Cosmic creation

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Cosmic Creation

By SUKUMAR CHATTERJI

Cosmic Creation

By

Sukumar Ckatterji

Editor of "Chkatra Sabodar"

Published by

FIAT LUX SOCIETY

1411 6tt Avenue
San Francisco, California

Copyright. 1922

by
S. CHATTERJI

All rights reserved, including translatioi

uriilj Iptmhl* rmmtr*

tn
Styat (great Hatter

, mg 3Fr«ttii, ani mg
to lulutnt 3 aw?
all iljaf 3 fettoui

attd
all tljal 31 l|0p^ to bt.

COSMIC CREATION

GLOSSARY AND KEY TO PRONUNCIATION

A is pronounced as u in fur; a as a in far;
e as a in fate; ee as ee in feet; i as i in fit;
u as u in put ; u as u in rule.

Many Sanskrit words in the text have been
used in both a singular and plural sense. The
proper case-endings have purposely not been
used in order that readers unacquainted with
Sanskrit may not be confused.

Tat —That (Indescribable Princi

ple) ; First Cause.

(Tatwa — Any step farther away from

(Padartha Tat; the twenty-four po

tentially creative states.

Mool-Prakriti —First effect of First Cause.

Prakriti —Effect of Mool-Prakriti; un-

differentiated cosmic sub
stance.

Mahat Tatwa —Effect of Prakriti ; the Great
Impersonal Intelligence.

Aham Tatwa —Effect of Mahat Tatwa ; first
birth of Consciousness.

Mana —Effect of Aham Tatwa ; Cos

mic Mind; abstract sense-
consciousness.

Jnana-Ijndriya — Effect of Mana; the five
knowing abstract sense-
concepts.

Karma-Indriya— Effect of Mana; the five
working abstract sense-
concepts.

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COSMIC CREATION

Tanmatra — The five objects of Jnaiia-
Indriya ; subtlest form of
actual matter.

Bhoota — Physical manifestations of

Tanmatra; the five mater
ial substances.

Akash — Subtlest Bhoota of space.

iWayuj — Subtlest Bhoota of air.

Tej — Subtlest Bhoota of fire.

!Apa —Subtlest Bhoota of water.

.Prithiwee —Subtlest Bhoota of earth.

Gun — The three causative, guiding

qualities inherent in and
operative upon all Tatwa.

Sattwa —Elevating Gun*

Raja — Activating Gun.-*

Tama —Resisting Gun. '

Jna —That aspect of any state in

which another potential
state is seen.

Karma — Action; effect.

Rishi — Aryan sages.

Aryan — Belonging to the oldest civ

ilized race on earth, of
which the Hindus are the
lineal descendants.

Weda — The four sacred books of the

Hindus, which contain the
oldest historical and phi
losophical literature in the
world.

[7]

FOREWORD

The purpose of this series of which COSMIC
CREATION forms the first monograph is to pre
sent pure Aryan thoughts in a purely Aryan
manner. At the same time, stress is laid upon
that phase of Aryan reasoning which is best
adapted to the comprehension of the Western
mind.

The aim of all Aryan literature has been to
stimulate the student to think for himself. I
have attempted to formulate the theoretical
portion of philosophy, which is embodied in
COSMIC CREATION, in such a suggestive way that
the reader will be eager to seek more enlighten
ment for himself.

A great deal of misunderstanding exists in
the Western World in regard to Aryan litera
ture. This condition has arisen partly from the
ignorance of translators, who almost without
exception have failed to grasp the fine distinc
tions and subtleties of the Sanskrit language,
and who have not approached their subject
from the same angle of vision which character
ized the ancient Aryan philosophers, and partly
from the deliberate and intentional misinter
pretation by political and religious propagan
dists,

I have begun this series, therefore, in the
hope of correcting many current misconceptions
about Aryan literature. COSMIC CREATION has
been presented first, not only because it is the
foundation of all Aryan philosophy and logic,
but also because a comprehension of the modus

[8]

COSMIC CREATION

operandi of the Aryan mind, from its inception
to its conception, and from conception to ex
pression, is essential to the understanding of
the treatises which will follow, and which will
deal with practical methods of mental disci
pline and achievements.

A knowledge of Cosmic Creation is necessary
to the student who seeks to find the basic laws
underlying meditation. Meditation is not the
self-induced sleep or hypnotism that it is gen
erally believed to be. It can be attained only
thru a severe mental training, and consists in
identifying one's self consciously and volun
tarily with any state of being. One must be
aware not only of the object of meditation, but
also of the unit of thought which is operative at
the time, and of the various states of conscious
ness thru which one passes. To combine these
apparently different features of meditation re
quires a singleness of mind that has realized
the ultimate oneness of Cosmic Creation thru
a systematic psychological training.

My grateful thanks are due to those friends
who urged and assisted me to bring before the
English-speaking world a small part of that
Aryan philosophy which, when not totally ig
nored, has received such misrepresentation at
the hands of most Western scholars. I must
also express my gratitude to Swami Prakasha-
nanda of the Hindu Temple, who kindly placed
his Sanskrit library at my disposal.

SUKUMAB CHATTEEJI.

San Francisco, California.
June 1, 1922.

[9]

"Atma wa ithameka ewagra aseet"

All this was one all-pervading Self in
the beginning"

[10]

Cosmic Creation

[HE impetus towards knowledge,
which is inherent in all beings, is
an urge to know. Knowledge in
the highest .sense means to be.
The translation of the material
world, thru the medium of our
senses, into the world of abstract contempla
tion, will give us the essence of understanding.
The foundation of all knowledge, in the sense
of ultimate realities, should be based on an as
sumption broad and universal enough to in
clude not only present experience but also fu
ture discoveries. Such an assumption would
be the outcome of a deep contemplation which
had fathomed the inherent principles underly
ing all phenomenal Nature.

Most basic assumptions in the past have been
directly formed from observation of existing
facts and phenomena, but this form of reason
ing has always had to be either modified or dis
carded whenever new investigation opened up
an unexpected phase of Nature that did not fit
into the theories that had previously been ac
cepted as axiomatic.

The one great Harmony, whose expression is
variety, has been called God by the various

[11]

COSMIC CREATION

sages. The Christian theologians have created
God in their own image, and by thus imputing
sex to God, have failed to conceive of the high
est abstract principle, beyond limitation and
without qualification. (This Christian miscon
ception of the nature of God is mainly respon
sible for the spiritual inequality of Adam's rib,
and the general Biblical condemnation of wo
men.) In Sanskrit, the classical language of
ancient India, the Ultimate Principle is repre
sented by the word Tat or That, a sexless, in
describable, unqualified existence.

The correlative existence of man has been ex
pressed from many angles; sometimes the re
lation of an individual to the infinite whole, or
again the relation of an individual unit to time
and space, or philosophically speaking, the rela
tion between abstract and concrete. Rational
existence is based on an intricate relationship
between thought and matter, between finite and
infinite, where the idea of space terminates in
an all-inclusive expansion, and time is sub
merged into eternity. In this way, the objec
tive consciousness involves to the plane beyond
knowledge, and the seeking mind naturally
ends up in the world of the unknown. So, in
the domain of thought, where every atom of
matter must be identified with a mental con
cept, it is necessary to understand the relation
between the concrete and abstract existences.
We will here consider the theories advanced
by three independent schools of thought .

The first school is the only one that has stood
the test of Time and its constant and various
discoveries. This school has assumed, first, that
thoughts are incepts beyond time and beyond

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COSMIC CREATION

space, all-pervading and everywhere at the
same time, and second, that the brain is merely
the recording instrument that attracts thoughts
to itself according to its individual capacity and
attunement.

The second school of thought claims that the
brain is the creator of abstract stuff, and that
thoughts are but the result of organized tissue
activity. This theory is a product of material
istic laboratory experience, and is incapable of
explaining any of the facts of the higher men
tal planes. It is as unreasonable to claim that
thoughts are created by the brain as it would
be to claim that wireless instruments create
the electrical waves which they receive. This
materialistic reasoning reminds me of an ex
perience I had in India with a group of igno
rant peasants. I was showing them, by means
of a microscope, the germs that exist in contam
inated water. As this was their first experi
ence with such an instrument, and as the germs
were not visible to the naked eye, they there
fore came to the conclusion that it was the
miscroscope itself that had created the germs.
In a similar way, the materialistic school con
cludes that as thought cannot be shown in a
laboratory to exist independent of a brain,
therefore it must be the brain that creates
thought.

However, it is not the purpose of this little
treatise to refute this theory in detail. It is
only necessary here to point out that whenever
a line of exact reasoning, such as the exact
sciences, has to be followed, even the most ma
terialistic school has been forced to assume un
known causes for known effects.

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COSMIC CREATION

The third school calls itself metaphysical, and
has managed to attain some prominence. It
takes its final refuge in mystery and a clever
manipulation of words. Even Truth sharpened
to an epigram would serve as an irritant, and
the slogan of this school ("What is Mind never
matter, what is Matter never mind") seeks to
hide its ignorance under a double meaning.

Let us consider the geometrical creation of
matter, and in this way serve a two-fold pur
pose ; first, that of opening up the vista of
thought with which this little monograph is
concerned, and second, that of refuting a fav
orite theory of the metaphysical school, which
suffers from dementia on the subject of the
Fourth Dimension.

The first fundamental conception of geome
try is a point, which has no magnitude, that
is, neither length, breadth nor thickness. The
second conception is a moving point which
makes a line, having length but neither breadth
nor thickness. The third conception is a sur
face, having length and breadth but no thick
ness. The fourth conception is a solid, with
the three dimensions of length, breadth and
thickness. This is the plane of matter. The
metaphysicians claim that the fourth-dimen
sional plane is subtler and less bound by nat
ural laws than the three preceding planes.
But anyone familiar with the geometrical crea
tion of matter will realize that the fourth-di
mensional plane, instead of being freer, would
be more limited by an additional dimension.
We have seen that a three-dimensional object
has length, breadth and thickness, while its
primary source has the potentialities of all di-

[14]

COSMIC CREATION

mensions, but not their limitations. Hence, for
greater freedom and knowledge, we must go
back to the simple origin of matter rather than
advance into further dimensional complexities,
From the illustration just given, it will be
clear that all known substances have their birth
in the unknown, all gross objects spring from
a subtle origin, and all concrete creations come
from an abstract source. As Herbert Spencer
so aptly puts it, "An entire history of anything
must include its appearance out of the imper
ceptible, and its disappearance into the imper
ceptible." This little treatise will ^ deal with
the appearance of things out of the impercepti
ble. By so extending our knowledge, we ex
tend also the Unknowable.

The history of Aryan mental culture is
unique in its conception. The aspiring son
asked his father, "What is That knowing which
I shall know all?" In answer to this question,
the whole structure of science, art and philoso
phy was formulated in logical sequence. All
the great thinkers throughout the ages have at
tempted to find that principle which includes
everything else, and the various means they
have" adopted towards this end have formed
the various paths of learning.

The conception of That, the Great First
Cause, as an unknown, unknowable, unquali
fied, unmanifested existence, has been taken by
the Hindu sages as the foundation or starting-
point of all the phenomenal manifestations of
Nature. In the Weda it is said, "That was
one and became many."

The first known effect of Tat or That is called
in Sanskrit Mool-Prakriti, or root of the first
action. Mool means root, and Prakriti is com-

[15]

COSMIC CREATION

posed of the prefix pra, meaning first, and kriti,
meaning action. (Kriti and Karma both arise
from the same root of kri, to do. In this way,
Karma means action as well as effect, for every
action is an effect.)

Mool-Prakriti, then, is the first known effect,
and it in turn produces the first working prin
ciple of Creation, or Prakriti.

It would be well to explain at this point
that every successive step farther away from
the Great Principle That, is termed as Tat-Twam
or, commonly, Tatwa. This word is composed
of two syllables, tat, meaning that, and twam,
meaning thou. So Tatwa means, thou art
That. That is used in the sense of the Ulti
mate Substance, while thou is its shadow. This
signifies the beginning of duality, the noumena
and phenomena, the Real and its suggestion.
The word Padartha is sometimes used inter
changeably with Tatwa. Out of these Tatwa,
which are twenty-four in number, the whole
mental world, and therefore the whole material
world, are ultimately created.

We will now return to Prakriti, the undiffer-
entiated cosmic substance known as Nature.
This Prakriti is the first of the twenty-four
Tatwa. It has position, but no magnitude, or
to put it more clearly, Prakriti has its "center
everywhere and circumference nowhere. "

There are two methods of attempting to real
ize this Prakriti. The first method is known as
conversion of concepts, and is a process little
known and seldom conciously practised. It is
a system of meditation involving deep contem
plation about any substance until the thinker
and the object of thought identify themselves
as one.

[16]

COSMIC CREATION

The second method is the process of retracing
one's steps back to the last conceivable stage.
This form of reasoning is more easily followed
by the average mind, and so it shall be used in
attempting to realize Prakriti. We can all un
derstand that everything in the universe has
been produced by a cause, and by gradually
working back from effect to cause, and by real
izing that every cause is only the effect of some
subtler cause, which in turn is also the outcome
of some more distance source, we shall at length
reach a mental limit beyond which our mind
cannot go. This limit will be determined by
the individual scope of mental experience, but
if we take the final conception of the most gi
gantic mind in the world, then we shall dimly
apprehend the nature of Prakriti.

These abstract concepts cannot be illustrated
by means of analogy ; for instance, space cannot
be compared with anything else.

Prakriti is still in an unmanifested state, be
cause the Gun (three causative qualities) that
compose it are in a state of equilibrium, and
therefore nothing has occurred to stir it to ac
tion.

Gun comes from the roots gu, to work im
perceptibly, and nee, to guide. Literally, it
means quality, or that which guides impercep
tibly. It is these three cosmic qualities that
act together to force manifestation from one
plane to another ; in other words, it is they who
produce an effect from a cause. By acting on
the first Tatwa, or Prakriti, which is their me
dium while in a state of equilibrium, they dis
turb the balance and cause the second Tatwa to
come into being. By a further manifestation

[17]

COSMIC CREATION

of these causative Gun, the third Tatwa arises.
In this way, by the influence of the Gun on each
state of being, the twenty-four Tatwa which
are responsible for the ultimate created worlds
are brought forth.

In order to understand the nature and rela
tionship of the three Gun, it will be necessary
at this point to turn from a consideration of
their unmanifested inherence in Prakriti, and
regard them as they appear in their final ex
pressions of the mental and physical worlds.
In this way, by first realizing their influence
upon the planes with which we are familiar,
we shall be in a better position to apprehend
the nature of their initial manifestations.

The first Gun is Sattwa, or Sattwa Gun,
which comes from the root sat, meaning exis
tence as well as truth. Therefore, everything
that exists bears witness to truth. Sattwa is
the most subtle of the three Gun. It illumines,
ascertains, soothes, and uplifts, by causing an
equilibrium. It is this quality which makes
real happiness devoid of excitement. It has no
motion of its own, and is incapable of action or
reaction unless influenced by the second Gun.
It predominates in ethereal natures, such as
that of a pure child. In its mental manifesta
tion, it gives the power to will and to know.
It is this quality in flame that induces it to
burn upward. The purest example of Sattwa
Gun is Intelligence on the abstract plane. On
the physical plane, there is no pure example of
the Sattwa quality. The nearest approach to
its realization on the mental plane is that stage
of transition between the dreaming and wak
ing states. Foods that are influenced bv the

[18]

COSMIC CREATION

Sattwa quality are milk, rice and wheat. It is
found to some extent in the white corpuscles of
the blood. It is symbolized by pure white.

The 9-cocnd Gun is Raja-, or Eajo Gun, which
comes from the root ranja, to please or to color.
(It is interesting to note in this connection
that the word Rajah, or king, comes from the
same root ranja, to please. Hence, a king is
one who pleases his subjects.) Raja is the
quality that activates, produces motion, and
causes cot:1' :t change in anything with which
it comes into contact. It is only by the influ
ence of Rajo Gun that the other two Gun are
enabled to manifest their inherent qualities.
Rajo Gun gives matter its force and impetus,
and causes desire and endeavor in the mind.
It is this quality that imparts motion to air and
fire. Its purest example on the abstract plane
is Ego, and on the physical plane is energy.
It is found in the red corpuscles of the blood.
Foods that contain an excess of Rajo Gun are
red peppers, onions and liquors. Red is its
symbolized color.

The third Gun is Tania, or Tamo Gun. It
comes from the root tarn, which means to cover
or to darken. The function of Tama is to cover
Sattwa and obstruct Raja. It manifests in all
matter, whether gross or subtle, as its outer
cover. To use a scientific expression, it is the
skin of matter, such as the outer cover of a
drop of water, whose skin can be seen when a
bubble is formed, or the outer cover of flame
which does not allow the air to pass thru it.
It is Tamo Gun which makes it possible to feel
invisible air. This quality produces the ten
dency in water to descend, and is responsible

[19]

COSMIC CREATION

for the attraction or downward pull of the
earth. (Please observe here the idea of grav
ity centuries before Newton.) It is Tamo Gun
which causes that resistance in matter which
prevents it from becoming one with the whole,
and it checks the efforts of Rajo Gun to acti
vate unbrokenly. It halts and resists motion.
The purest form of this third quality in an ab
stract sense is lethargy, and in a material sense
is the solidarity of the earth. It is found in
the dark blood of the veins in the form of car
bon. Its influence is predominant in sleep and
laziness. An excess of it is found in stale meat,
poisons, and certain suffocating gases. It is
symbolized as dark-colored.

Now let us consider these three causative
qualities of Nature in their relation to one an
other. When the second quality, or Raja, is
activated, it tries to make the first quality of
Sattwa manifest eternally, but is hindered by
the third quality Tama after the latter has been
precipitated into manifestation by an excessive
activity of Rajo Gun. Until this excessive mo
tion stirs the Tama quality out of its inherent
state, however, Rajo Gun makes manifest only
the Sattwa quality.

The resistance of Tamo Gun on the expansion
of Rajo Gun causes the vibrations of the uni
verse. All vibrations have one motion and one
pause to form a rhythm. The motion is made
by the quality of Raja, and the pause by Tama.

An increase in proportion of any one of the
three Gun enables it to counteract the effects
of the other two. For instance, the momentum
accumulated in the process of "looping the
loop" counteracts the pull of gravity.

An illustration of the three Gun in Nature

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COSMIC CREATION

would be the Sattwa quality in dawn, the Raja
quality in noon, and the Tama quality in night.

We will return again to Prakriti, where the
three causative Gun are in a state of equili
brium, and hence the change, or effect from the
cause, has not yet taken place. This is the
cosmos unmanifested.

The Great Law of Karma pursues the three
Gun because of their association with past crea
tions, and forces Rajo Gun to become active by
influencing Sattwa Gun. The Prakriti is in
this way broken up, and Mahat Tatwa comes
into being. This word comes from the root
maha, meaning greatest of the great. It sig
nifies permeability, expansion, certainty, and
illumination, or the all-pervading intelligence
which is inherent in all manifestations.

It is generally taken for granted that intelli
gence is monopolized by human beings alone,
but if intelligence is understood in its original
sense of capacity to expand, of possession of a
mixture of Sattwa Gun and Rajo Gun, of abil
ity to ascertain purpose, and of power of
growth, then it will be clear that intelligence is
shared by all states of being, whether of Nature
or of man.

This quality of intelligence that is manifested
in Mahat Tatwa exists in a pure and perfect
state, and bears little resemblance to its ulti
mate outcome, the individualized egoistic in
telligence. The Mahat Tatwa, being the first
manifestation of Prakriti, is the absolute state
of assured knowledge. It may be conceived in
our minds as the sum of all cognition, all con
cepts and all knowledge. Being more mani
fested than Prakriti, it is less difficult to com
prehend.

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COSMIC CREATION

Mahat Tatwa is inherent in all forms of crea
tion, whether subtle or gross. It is this which
ascertains purpose ,and fulfills the ultimate des
tiny, regardless of the ignorance of the ego.
For example, let us consider faith in human
beings. Faith is the substance of things hoped
for. Real faith is a faithful reality. It is a
glimmering of the pure inherent Intelligence
which has the assured knowledge of its destiny.
The individual who unconsciously glimpses the
Mahat Tatwa of his own being, becomes aware
of his future thru faith. Without knowing, he
has seen. A genius is one who has exchanged
his personal intelligence in the field of his art
for as much of the impersonal intelligence as
he can grasp.

Mahat Tatwa is composed of the Sattwa qual
ity which has been activated by Rajo Gun.
Tamo Gun is still in its inherent" state. By a
further increase in the activity of Rajo Gun,
Aham Tatwa, or the third of the twenty-four
creative Tatwa, comes into being. The first
two Tatwa, as we have seen, are Prakrit! and
Mahat Tatwa. Aham means I, and comes from
the root aha, to occupy separately. (Arhat,
meaning the disciples of a Buddhist sect, comes
from the same root. "B" is the letter in San
scrit which signifies disintegration. Its use in
the word arhat symbolizes the breaking-up of
the occupation by the ego of a separate exis
tence. Hence, this Buddhist sect strives to sub
merge the ego.) Aham Tatwa is the first birth
of consciousness. It gives rise to ego, pride,
consciousness of self, of personal position, of
possession and ownership. It is responsible for
individuality ,for aloofness and separation, for
the variety that has come out of Harmony.

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COSMIC CREATION

Let us consider more fully the relationship
existing between Mahat Tatwa and Aham
Tatwa. It embodies the idea of Relativity,
or the relation between the individual and the
Infinite, or to put it in abstract terms, the rela
tion between the great expansion called intel
ligence and the limitation called ego.

A little illustration will serve to make the re
lationship clearer. Imagine a cup in space.
Space is all-permeating; it is all around the
cup, above it, below it, inside it, and through
it. At the same time, the outer rim of the cup
encloses a certain amount of space. This is the
holding capacity of the cup. Puzzling ques
tions can be asked about this simple illustra
tion. Does the space hold the cup, or does the
cup hold the space ? The answer from the at
titude of the cup would be, the cup holds the
space, because the direct interest of the cup is
itself first, and the space next.

To understand this illustration is to under
stand the idea of Relativity, and the relation
between intelligence and ego. Intelligence or
Mahat Tatwa is the first effect of Nature, and
is the cause of ego. However, the ego is first
concerned with itself, and considers the uni
versal intelligence only as a secondary interest,
and only from the angle that it itself is affected
by Mahat Tatwa.

After Aham Tatwa has been separated from
Mahat Tatwa, then cognition or consciousness
becomes only relative. The ego has now lost
its compact infinity and its assured knowledge.
For example, imagine a cloud. It is possessed
of a Sattwa Gun predominancy which enables
it to float in the "air. Its assured knowledge

[23]

COSMIC CREATION

is that it is destined to be in a vaporish state.
When Rajo Gun becomes so active that Tamo
Gun asserts itself, then the inherent raindrops
in the cloud separate themselves, thereby los
ing their compact form. They are at once at
tracted by the Tamo Gun in the earth in the
form of gravitation, and having lost their
Sattwa buoyancy, they descend to the earth by
the help of Rajo Gun. The Mahat Tatwa or in
telligence of the raindrops is obscured by the
Aham Tatwa which controls them in their fluid
state, and they therefore have lost their as
sured knowledge. They believe their destiny
is to remain in the earth, having dimmed the
consciousness of their vaporish origin. But
their Mahat Tatwa, whose light is hidden,
knows their destiny is ultimately to leave the
earth by evaporation and resume their vapor
ish state and compact form.

Another phase of the relation between the
ego and intelligence can be illustrated in the
following way. Imagine a pint-cup immersed
into a fifty-gallon tank of water. The cup can
only compare the capacity of the tank to its
own measurement of a pint, and so to the cup
the capacity of the tank would be four hundred
pints. Imagine that this tank was in turn
immersed into a larger tank, and that tank
into a river, and the river into an ocean. In
this way, the one which was included in the
other could only measure the greater one by
its own comparison. Similarly, the ego can
not understand the intelligence except from
the standpoint of a separate consciousness.
Each stage of consciousness will measure by its
own limitation, until an absolute consciousness
will merge into pure intelligence .

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COSMIC CREATION

This state of absolute consciousness that has
been reached thru a series of partial or limited
consciousnesses is that phase of Mahat Tatwa
which is called Jna, or attitude. Jna is not a
state, but is that aspect of any state in which
there is potentially another state. For in
stance, the Jna of Mahat Tatwa is that aspect
of it in which the potential Aham Tatwa is
seen.

It must be kept in mind that Mahat Tatwa
and Aham Tatwa are immortal, all-pervading,
abstract essences that have not yet limited
themselves to the various forms of their ulti
mate physical manifestations. Aham Tatwa
is considered immortal because of its first un-
manifested inherence in Mahat Tatwa.

Rajo Gun continues to influence the Aham
Tatwa, thereby arousing thru its activity the
desire for expression in the abstract ego. As
a result, Mana or Cosmic Mind, comes into ex
istence. (Manush, or man, comes from the root
mana, and means a rational, thinking being.)
Mana is the fourth of the twenty-four poten
tially creative Tatwa, and has the quality
of abstract sense-consciousness. In this way,
Aham Tatwa, or abstract consciousness, has
created thru its desire for expression Mana, or
abstract sense-consciousness. Mana is in touch
with Intelligence thru Aham Tatwa.

Thru the increasing activity of the Rajo Gun
on Mana, the abstract concepts of the ten senses
are born. These ten abstract senses, in addi
tion to the four preceding Tatwa of Prakriti,
Mahat Tatwa, Aham Tatwa, and Mana, make
fourteen of the twenty-four Tatwa.

The five knowing and the five working senses

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COSMIC CREATION

in their abstract conception are the two divis
ions of the ten sense-concepts. The five ab
stract knowing senses are called Jnana-Indriya.
It is these that afterward realize the qualities
of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch.

The five abstract working senses are Karma-
Indriya. It is these that are the mental corres
pondence for the a.s yet uncreated physical
abilities to express thru speech, to execute, to
move, to procreate, and to throw off waste mat
ter.

Mana is the guide of these ten abstract sense-
concepts, thru its sense-consciousness.

The Rajo Gun has by this time increased its
activity thru a mixture of Sattwa Gun and its
own momentum to such an extent that Tamo
Gun is hurled out of its inherent state into its
manifested quality of resistance. This check
on the motion of Rajo Gun produces the five
Tanmatra, or the objects of the five abstract
knowing senses. Tanmatra comes from two
roots, tat, meaning that, and matra, meaning
only or merely. Tanmatra, then, are Only
That, or Merely That. They are the subtlest
form of actual matter ; the first conceivable di
vision of matter. They are called Shabda
(sound), Sparsha (touch), Roop (form and
color), Eas (taste and fluidity), and Gandha
(odor). Those floating lights, scientifically
called dream-stuff, which we see when we close
our eyes are the mental representation of Tan
matra. Upon the ability of the individual man
to organize these Tanmatra depends his ability
to execute his plans.

Thru a further increase in the manifestation
of the heavy Tamo Gun, the five material sub-

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COSMIC CREATION

stances, or Bhoota, are formed. Bhoota comes
from the root bhoot, which means "to have
been." Hence Bhoota means past; that is,
their real nature is left behind in time.

Our idea of time is an arbitrary division of
eternity related to a standard of consciousness.
Our present becomes past and our future be
comes present. In this way, the five Bhoota
change their form so rapidly in relation to time
that before the moment we call present has
involved out of the future, the motion of the
five Bhoota has already caused them to exist in
the past.

These five Bhoota are scientifically called the
five realities of Nature. The first one as Akash,
which comes from the roots ang, to pervade,
and kash, to shine. It is that subtle and ethe
real fluid which fills and pervades the universe,
and is the peculiar vehicle of light and sound.
The controversy being waged by scientists over
the medium of sound is based on a misunder
standing of the nature of space. Space is the
medium of sound in the sense that it furnishes
the base which allows the vibration of the sound
to take place. The manifested sound of course
requires the medium of air.

The second material substance of Bhoota is
Wayu. It means "that which flows". It
comes from two roots, wa, to pervade, and yuk,
to augment, It is Wayu that makes air and all
gaseous substances able to manifest. In a sub
tle sense, it means touch. Its work is expan
sion, contraction, and pressure.

The third Bhoota is Tej, or energy. It comes
from the root tejus, light. It causes magnet
ism, heat, and light. Its work is to expand.

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COSMIC CREATION

In a subtle sense, it is color and form. It
causes fire to burn.

The fourth Bhoota is Apa, or fluidity. It
comes from the roots ap, to nourish, and a, par
tial. Its work is to contract. In a subtle
sense, it is taste. It is responsible for all liq
uids, such as water.

The fifth Bhoota is Prithiwee, which comes
from the roots pri, to nourish, th, to stand fixed,
and wee, covering. Prithiwee gives solidarity.
Its work is to harden and make compact. In a
subtle sense, it is odor, and in its grossest form
it is earth.

Each Bhoota has been successively formed by
a combination of the preceding qualities, in
the following manner.

Akash — sound.

Wayu — sound, touch.

Tej — sound, touch, form and color.

Apa — sound, touch, form^and color, taste.

Prithiwee — sound, touch, formvand color, taste, odor.

Although all Bhoota are the outcome of a
predominancy of Tamp Gun, yet in the first four
Bhoota, Sattwa Gun is active to a certain ex
tent. It is only in Prithiwee, or earth, that
Sattwa Gun has become an unmanifested, in
herent quality. Akash has enough Sattwa Gun
to give it an all-pervading quality. Wayu and
Tej are induced by their Sattwa Gun to mani
fest upward. Apa is influenced by its Sattwa
Gun when it is converted into steam. It also
gets its buoyancy from the Sattwa quality.
Wayu, Tej, and Apa get their motion from
Rajo Gun. Prithiwee is enabled by its exces
sive Tamo Gun activated by Rajo Gun, to exert
its downward attraction.

Each Bhoota has a qualitative vibration or

[28]

COSMIC CREATION

rhythm, produced by the resistance of Tamo
Gun on the expansion of Rajo Gun.

The vibration of Akash is geometrically rep
resented by a circle enclosing innumerable dots,
signifying the atomic movement within limit
less space.

The circular vibration belongs to Wayu. Its
form may be seen when a whirlwind causes
dust to gyrate in a circular course .

Tej has a triangular rhythm. This may be
observed in the flame of fire, which darts up
ward in a conical form.

The semi-circular vibration is peculiar to
Apa. The undulating flow of the ocean-waves
illustrates this rhythm.

Prithiwee possesses an angular vibration,
which causes the composition of matter to be
divided into angular particles.

On these five vibrations, and their combina
tions, are based all the movements of the uni
verse, both of Nature and of man. The latter
has employed these rhythms in his expressions
of painting, music, poetry, dancing, weaving,
and in fact, all the arts and crafts. (It will
perhaps be of interest here to point out that
the ancient RisJvi who formulated the Sanskrit
language shaped the symbols or letters of the
alphabet by their connection with the various
rhythms, in this way suggesting to the mind
the various Bhoota. By so employing these
rhythmic symbols, ijie translation from the
world of matter to the world of thought, or
from concrete to abstract, was accomplished
not arbitrarily, but naturally. The combina
tion of the circular (air and ether), semi-cir
cular (water), and straight-line (fire and earth)

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COSMIC CREATION

rhythms which compose the Sanskrit alphabet
make poetry effortless. The ancient Sanskrit
literature, therefore, has a liquid, flowing, edge-
less continuity of sound.)

We have seen that the twenty-four Tatwa,
which are Prakriti, Mahat Tatwa, Aham Tat
wa, Mana, five Jnana-Indriya, five Karxna-In-
driya, five Tanmatra, and five Bhoota, have
been successively produced by the influence of
the Gun of the preceding state. These Gun co
exist in all Tatwa, but predominate variously.
Out of the twenty-four Tatwa, the whole mani
fested world of Nature (including man) has
been created.

In the individual man, the Jnana-Indriya and
Karma-Indriya, or the ten sense-concepts, are
the external consciousness, and Aham Tatwa
and Mahat Tatwa are the internal conscious
ness, while the connecting link between the two
is Mana. The proportionate relationship be
tween the internal and external states of being
produces the different stages of consciousness,
or in other words, the identification of Mana
with either the internal or external conscious
ness, or both, constitutes the various degrees of
intelligence in man.

When Mana is in touch with Intelligence
thru Aham Tatwa, the knowing and working
senses possess a high and intuitive efficiency,
and the individual man is conscious of faith and
self-confidence. On the other hand, when
Mana is unable to reach the intelligence of
Mahat Tatwa because of the excessive manifes
tation of Aham Tatwa, then Mana is forced to
identify itself with only the ten sense-concepts.
As a result, the knowing and working senses

[30]

COSMIC CREATION

possess only mechanical efficiency, and memory
is their only basis for confidence.

Let us trace the inception of an idea to its
expression. When Mahat Tatwa suggests the
idea thru Aham Tatwa to Mana, the latter in
turn transmits it thru the abstract sense-con
cepts to the Tanmatra, which finally material
izes the idea in physical form thru Bhoota.
The objective, material form of the idea,
however, has lost much of the pristine, incep
tive force that it possessed in the state of Mahat
Tatwa, owing to its contact with the various
limitations of the succeeding states. This is
why the individual man can conceive more than
he can execute.

Similarly, the Bhoota are but a limited ex
pression of the unrestricted Prakrit! from
which they originated.

We have seen how abstract became concrete,
thought became matter, Infinite became finite,
and Formless took form. This transformation
thru limitation, therefore, has caused the
changes from Prakrlti, or undifferentiated Cos
mic Substance, to the Bhoota, or differentiated
Cosmic Creation.

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