PANCHABUTA or FIVE
ELEMENTS
by Dr. Gautam
Chatterjee
PANCHABHUTA
Or Five Elements.Our whole cosmic quest of the world and beyond
starts from the point of panchabhuta (five elements) which then
manifests in an enjoining manner to form the life force and then, later,
those five elements disintegrates to ensue a celestical traverse at the
Paramanu (atom) level.
However, we will first
try to understand these five elements which are Earth
or Prithvi; Water or Jal ; Fire
or Agni; Air or Vayu and then Ether
or Akasha. Each of these Five elements has its own character and
celestial elements which we will gauge in the following lines.
Earth (Prithvi):
One can touch earth and smell it too ! However, there are two types of
earth one is Eternal or (nitya) which are in the form of atom (Paramanu).The
other type is perishable (anitya) which exists in the form of Karya
or Work at animate and inanimate levels. Symbolically speaking our body,
sense organs are the earth which as a whole get the shape of Jiva
or life but those are perishable. But elements or atoms are eternal as
after death may we bury, or burn the body, all the atoms get
disintegrated to come back to its original eternal form. So our body and
its Karya or Work are perishable as the mountain or rock forms
but the atom remains which are eternal.
Water
or Jal is the second element which again has two
characters as in the Earth i.e. eternal in the shape of atom and
Karya (Work) be it as river, pond or sea are perishable. As from sea
or river water evaporates to be in the sky as cloud then again in the
shape of rain it comes down on earth. So the eternal atom is only
changing its karya or shape of work and what we see is the
perishable form.From the sense organ perspective we can touch it to feel
and taste it as well.
The thrid element is
Air
or Vayu.Again it has two levels as earth and water
i.e.eternal atom and perishable Karya. One can feel air, as we
breath in or out.We feel the storm or strong breeze which are temporary
but air at atomic level remains around us eternally. In the Purana there
is a mention of 49 types of Maruts or winds.Seven are important
namely 1. Pravaha 2 Avaha; 3,Udvaha 4. Samvaha;
5 Vivaha; 6 Parvaha and 7.Paravaha. The wind which
takes the water from the ocean is called Udvaha.
Fire
or Agni is the fourth element of Indian Panchabhuta. Again
it has eternal and perishable elements as we have seen above. The
essential character of Fire is to generate heat.According to Hindu
Mythology, Agni is one of the Eight guardians who guards our
universe and is known as Asta- dik-palakas (Asta-eight, dik--Zone,Palaka-Guardian).
The Fire is posited in the South East of the Universe.
However, in Indian
mythology there are mentions of various types of fires. The four
important ones are fire of the earth, fire of the sky, fire of the
stomach (can mean hunger and digestive power as well) and the fire we
commonly use.
Then comes the last of
the Panchabhuta or five elements which is sound or
ether.
Ether is unique as it has only one character i.e. eternal. Ether is the
carrier of sound be it man made or otherwise. One can hear it. As ether
is the only eternal element of the five elements it attracted the
attention of various sages. The concept of Akashvani or Devine
sound which is heard by sages of higher order is related to this Ether
or Akasha.The primordial mantra AUM then in modern times Raam
or Shyaam are to work as linkages between Jivatma(life
force--atman or soul) to Paramatman or (Omnipotent of supreme
soul).The concept of sound and Mantra will be discussed in the next
issue. Now we should concentrate on elements, other than five mentioned
above which are very important to Hindu theological perspective. Those
are Time(Kala) and Space (Sthan or Dik i.e. place
and direction); Soul and Mind.
Like ether Time and Space
are eternal. Time or kala is common cause of all actions of all
the elements and is eternal link of predetermined actions and
happenings. Thus in Hindu astrologly the whole world and its course are
equated with "time". The Direction or Dik are part of
Space and North, South, West and East are eternal no matter the Universe
undergoes whatever changes.
Then the other element is
Soul which is related with the knowledge system of man as jivatman
and the eternal Knowledge of God or Paramatman(omnipotent).The
last of the nine main elements is the manas or Mind. Its the
sense-organ or path to experience the world eternally and otherwise.
These sense organs are in the shape of eternal paramanu or atom
and works is combinations to derive pleasure at worldly levels. These
are the brief out line of main five elements and other four primary
elements. It is said that our universe was created out of the
manifestation of five elements. This was described in the Devigita very
elaborately.
Devigita proclaims that
Shakti went about creating the world with 24 tattvas or elements.
The five elements were born out of the primordial principle of
unmanifested Sakti.The ether through which sound traverse was first
element, which is also known as Sabda-rupa (form of sound).
Second was Air or Vayu (Sparsharupa or a form which is
felt) The Air or Vayu give rise to Agni so it called
Vayoranih. Then sense of taste or ‘rasrupa’ the water
element came. The the gandharupa or the source of smell came--the
earth.
Pauranic Expert Vettam
Mani said that the universe remained in embryo form or in the
bijarupa. "These Panchabhutas{five elements} were first
divided into two (each was divided into two). Then by a process of the
combination of these ten parts different substances were born....Each
half of each of these five bhutas{elements} is again subdivided
into four parts. These 1/8 parts are joined to the other halves and by
combining them in other fractions of the material bodies(sthulasariras
of all beings are made." wrote Vettam Mani.
The cosmic body is the
grand total of those material bodies discussed above. The first and pure
manifestation of those five elements are the inner conscience and bodily
organs like ear etc. However, the inner conscience or Antarkaranas
assumes four state or forms. Once conception and doubt arise it is
called Mind. But when there is no doubt arises is called
Buddhi. The process of examination and re-examination of a subjects
belongs to the state of intellect called citta. But with the
feeling of "I" the ego or ahamkar bursts out. So we
find the pure five elements gave rise to the inner conscience or Antarkarnana
and then there are four states within it namely mind, buddhi, citta
and ego.
Vettam Mani explained
"From the coarse (rajasic) aspect of the five sense organs
originate the five organs of action like word, foot, hand, excretory and
the genital organ, and also the five pranas (breaths) called prana,
apana, samana, udhana and vyana.
....Prana is
located in the heart, apana in the anus, samana in the nabhi
(navel)udana in the throat and Vyana all over the
body.....(Organs of knowldege 5, of action 5, and pranas 5,and
buddhi 1,mind 1, the bodly is composes of these 17 factors".
The sukshmasaria or
the subtle body has two nature or Prakrati namely maya wherein
the god is reflected. The other is Avidya seen by Jiva or
living being who is receptable of sorrows. Through Vidya(Eternal
Knowldege) and Avidya (ignorance) three forms of body emerge.
Mani explained ‘He who is attached and is pround about the material
body is called visva; he who attaches importance to the subtle
bodly is called Taijisva, and who is aware of casual body is
called Prajna.’ Likewise we see how the five elements
manifested itself into 22 tattva (materials) which all go towards
creation of a body. In the Devigita it is said that eighty-four lakh
species of living beings have manifested from these five elements. In
the next article we would take up the ether or sound elements in mantra
perspective which has only single and eternal entity and dwells in Hindu
theology vibrantly.