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- The Cosmic Origins: Understanding Vedic Creation
- The Divine Duality: Purusha and Prakriti
- The Five Functions of Creative Force
- Understanding Time: The Four Yugas
- Origins of Hindu Culture and Philosophy
- The Four Vedas: Ancient Bodies of Knowledge
- Samkhya Philosophy: The 24 Tattvas
- The Path to Liberation: Yoga and Samkhya
- Experience Ancient Wisdom in Modern Leadership: The Coacharya Way
- References:
The Cosmic Origins: Understanding Vedic Creation
In the beginning, there was just empty Space. This Space was the dark matter of energy. This energy had a sound. The sound was the primal uncreated sound. The sound was so powerful that it created movement. This moment became Air. The friction generated by the movement of the Air created the energy of Fire. As the Fire cooled, the moisture in the Air turned into Water. The sedimentary matter in the Water became the Earth. These five elements are the constituent parts of this everlasting, eternal, and expanding energy space.
Vedic Structure of Creation
The Divine Duality: Purusha and Prakriti
In the Vedic philosophy, the creator was androgynous. The male half of the creative force was Purusha, passive and unmoving potential energy. The female half was Prakriti, the active and creative kinetic energy. Together, Purusha and Prakriti created everything that existed in the universe with the same constituent energy elements as that of the creative force.
The Five Functions of Creative Force
The creative force is a hologram, which then creates all its creatures as fragments identical in the same energy. The creative force has 5 functions:
- Creation
- Sustenance
- Regeneration
- The illusion of the memory that the created beings are part of the cosmic energy and,
- Grace of providing that retaliation to the ones that seek liberation.
Mahat was the Cosmic Intelligence of the creative force that maintained the cosmic order of Dharma amidst seeming chaos From the energy space they occupied, the dual energy couple created the galaxies, the stars and the planets. Microscopic creatures created as part of this universe within the space element grew larger and multicellular, as space became air, then fire and water, and finally the earth.
Understanding Time: The Four Yugas
The Vedic concept of Yuga meant that each Yuga was the blink of the eye of the Brahma, who was assigned the role of creation. A Mahayuga lasts for a total of 4,320,000 human years; within it are 4 parts.
- Satya Yuga (Krita Yuga): 1,728,000 human years
- Treta Yuga: 1,296,000 human years
- Dwapara Yuga: 864,000
- Kali Yuga: 432,000 human years
We now live in the beginning stage of the Kali Yuga, the most decadent and debauched age of all 4, after which the Kalki avatar will destroy the evil planet to recreate it. So goes the Vedic mythology of creation, Dasavatara.
Origins of Hindu Culture and Philosophy
The Vedic religion is the oldest of all the surviving religions. Krishna, who lived in the Dwapara Yuga, promised that he would reappear from age to age to rebuild Dharma, the cosmic law of order. The land that spawned this culture, philosophy and religion was called Sindhu, the land of 5 rivers, the word Sindhu being water in Sanskrit. Persian traders visiting this region corrupted the term Sindhu to Hindu, which meant the dark people. Later-day invaders and colonizers made this derogatory term the formal name of a noble culture.
Vedic tradition transferred knowledge through hearing. Writing came much later. Sages, called rishi or hrishi, sensed the sound of creation as the Pranava mantra, AUM. Starting with this mantra, they derived prayers, many set to music, then rituals and application, all in praise of the pantheistic worship of the elements of nature. These became the Sruti, which referred to hearing. The first Sruti resulted in the 4 Veda as bodies of knowledge.
The Four Vedas: Ancient Bodies of Knowledge
Each Veda has a collection of hymns, Samhita, with explanations of Brahmana. Some have Aranyaka, texts of rituals. The Upanishad speaks of the essence of each Veda. Rigveda has over 10,000 verses in 10 chapters, as prayers to the 5 elements and the representative deities of Indra, Agni, Surya, Vayu, Varuna, Prithvi etc. Samaveda is about 1500 Rig Vedic verses set to music and is the origin of classical music. Yajurveda is about 2000 verses of mostly Brahmana and Aranyaka of rituals related to Rig Veda chants. Atharvaveda is about 6000 verses as applications such as magic spells, charms, and medical knowledge alongside hymns and rituals.
Upanishads are very different from the Veda and scriptures of any religion and philosophy. Deities, gods and superbeings do not feature in them. Their core statement is ‘You are Divine’. This message is loud and clear in each of the several hundred Upanishads, of which about a few dozen have been recovered. The Isavasya Upanishad predates Einstein saying that all matter is energy. The Mandukya Upanishad speaks of awareness states not articulated in the West till Jung came on the scene. Taittiriya and others speak of energy bodies and centres, which are yet to be discovered. The Upanishads are about a future we need to seek if we wish to prevent a dystopian end to the planet we call home.
Unlike the Sankhya philosophy of Purusha and Prakriti, which is the message in the Ithihasa, Purana and the Bhagavad Gita as a Divine Creator being separate from the created human, Upanishad is non-dual and advaitic—the Cosmic Consciousness of the Creator as Brahman is asymptotic, unknowable, unreachable, eternal and ever-expanding. The energy of Brahman permeates every one of its creations.
Samkhya Philosophy: The 24 Tattvas
What blocks the creations from realising that they too are divine, is the illusion of maya. This in turn distracts us from the path of dharma creating the burden of karma. Samkhya is one of the 6 orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy that deals with the nature of reality and the self. It is based on the dualism of Purusha and Prakriti, the spirit and the matter, respectively. According to Samkhya, everything in the universe is derived from Prakriti, which consists of 3 guna or qualities: sattva (purity, harmony, intelligence), rajas (activity, passion, dynamism), and tamas (inertia, dullness, ignorance). Prakriti evolves into 24 tattvas or principles, the building blocks of the phenomenal world and the individual psyche. The 24 tattvas are:
- 1. Purusha (Consciousness):
- The eternal witness.
- Pure consciousness.
- The ultimate observer.
2. Prakriti (Nature):
- The cosmic matter.
- The canvas upon which the universe is painted.
- Unity of the three gunas: sattva (purity), rajas (activity), and tamas (inertia)
3. Mahat (Intellect):
- The grand cosmic intellect.
- The source of knowledge and discrimination.
4. Ahankara (Ego):
- The individualised sense of self.
- The “I” that separates us from the universe.
5. Manas (Mind):
- The seat of thoughts, emotions, and decision-making.
6. Buddhi (Discrimination):
- The higher intellect that helps us discern right from wrong.
7. Ahamkara (Egoism):
- The ego in action, shaping our individuality.
8. Five Tanmatra (Subtle Elements):
- Sound, touch, form, taste, and smell.
- The building blocks of sensory perception.
9. Five Gross Elements (Bhuta):
- Earth, water, fire, air, and ether.
- The physical substances of the material world.
10. Five Organs of Perception (Gyanendriya):
- Eyes, ears, skin, tongue, and nose.
- The gateways to experiencing the world.
11. Five Organs of Action (Karmendriya):
- Hands, feet, mouth, genitals, and anus.
- The tools for interacting with the world.
The 25th tattva is Purusha, the pure consciousness or spirit, which is distinct from Prakriti and its evolutes. Purusha is the witness, the observer, and the experience of Prakriti. Purusha is eternal, unchanging, and transcendent, while Prakriti is temporal, mutable, and immanent. Purusha is the source of liberation (moksha), while Prakriti is the cause of bondage (samsara).
The Path to Liberation: Yoga and Samkhya
The goal of Samkhya philosophy is to realize the difference between Purusha and Prakriti and to detach oneself from the influence of Prakriti and its guna. This is achieved through the practice of yoga, which is the practical aspect of Samkhya.
Yoga involves the cultivation of physical, mental, and spiritual disciplines that lead to the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind (chitta vritti nirodha) and the attainment of the state of samadhi, or union with Purusha.
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References:
1. The Verandah Club. Sankhya Philosophy: Exploring the 25 Tatvas
2. Yoga With Subhash. Overview of Samkhya Philosophy
3. TemplePurohit. The Samkhya Philosophy and 24 Principles of Creation
4. Wikipedia. Samkhya
5. Vedanta Today. Exploring Samkhya, The Path of Reason, India’s Philosophy of Analysis