Enumeration of the Elements of Material Creation

kecit saptadaśa prāhuḥ

ṣoòaśaike trayodaśa

etāvattvaṁ hi saḍkhyānām

ṛṣayo yad-vivakṣayā

gāyanti pṛthag āyuṣmann

idaṁ no vaktum arhasi

Uddhava inquired: O Lord! O master of the universe! How many different elements of creation have been enumerated by the great sages? I have heard you personally describe a total of twenty-eight—God, the jīva, the mahat-tattva, false ego, the five gross elements, the ten senses, the mind, the five subtle objects of perception and the three modes of nature. But some authorities say that there are twenty-six elements, while others cite twenty-five or else seven, nine, six, four or eleven, and even others say that there are seventeen, sixteen or thirteen elements. What did the sages have in mind when they calculated the creative elements in such different ways? O Lord with an eternal form! Kindly explain this to me.

In the Twenty-second Chapter, the elements are enumerated, with clarification of any contrary explanations, and questions about prakṛti and the jīva, and about birth and death, are explained. Having clearly understood the meaning of karma-kāṇòa, Uddhava now begins to ask about the meaning of jñāna-kāṇòa. He first asks for a conclusion to the various statements made by different sages. Which opinions are correct among those of many sages who each claim “This is what I think.”

How many elements do they list? The nine elements are the Lord, the jīva, mahat-tattva, ahaḍkāra and the five gross elements. There are ten senses and the mind. There are five tan-mātras and three guṇas. You have mentioned this total of twenty-eight items. I have heard of them. The three guṇas means prakṛti. He mentions three guṇas because it has been said that only through the three modes of prakṛti arise the two types of mahat-tattva (sattva gives rise to mahat-tattva and rajas gives rise to sūtra) and ahaḍkāra (tamas). These do not arise from prakṛti in equilibrium. I have understood your intention.

You should explain with what intention others proclaim a variety of opinions about the number of elements. O Lord, who lives for all time with an eternal form! I should ask you since you alone know the intentions of all the sages who have a beginning, middle and end.

Actually there is no quarrel among the sages. The sages speak the truth since all the elements are within all the other elements. “Why is there a dispute at all?” There is bewilderment from my māyā. My māyā gives them the ability to accept this māyā and dispute as long as the sun and moon exist.

Dispute is graphically portrayed. In their disputes, the cause is the action of my energy. This means it is my śakti called avidyā, which takes the form of their various disputes. It is said in the Haṁsa-guhya prayers:

yac-chaktayo vadatāṁ vādināṁ vai

vivāda-saṁvāda-bhuvo bhavanti

kurvanti caiṣāṁ muhur ātma-mohaṁ

tasmai namo 'nanta-guṇāya bhūmne

I offer respects to the great Lord of eternal qualities, whose material energy is the cause of agreement and disagreement among those who make philosophies and then argue with others, whose material energy continually bewilders them as to the real nature of ātmā. SB 6.4.31

By connection with the antaḥkaraṇa, variety arises in the topics of the philosophers. “It is like or that. It is not like this, not like that.” Śama means “having one’s intelligence fixed in the Lord.” When their intelligence becomes fixed on the Lord and their senses are under control, when ahaḍkāra has been destroyed, the variety disappears. All doubt is destroyed. Then all argument ceases.

The statement of verse 4 that the elements are included in other elements is explained further in two verses. Because the elements enter each other they may be counted in their previous or later condition. Some say that the effects are in the cause, so they count the cause, the previous elements. Others say that the cause is in the effect, so they count the effect, the later elements. There will thus be either less or more elements in counting. Paurvāparya-prasaḍkhyānam is a dvandva compound in the singular. “Why do we have to speak of entering into causes or effects? Why have less or more elements?” They have various opinions according to their desire to speak.

I accept the logical conclusions of whatever has been stated based on the personal preferences of the philosophers who desire to enumerate less or more elements, and emphasize either the cause or the effect, since each is correct according its logical explanation.

“I accept that there is different counting because of the inclusion of elements within others. How can some claim that jīva and the Lord are different, maintaining that there are twenty-six elements (by substituting prakṛti for the three guṇas, which made twenty-eight elements)?” Because it is not possible for the jīva, whether covered by avidyā or not, to have knowledge of ātmā on his own, there must exist a separate Supreme Lord. This is the Vaisṇava philosophy.

“How then can some also claim there are twenty-five elements? That would mean the jīva and the Lord are counted as one.” Though the jīva and Paramātmā are different as was said in the previous verse, they are also not different. They have little difference, since they are both spiritual and they both possess powers. Because they have little difference, they are considered one. Therefore the idea that the jīva is extremely different from the Supreme Lord is useless. “This duality cannot be dissolved except by knowledge, and this is not attained by the Lord’s mercy.” But knowledge is included in the material guṇas, since it is sattva-guṇa in quality. Thus it is also useless.

“But it is well known that jñāna is the nature of the jīva. Why do you say that it arises from the guṇas of prakṛti? The jīva performs action and has ignorance. The knowledge, action and ignorance belong to the jīva, not to prakṛti or to the Lord. These items should be included in the jīva. Otherwise the number of elements will increase.”

Prakṛti is the equilibrium of the guṇas. The guṇas belong to prakṛti, not to the jīva. These guṇas are the cause of creation, maintenance and destruction. It would be contradictory to say they belonged to the jīva, since the jīva is eternal.

Where does this lead? Jñāna is sattva, since it arises from sattva. Action is rajas and ignorance is tamas. These are the qualities of prakṛti. They appear in the jīva as impositions only. Thus they are counted as prakṛti only. “Time and svabhāva have been left out. Where do they belong?” That which produces the agitation of the guṇas, the Supreme Lord, is called time, or kāla. Svabhāva, the change caused by action, is called mahat-tattva (sūtram), since mahat-tattva possesses all powers 1 Thus kāla is included in the Lord and svabhāva is included in mahat-tattva. All authorities agree that the elements should not be increased to include, jñāna, action, ignorance, time and svabhāva.

First the twenty-five elements are described in two and a half verses. Vyaktam means mahat-tattva. These have been described by me.

Darśanam means the eyes. The first five are the five knowledge senses. The second five are the action senses. The mind, which is the basis of both (ubhayam), is the eleventh sense.

With five sense objects of the knowledge senses, the total of the previous list twenty-five. “But are not the five functions of the working senses also additional elements?” No. movement, speaking, urinating, defecating, ejaculation and manufacturing are the results of the action senses, but are not included as elements.

Uddhava have asked with what intention the sages have described the elements in various ways. Kṛṣṇa shows the conclusion of their opinions. Kārya refers to the sixteen transformations—the eleven senses and the five gross elements. Kāraṇa refers to mahat-tattva, ahaḍkāra and the five tan-mātras. Prakṛti, taking these forms, assumes the position of creation and destruction by the guṇas. Prakṛti is the material cause (upādāna). The Lord, who undergoes no transformation, the indirect cause (nimitta), simply witnesses this. The Lord is different from prakṛti which undergoes transformation.

The universe produced by the elements starting with mahat-tattva, is included within the elements, and is not counted separately. Prakṛteḥ balāt, means “taking shelter of prakṛti.”

Considering the elements as seven, they are the five gross elements, the jīva (jñāna) and the Lord. From the jīva and the five gross elements arise the body, senses and life airs. In this analysis, the causal elements are included in the effects such as ether. In the following texts as well, the causal elements or products will be included in the given list.

According to some sages there are six elements, the five elements. The other elements are included in these. The jīva is included when mentioning the Supreme Lord.

Annam means earth. Ātmanaḥ means “from Paramātmā.” The creation of products (avayavinaḥ) arose from them.

Along with five gross elements, five tan-mātras, five knowledge senses, and one mind there is the ātmā (including the Lord)..

The jīva (ātmā) is considered along with the mind. In considering thirteen elements there are five gross elements, five senses including the five tan-mātras, mind, ātmā and Paramātmā (ātmā stands for two types).

This verse summarizes the topic.

Another doubt arises from this discussion. Prakṛti or māyā and the Lord (puruṣaḥ) are intrinsically different, since prakṛti is unconscious and the Lord is conscious. Though this is shown in the scriptures, because the two depend on each other in the body, they do not appear different. That mutual dependence is described. The Lord is seen in the body (prakṛtau), the product, and the product, the body is seen in the Lord. Because both are based on each other, they are mutually dependent.

You should destroy this doubt by showing the difference between Paramātmā and prakṛti using words filled with skill in logic.

You give knowledge by vidyā-śakti, and by avidyā steal it away. “Why should it steal knowledge if it is my energy?” You alone know.

There is extreme difference between them. Prakrṭi undergoes change, takes various forms, is dependent, and is revealed by another. The Lord does not change, is one form, independent, and self-revealing. This is explained in four verses. The Lord is different from prakṛti. That is seen. The combination in the body (sargaḥ) undergoes many changes, and its nature arises from agitation of the guṇas. The agitation of the guṇas means it is a transformation of prakṛti. The Lord however is only the witness, without change.

How prakṛti takes various forms is described. It produces difference and perception of difference. Though it has many forms, the forms are basically three. The first is adhyātma, the second is adhibhūta and the third is adhidaiva.

An example of the three divisions is given. The eye is adhyātma. Form, the sense object, is adhibhūta. A portion of the sun is adhidaiva. They are mutually dependent. By the eye, form is understood. Without the eye form cannot be perceived. Without the devatā of the eye, the eye cannot function. Because of the eye functioning, one perceives form. In this way the three are interdependent. Paramātmā is independent however, like the sun which exists in the sky, since Paramātmā is the one cause (ādhyaḥ) of these three items; since it is different (aparaḥ) from them; and since it manifests the three items because he is self-manifesting. Thus the Lord is different from prakṛti because he is independent, one alone, and the manifestor of all other things.

The three divisions shown for the eye also apply to the other senses. Just as for the eye there is the eye, form and a portion of the sun, for the skin there is skin, touch and deity of the air. For the ear, there is the ear, sound and the deities of the directions. For the tongue, there is the tongue, taste and Varuṇa. For the nose there is the nose, smell and the Āśvini-kumāras. For citta there is citta, consciousness, and a portion of Vāsudeva. Citta also indicates mind, the objects of thought and the moon deity; intelligence, object of intellect and Brahmā; and ahaḍkāra, object of identity and Śiva. The other senses can be divided into three as well.

“Is this material world true of false? This should be asked because it is difficult to determine from the great variety of opinions.” This is explained with examples in two verses. Ahaḍkāra, an effect of the agitation of the guṇas, arises from mahat-tattva which arises from prakṛti. This takes three forms: vaikārika or adhidaiva (sattva): tāmasa or adhibhūta (tamas); and aindriya or adhyātma (rajas). This is a cause of differences views arising from ignorance.

“Learned persons who can destroy doubts can certainly determine the truth.” No, they simply quarrel among themselves. Some maintain, with proof, that the world is real. Some proclaim that the world is false, attacking the first claim. They show lack of knowledge of Paramātmā, because Paramātmā, understood only by realization, is beyond logical argument. A person fixed in a goal other than me, or a person who is fixed in defeating others’ arguments, achieves no result, such as piety, sin, Svarga or hell. Though it is pointless, that person does not stop arguing. This is because of his nature arising from māyā.

yac-chaktayo vadatāṁ vādināṁ vai

vivāda-saṁvāda-bhuvo bhavanti

kurvanti caiṣāṁ muhur ātma-mohaṁ

tasmai namo 'nanta-guṇāya bhūmne

I offer respects to the great Lord of eternal qualities, whose material energy is the cause of agreement and disagreement among those who make philosophies and then argue with others, whose material energy continually bewilders them as to the real nature of ātmā. SB 6.4.31

Moreover, though they have attained a path to achieve me after many births, they fall from that path. Those who know the path to attain me, understanding the meaning of the scriptures , take to arguing, have their intelligence turned away from me, who look upon my devotees and no others with mercy (sva-lokāt). My devotees are not eager for arguments. They make their lives successful by thinking of me only and not about argumentation. It is hinted that one should not waste one’s life by inquiry about truth in the world through arguments.

Uddhava said: O supreme master! Please explain to me how persons with diverted intelligence accept superior and inferior bodies by their materialistic activities and then give up such bodies. O Govinda, this topic is very difficult for foolish persons to understand. Bewildered by your māyā, no one generally knows this.

If their minds are diverted from you, then they become bound by karma. Then they accept and give up higher or lower bodies. Explain how the materialists are born and die. Fools cannot understand this. What more can be said? “But there are many wise people in the word. You should ask them, not me.” Bewildered by your māyā, people do not know.

The mind along with the rest of the subtle body, dependent on karma, goes from body to body. The jīva, though different from the subtle body, follows the subtle body, since it is joined with it.

The jīva always follows the subtle body when it separates from the gross body at death, and joins another gross body at birth. The mind, dependent on karma, meditates on objects seen, which arrive by arrangement of karma—such as others’ wives. Or it meditates on things heard, such as Svarga. For a moment the mind becomes that object of meditation and then withdraws from the object. After that (anu), awareness of past and future (smṛtiḥ) is destroyed.

What does this mean? The mind does not remember the previous body because of absorption in the present body delivered by karma—the body of a devatā with happiness or the body full of suffering. This destruction of the previous identity is called death. Death is not the destruction of the possessor of the body, the jīva. Kasyacid dhetoḥ means “because of termination of prārabdha-karma.”

Extreme identification, accepting as oneself the body given by karma, is called birth. Two examples are given of birth and death through identity alone—a dream and a fantasy. The dvandva compound is in the singular.

The example is explained. Just as the jīva in his present body does not remember his previous gross body, so the jīva involved in his present dream or fantasy does not remember a previous dream or fantasy. Sometimes someone (called jāti-smaraḥ) can remember his previous body. But this is not a rule for everyone. Moreover the jīva situated in his present body thinks himself to be only in the present, even though he did exist before. “I am six years old.” “I am seven years old.” This recollection of the previous “I” is destroyed. He is aware of himself only at the present moment.

This verse summarizes the topic. By the creation of the body which is the shelter of the senses, the three states of waking, dreaming and deep sleep appear in the jīva. These states cause differences externally and internally. The external differences are the qualities perceived by the senses like the ear. The internal differences are differences perceived in mind during dreaming state and intelligence during deep sleep. These states are just like a father producing a bad son. The example is suitable since the three types of differences created by senses, mind and intelligence are inauspicious for the jīva.

Birth and death, famous everywhere, have been described. How they exist at every moment in subtle state is now described to instill detachment. At every moment bodies are born and die. “But we do not see a body being born and dying at every moment.” Just as time cannot be seen, creation and destruction created by time are not seen.

Though creation and destruction cannot been seen, they can be inferred by conditions. Examples are given. The candle flame by transformation, the river by movement and the fruits by form, undergo change of state at every moment by the force of time. Similarly the conditions of age—babyhood, boyhood and youth—and changes of strength, desire and skill--- occur in all beings. They are being created and destroyed at every moment, inferred because of the change of state from one to another. This can be inferred by the candle flame which changes at every moment.

Can this not be recognized? The flame of the lamp in a moment produces thousands of light rays which are destroyed the next moment. Though a stream of water in an instant moves far away, in the next moment there is more water, and one perceives merely that it is water. Similarly childhood and youth exist in a person, but we do not perceive the change or speak of it. People’s lives are permeated with this lack of discrimination.

In reality, birth and death takes place for the jīva by false identity. The jīva is not born and does not die by his seed in the form of karma. But by illusion one thinks that he is born and dies, though he is without birth and death. Fire is a gross element with great power, existing for the lifetime of Brahmā. However, it appears to take birth and die by addition or subtraction of wood.

The jīva is related to different states of the body. Those states are listed. The jīva enters the womb, grows there, comes out of the womb, grows to five years (bālya), then enters pauganda and kaiśora ages till sixteen years. Youth lasts till forty-five years. Middle age continues till sixty years. The rest of life till death is called old age.

The purpose of explaining birth and death related to the body is summarized. Clearly (hi) the jīva accepts high and low conditions of another body, which are attained through meditation using his mind which has been attained by karma, because of association with avidyā (guṇa-saḍgāt). A person who attains the mercy of the Lord gives up these conditions.

“The states of the body between birth and death are seen by the jīva, but impregnation, growth in the womb, birth and death not seen” One sees death when one performs death rites for one’s father’s body and one sees birth when one performs the birth ceremony for a son’s body. The word bhava includes impregnation and growth in the womb as well. On observing these, the seer of the bodies (vastūnām) subject to birth and death is not subject to the characteristics of the body (dvaya-lakṣaṇaḥ).

This is made clear by an example. The word “tree” indicates any plant. One who knows birth and death by seeing the seed and the results in the form of harvested rice remains different from the body.

The person lacking discrimination enters saṁsāra. Failing to distinguish himself from the covering of prakṛti, absorbed in sense objects, he enters saṁsāra.

Though the jīva is different from what he sees, he accepts the qualities of what he sees. An example is given. Just as a child follows in his mind the tunes, beat and the rasas depicted by a dancer or singer on seeing them, the jīva is made to imitate the qualities of the intelligence by the force of the guṇas.

O descendant of Daśārha! Just like tree appears to move when on a boat moving in water, the imposition affects our vision of the world. Like the earth’s appearance of spinning due to one’s spinning his eyes around, the imposition affects our own mentality. Like the world of a fantasy or dream, the imposition is illusory. Enjoyment of objects leads to saṁsāra for the ātmā.

These imposed qualities manifest elsewhere in what we see. This is shown with an example. A tree on the bank appears to be moving for people on a boat moving due to movement of the water. One’s conception as a doer and enjoyer is simply an imposed quality. On accepting this conception, one takes up those qualities, just as a person who becomes possessed by a snake or ghost appears to have the qualities of a snake or ghost. An example is given of the earth moving because the eye moves. The imposed quality of material enjoyment is perceived falsely by the jīva. An example is given. It is like a dream. Enjoyment of objects leads to bondage in saṁsāra.

Thought bondage in saṁsāra is based on illusion, the suffering it induces does not go away. Though things related to imposition by false identity have no factual existence, the suffering arising from relationship with saṁsāra does not disappear. It does not disappear for a jīva who meditates on sense objects with intelligence directed at enjoying. An example is given of something which gives real suffering, though it is insubstantial. In a dream, one is bitten by a snake and feels pain.

Since meditating on objects with the aim of enjoying them is a cause of saṁsāra, you should reject such meditation. See that ignorance (bhramam) which arises from false identification with a body (vaikalpikam), which produces non-attainment or ignorance of the jīva.

Even though pulled from his house, disrespected, mocked, found full of faults, tied up, beaten, deprived of one’s occupation, spat upon, polluted with urine by materialists, or agitated by ignorant people, person who desires the highest goal in life should endure those difficulties and should deliver himself by his intelligence.

How does person devoid of material enjoyment live? That is explained in two verses. Kṣiptaḥ means “pulled outside” or “abused with words.” Pralabdhaḥ means “mocked.” Asñyitaḥ means finding fault in him. Even if he is deprived of his livelihood, he should remain without agitation. Niṣṭhyutaḥ means spat on.

Please tell me how I can attain discrimination to tolerate those situations.

Even learned persons (viduṣām), who know the method of tolerating offenses by others, have a strong nature of intolerance (prakṛtiḥ baliyasī). Only your devotees who have attained qualities like you, and thus do not show intolerance or anger, and are peaceful because of residing at your lotus feet, are devoid of intolerance.

Thus ends the commentary on the Twenty-second Chapter of the Eleventh Canto of the Bhāgavatam for the pleasure of the devotees, in accordance with the previous ācāryas.