20. EVOLUTION OF THE SATTVA ASPECT

The senses of perception produce perception or the knowledge for the individual. The sense elements are evolved from the Tanmatras which are in tura evolved from Maya. Because Maya has three aspects (Gunas) viz. Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, the Tanmatras also have these three aspects. The Gunas of the cause flow into the effect. As stated before, the Sattva aspect of Maya manifests itself as the knowledge. Because the function of the sense organs of perception is to produce knowledge, they are considered to be evolved from the Sattva aspect of five relevant subtle elements.

20.1 ORGANS OF PERCEPTION

20.1 एतेषां पञ्चतत्त्वानां मध्ये आकाशस्य सात्विकांशात् श्रोत्रेन्द्रियं संभूतम् ।

From among these five great elements, out of the Satvic aspect of Akasa, is evolved the ear, the organ of ‘hearing’.

20.1.1 वायोः सात्विकांशात् त्वगिन्द्रियं संभूतम् ।

From the Satvic aspect of Vayu (Air), is evolved the skin, the organ of touch.

20.1.2 अग्नेः सात्विकांशात् चक्षुरिन्द्रियं संभूतम् ।

From the Satvic aspect of Fire, is formed the eye.

20.1.3 जलस्य सात्विकांशात् रसनेन्द्रियं संभूतम् ।

From the Satvic aspect of Water, is formed the tongue, the organ of taste.

20.1.4 पृथिव्याः सात्विकांशात् प्राणेन्द्रियं संभूतम् ।

From the Satvic aspect of Earth, is formed the organ of smell, the nose.

This can be summarised as follows:

Sattva aspect of	Goes into formation of
Akasa	Ear
Vayu	Skin
Agni	Eye
Apah	Tongue (taste)
Prithvi	Nose

The five senses of perception evolved from satva aspect of the five elements. Every element has an essential nature (Guna) and the corresponding sense of organ is evolved from it. Thus the essential Guna of Akasa is sound and Satva aspect of Akasa goes into the make up of the ears. The Guna of air is touch and therefore skin is evolved out of the Sattva aspect of air and so on.

21. ΑΝΤΑΗKARANA (Mind)

21.1 एतेषां पञ्चतत्वानी समष्टिसात्विकांशात् मनोबुद्ध्यहंकार चितान्तःकरणानि संभूतानि ।।

From the total satvic content of these five elements the Antahkarana (the inner instruments) constituted of the Manas, Buddhi, Ahamkara, and China are formed.

The ‘Antahkarana’ or the mind receives the stimuli from the senses of perception and directs the Pranamaya Kosa to respond. The mind is considered to be evolved from the combined Satvic aspect of all the five subtle elements.

How the mind has to assimilate the stimuli from different senses of perception is evident when a man is told of a bunch of beautiful roses on a table in the room. His sense of hearing sends the message to the mind. The mind immediately directs the eyes to see the roses to confirm. If the reaction after the seeing does not confirm whether the roses are real or artificial, the next action is to smell them. If in spite of this, the mind is not satisfied, it wants to check them by touching, to confirm their velvety smoothness. Again for an absolute confirma-tion, a rose petal may even be tasted! Thus the mind receives the stimuli from sense organs and assimilates the information.

The Antahkarana the mind is made up of thoughts These thoughts can be divided into four categories, based on their nature or function. So the one Antahkarana is called by four names according to the four functions it performs, viz. Manas, Buddhi, Ahamkara and Chitta, just as one woman. may be called mother, daughter, sister, aunt etc., depending upon her function.

21.2 संकल्पविकल्पात्मकं मनः ।

Manas is of the nature of indecision or doubt.

Manas: When an individual is not sure about something, his mind vascillates between opposite thoughts. For example, while leaving home, after walking a few steps, a question arises: have I locked the door (Vikalpha)? Then the answer may be: yes, I have locked the door (Sankalpa). But if the doubting faculty overrides, the man would go back to check whether the door is locked or not. This function of Antah-karana is called Manas. Thus the nature of Manas is volition or vascillation and doubt.

21.3 निश्चयात्मिका बुद्धिः।

Intellect is of the nature of decision.

Buddhi: Buddhi is the determining faculty or the “cognition” faculty. Thus upon the doubt of whether the door is locked or not, the deciding faculty might confirm: yes, the door is locked. This faculty is Buddhi. Buddhi is involved in the analysis of a situation or an enquiry into a problem,

21.4 अल्हेकर्ता अहंकारः ।

“I am the doer” this sense is the ego, Ahamkara.

Ahamkara: The aspect of the Antahkarana which has the sense of doership or ownership is called Ahamkara (ego) This is a notion which claims the doership and identifies the self with one’s actions, pleasures, sorrows, etc.

21.5 चिन्तनकर्तृ चित्तम्।

The thinking faculty (or the faculty of recollections) is the Chitta.

Chitta: The function of the Antahkarana which is based on the recollection of past experiences or events is called Chitta. The Chitta provides guidelines to the Buddhi on the basis of past experiences. It is a storehouse of impressions and memories. les. Thus if a man man happens to see a snake, the past memories or impressions of a snake will direct the mind and the senses to react.

While the three faculties viz. Manas, Buddhi and Chitta come and go i.e. they replace each other according to the situation, the Ahamkara or the notion of doership is always present at all times. Thus it is “I” who vascillates or “1” whe decides or “I” who provides the direction. The other modifi-cations change according to objects and thoughts.

Thus the Satva aspect of all the five Tanmatras goes into the make-up of Manomaya and Vijnanamaya Kosa which include the mind, the intellect and the five senses of perception.

21.6.1 मनसो देवता चन्द्रमाः। The presiding deity of the mind is the Moon.

21.6.2 बुद्धे ब्रह्मा। For the intellect (the presiding deity is) Brahma.

21.6.3 अहंकारस्थ रुद्रः । For the ego, it is Rudra.

21.6.4 वित्तस्य वासुदेवः । For the Chitta (the presiding deity is) Vasudeva.

22. EVOLUTION OF THE RAJAS ASPECT

The second aspect of the Trigunatmika Maya is Rajas which also appears in the five elements and consequently in the Jagat.

22.1 एतेषां पञ्चतत्वानी मध्ये आकाशस्य राजसांशात् त्वगिन्द्रियं संभूतम् ।

Among these five elements, from the Rajas aspect of space, is formed the organ of speech.

22.2 वायोः राजसोशात् पाणीन्द्रियं संभूतम् ।

From the Rajas aspect of Vayu (Air), is formed the hand.

22.3 वन्हेः राजसांशात् पादेन्द्रियं संभूतम्।

From the Rajas aspect of Fire, is formed the leg.

22.4 जलस्य राजसांशात् उपस्थेन्द्रियं संभूतम् ।

From the Rajas aspect of Water, the genitals are formed.

22.5 पृथिव्या राजसांशात् गुदेन्द्रिये संभूतम्।

From the Rajas aspect of Earth, the anus is formed.

23. एतेषां समष्टियनसांशात् पञ्चप्राणाः सेभूताः ।

From the total Rajas aspect of all these five elements, the five vizal airs are born.

From the Rajasik aspect of the five subtle elements, the Pranamaya Kosa (The Pancha Pranas and Karmendriyas) is evolved. Once again, every subtle element is associated with a certain function, so that Rajas aspect of a given element goes into the make up of a specific organ of action. This is given below:

RAJAS aspect of	Goes into formation of
Akasa	Speech
Vayu	Hands
Agni	Legs
Apah	Genitals
Prithvi	Anus

The Rajas aspect of all the subtle elements goes into the make up of the five Pranas.