, water, and earth are each to be found in three different forms in the human body.