24 Tatvas

Śiva

Also known as Sakala tattva. One of the two aspects of the omniscient, omnipresent, conscious Absolute. In this essence, the Absolute doesn't consists of any desire (icchā), action (kriyā) or Knowledge (jnāna) related properties. It is in its pure conscious state.

This I am adding having discovered some new aspects - It is long but very revealing.

The tattvas in Indian philosophy are elements or principles of reality.[1][2] Tattvas are the basic concepts to understand the nature of absolute, the souls and the universe in Samkhya and Shaivite philosophies. Samkhya philosophy lists 25 tattvas while later Shaivite philosophies extend the number to 36.[3]

Tattvas are used to explain the structure and origin of the Universe. They are usually divided into three groups: śuddha (pure tattvas); śuddhaśuddha (pure-impure tattvas); and aśuddha (impure tattvas). The pure tattvas describe internal aspects of the Absolute; the pure-impure tattvas describe the soul and its limitations; while the impure tattvas include the universe and living beings that assist the existence of soul.[4]

Overview

Five pure tattvasEdit

The five pure Saiva tattvas are associated with the five acts of Lord Shiva in his Nataraja depiction.

Suddha tattvas, also known as Śaiva tattvas are functioning in the absolute level which leads to the Panchakritya (Five acts) - Creation-Maintenance-Destruction-Concealment-Grace of almighty.[10] Suddha tattvas are called pure because they are directly created by Shiva himself.[7]

ŚivaEdit

Also known as Sakala tattva. One of the two aspects of the omniscient, omnipresent, conscious Absolute. In this essence, the Absolute doesn't consists of any desire (icchā), action (kriyā) or Knowledge (jnāna) related properties. It is in its pure conscious state.

ŚaktiEdit

Another aspect of the Absolute. Pairing of Śiva-Śakti causes the creation of all the lower tattvas. The paired Śiva-Śakti is omniscience and consistently active. These two properties of Śiva-Śakti are known jnāna and kriyāa respectively.

SadākhyaEdit

Also called Sadāśiva tattva or Nāda tattva. This tattva is responsible for the appearance of aham or self. This tattva is when kriyāśakti and jnānaśakti of the Absolute are in equilibrium.

IśvaraEdit

Also known as Bindu tattva. The tattva where the fourth act of Panchakritya - delusion or concealment happens. Iśvara tattva activates the souls which are concealed by pāśa. Idam, "this is myself", i.e., the objectivation of self-awareness is caused by Iśvara tattva.[7]

Śuddha VidyāEdit

Also known as Sadvidyā or Kriyā. Jnānaśakti is more initiative than kriyaśakti in Śuddhavidyā tattva. Here, "self-ness" and "this-ness" become balanced.[7] The other three acts of Panchakritya - creation, maintenance and destruction are done below suddhavidya.[clarification needed]

These five tattvas are the Absolute which leads to the moksha of souls. Or this five tattvas can be seen as retrogradation of souls from lower state to its higher steps towards liberation.

Seven pure-impure tattvasEdit

Main article: Shuddhashuddha tattvas

Pure-impure tattvas or Vidya tattvas are described as the "instruments" that assist the souls for their liberation. Soul or Atman is considered as "Purusha tattva" here, while the final manifestation of almighty is known as "Maya tattva". Maya manifests into five more tattvas known as "kanchukas"[11] and these six tattvas adjoins the pusursha tattva and thus, produce seven vidya tattvas.

MāyāEdit

Maya hides the divine nature of created beings as it creates the sense of separateness from the Divine and from each other.

The five kanchukasEdit

Kanchukas can be fairly translated as cloaks. They block the subject from recognising the divine nature of the Universe.

kāla - the cloak of time

vidyā - the cloak of limited knowledge

rāga - the cloak of desire

niyati - the cloak of causality

kalā - the cloak of being limited[7]

PurushaEdit

Main article: Atman (Hinduism)

[clarification needed] Purusha is the soul. It pairs with maya, the final manifestation of god along with five kancukas. These five vidya tattvas are idle in nature. So, Śiva joins with Maya and Śakti joins with three kancukas - Kāla, Niyati, Kalā. Sadasiva joins with purusha and śuddhavidya operates vidya tattva. Raga is operated by Ishvara.[9] The activated purusha with other vidya tattvas cannot exist in universe solely. There comes the assistance of upcoming 24 asuddha tattvas.

Twenty-four impure tattvasEdit

Impure tattvas or Atma tattvas are aspects of Universe and physical body.

AntahkaranaEdit

Consciousness within the limited purusha forms the citta made of Intellect (buddhi), Ego (ahamkāra), and Mind (manas), known collectively as the antahkarana, or "inner organ". Buddhi is the first evolute of prakṛti. It represents the capacity of discernment. It evolves into ahamkāra after buddhi differentiates a notion of a limited individual self. That external sense of self is then experienced through the sensory mind (manas). Ten indriyas (five sense organs and five action organs), five tanmātras (subtle elements), five mahābhūtas (gross elements), and the sensory mind evolve from ahamkāra as it modifies into sattvic (sensory), rajasic (active) and tamasic (material) modes. These 24 lowest tattvas that evolve from individual consciousness are known as the impure tattvas (aśuddha).[12]

Five sense organsEdit

The five sense organs (jñānendriya) are the most sattvic functions of manas and include:

ghrāna (nose), i.e., the medium to experience smell

rasana (tongue), i.e., the medium to experience taste

caksus (eye), i.e., the medium to experience colour and shape

tvāk (skin), i.e., the medium to experience touch

śrotra (ear), i.e., the medium to experience sound

Five motor organsEdit

The five motor organs (karmendriya), each corresponding to a sense organ, represent the physical organs of action. They are the most rajasic functions of manas.

pāyu (anus) - the organ responsible for excretion

upasthā (sexual organ) - the organ that enables procreation and sexual enjoyment[13]

pāda (leg) - the organ that makes ambulation possible

pāni (hand) - the organ that enables grabbing and touching

vāk (mouth) - the organ that makes sound/speech possible

Five subtle elementsEdit

The five subtle elements (tanmātra) are the most tamasic functions of manas and represent the reflection of the corresponding five gross elements in the mind:

gandha (smell)

rāsa (taste)

rūpa (form)

sparśa (touch)

śabda (sound)

Five gross elementsEdit

Main article: Panchabhuta

The five gross elements (mahābhuta) represent the final point of manifestation:

prthvi (earth)

jala (water)

tejas (fire)

vāyu (air)

ākāśa (ether or space)

While mahābhūtas are the basis for the material world, tanmātras are but limited aspects and views of it, in no way able to fully describe it. We cannot actually perceive the reality, all we can access are limited "bands" of information that form a description of reality. These bands of information are the five tanmātras.

This restriction however applies only to the limited beings (jiva, or aṇu). For one who has gone beyond māyā, in the realm of the pure tattvas, there can be direct perception of reality, because as one's self is Ātman, so are the external objects. In such a state an enlightened being can perceive the world beyond the five senses (direct perception), in a state of diversity in unity and unity in diversity.[14]

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The 24 Tattvas of Creation in Samkhya Darshana

by Jayaram V

Summary: This essay explains the significance of tattvas or finite realities of Nature (Prakriti) according to the Samkhya school of Hinduism.

Hinduism owes a great deal to the Samkhya (Sankhya) philosophy or the Samkhya Darshana. Samkhya means number. Samkhya philosophy deals with the number of realities that are present in existence. According to Richard Garbe, it is "the most significant system of philosophy that India has produced." It exerted profound influence on many scholars in ancient India, China and, according to some, even in Greece. Even today, it attracts the attention of many scholars, although it is not a living philosophy and has no active followers.

We find references to the school in scriptures such as the Bhagavadgita, the Mahabharata, and Upanishads such as the Svetasvatara and the Maitrayani Upanishada. Although originally it might have begun as a theistic philosophy with its roots in the Upanishads, it appears that subsequently it morphed into an atheistic school which assigned no role to God in creation and attributed all causes and effects to Nature. Its main tenets and ideas gradually found their way into main stream Hinduism and several sects of Buddhism.

According to Samkhya philosophy, Prakriti or Nature is responsible for all manifestation and diversity, while the individual souls, which are eternal, remain passive. When they come into contact with Nature, they become subject to its influence and become embodied by its realities. Prakriti is an eternal reality and the first cause of the universe. In its pure original form, it is the unmanifest (avyaktam), primal resource, the sum of the universal energy. It is without cause, but acts as the cause and source of all effects, and "the ultimate basis of the empirical universe.”

The tattvas or realities

Prakriti manifests things by modifying or transforming the causes into effects, which are already hidden in them. Thus, the school believes in the theory of evolution or transformation (parinama vada). Using the triple gunas and its various realities (tattvas) it creates numerous beings and objects. However, Prakriti has no power or control over the souls (Purushas), which are eternal, numerous, independent and immutable. It cannot also create life forms without the participation of the souls. Creation (Shristi) begins, when the equilibrium of the gunas (modes) in Prakriti become disturbed and its realities manifest. According to the school, in all 24 realities (tattvas) emerge or evolve out of Nature, each having the predominance of one or more gunas. The 24 tattvas are listed below.

Prakrit, Nature (1)

Mahat, the great principle (2)

Buddhi, discriminating, reasoning and causative intelligence (2)

Ahamkara, ego or ego-principle (3)

Manas, the physical mind or brain (4)

The five panchendiryas, sense organs (9)

The five karmendriyas, the organs of action (14)

The five tanmatras, subtle elements (19)

The five Mahabhutas, gross elements namely the earth, water, air, fire and ether (24)

They are the evolutes of Nature. The Mahat (the Great One) is the first reality to emerge from Prakriti, when sattva is predominant. It has a universal aspect as the source of the world, and a physical aspect as intelligence or buddhi in the living beings. It is responsible for rationality and discriminating awareness. From Buddhi, ahmkara or the feeling of individuality evolves when rajas predominates. It is responsible for the self-sense (ego). Up to now the tattvas are subtle, but from here on gross. From ego evolve the brain (manas), the five senses (jnanedriyas), the five organs of action (karmendriyas), the five subtle essences (tanmatras) or objects of the senses, and the five gross elements (mahabhutas).

They constitute the 24 tattvas. Together with Purusha (individual soul) who is an eternal reality, the number becomes 25. Nature makes use of them all to produce the diversity in the world. Of them Prakriti is without a cause. Mahat, ahamkara, and the five tanmatras are both causes and effects. The rest are effects only. Purusha is neither a cause nor an effect. It is eternal, without a cause, and immutable.

The Natural evolution of things and beings as suggested in the Samkhya has many parallels in the modern theories of evolution. However, while the modern theories focus mainly upon the evolution of physical bodies, the Samkhya also proposes the evolution of beings over many lifetimes. Further, it views evolution or transformation of causes into effects not as miracle work of God, but as a transformative process which progresses through different phases and in predictable patterns until the souls escape from the mortal world.

The Samkhya school was founded by Kapila, who probably lived in the Vedic period, before the composition of principal Upanishads such as the Svetasvatara, Katha, Prashna and Maitrayani Upanishads. Kapila Sutras, or Samkhya Sutras is the earliest known text of the school, which is ascribed to Kapila. However, we do not seem to have the original world. Our current knowledge of the schools is derived mainly from the Samkhya Karika of Isvara Krishna who lived in either third or fifth Century AD. Many commentaries on the Karika were written. Of them the commentaries of Gaudapada and Vijnana Bhikshu are well known.

In the second chapter, the Bhagavadgita presents its own theistic version of Samkhya. It has a few common features with the original school, but is essentially theistic. While Samkhya recognizes Nature as the source of all creation, the Bhagavadgita identifies Brahman as the first cause of creation and Nature as a dependent reality, which manifests the worlds and beings under the will of God.

The Samkhya school has a close affinity with the Yoga school of philosophy. The classical yoga is modelled on the knowledge of the Samkhya only. The Yoga Sutras contains many references to Isvara, the individual soul, but makes not assertions about a supreme, universal God. The idea of Prakriti as the sole source creation and evolution probably contributed to the popularity of Tantras and the tradition of Shakti worship.

Impact on Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism

The Samkhya philosophy left a lasting influence upon Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. While we do not know how far its doctrines found their way into them, it is possible that they might have found in it support for their own beliefs and practices. For example, Buddhism, Jainism and several schools of Hinduism, do not recognize creator God. They also acknowledge the role of Nature in the manifestation of things.

In some respects, the Yogasutras of Patanjali is both an extension and an exposition of the Samkhya school. The Samkhya yoga of the Bhagavadgita is but a subtle refutation of the basic premise of the Samkhya philosophy with regard to Brahman or the supreme Purusha as the primary and efficient cause of the creation. However, interestingly, it accepts many concepts of the school such as the division of the gunas, the bondage of the souls, relationship between Nature and individual souls, the liberation of the souls through yoga and self-transformation.

As in the Vedanta, the Samkhya school suggest that souls become bound when they come under the influence of Prakrity and become enveloped by delusion and ignorance. When they realize that Nature is responsible for their bondage and has nothing to do with them, they strive for liberation and achieve release or freedom from the cycle of births and deaths.