07-30-2004, 10:14 PM
That quote 'from the 'LalitA sahsranAma' is very much part of the shAkta-tantra:
'manorUpekShu kodandA pa~ncha tanmAtra sAyakA'
meaning
(Goddess lalitA holds) the ikShu-dhanu(sugarcane bow) which is the manas and has five arrows of the five tanmAtras (subtle elements: mental vision, taste, sound, touch, smell ).
A sugarcane bow is jointed and branches out at the top, quite apt imagery for the central nervous system made of spinal cord and the brain.
Both vedAnta and tantra borrowed ideas from sAMkhya but even shAktas accept one ultimate reality (shiva) and one power (shakti) behind the whole universe. sAMkhya on the other hand stopped at multitudes of puruShas. It was vedAnta which proposed that beyond all the multitudes of puruShas there is one single observer or self.
The main principals of sAMkhya are PuruSha the witness & prakR^iti of three gunas (sat, rajas, tamas). Disequilibrium in the gunas leads to all the deformations in the prakR^iti in the following order:
1. mahat-tatva (the great element)
2. ahaMkAra (ego)
4. buddhi (intellect)
4. manas (mind)
5. five tanmAtrAs (or sUkShma bhUta) (subtle elements)
6. five j~nanendriyas (sense organs)
7. five mahA-bhUtas (the gross elements)
This upside down order is quite curious and is specific to sAMkhya.
Normally one would say that the gross elements (mahA-bhUtas) create the sensations that then carried through the five senses (indriyAs) which are then perceived in their subtle form as five tanmAtras. Manas (sMkalpa-vikalpAtmaka) or mind decides what to look at and what to reject and what to pick out for forwarding to intellect or buddhi for determination (nishchayAtmikA buddhi). The ego or ahaMkAra is the element which puts in the sense of 'I' in the experience.
But in sAmkhya it is inverted. The first deformation of prakR^iti gives rise to mahat-tatva which is still pretty rich in sattvas-guna. Further deformations then cause the ego, intellect, the mind, the subtle tanmAtras. These tanmAtras then give rise to senosry organs, and the sensory organs then 'create' the gross elements.
This inverted version is quite interesting from a philosophical viewpoint. For example the question is whether gross elements crerate the perception or the perception creates the gross elements, goes to the heart of ontology versus epistemology.
'manorUpekShu kodandA pa~ncha tanmAtra sAyakA'
meaning
(Goddess lalitA holds) the ikShu-dhanu(sugarcane bow) which is the manas and has five arrows of the five tanmAtras (subtle elements: mental vision, taste, sound, touch, smell ).
A sugarcane bow is jointed and branches out at the top, quite apt imagery for the central nervous system made of spinal cord and the brain.
Both vedAnta and tantra borrowed ideas from sAMkhya but even shAktas accept one ultimate reality (shiva) and one power (shakti) behind the whole universe. sAMkhya on the other hand stopped at multitudes of puruShas. It was vedAnta which proposed that beyond all the multitudes of puruShas there is one single observer or self.
The main principals of sAMkhya are PuruSha the witness & prakR^iti of three gunas (sat, rajas, tamas). Disequilibrium in the gunas leads to all the deformations in the prakR^iti in the following order:
1. mahat-tatva (the great element)
2. ahaMkAra (ego)
4. buddhi (intellect)
4. manas (mind)
5. five tanmAtrAs (or sUkShma bhUta) (subtle elements)
6. five j~nanendriyas (sense organs)
7. five mahA-bhUtas (the gross elements)
This upside down order is quite curious and is specific to sAMkhya.
Normally one would say that the gross elements (mahA-bhUtas) create the sensations that then carried through the five senses (indriyAs) which are then perceived in their subtle form as five tanmAtras. Manas (sMkalpa-vikalpAtmaka) or mind decides what to look at and what to reject and what to pick out for forwarding to intellect or buddhi for determination (nishchayAtmikA buddhi). The ego or ahaMkAra is the element which puts in the sense of 'I' in the experience.
But in sAmkhya it is inverted. The first deformation of prakR^iti gives rise to mahat-tatva which is still pretty rich in sattvas-guna. Further deformations then cause the ego, intellect, the mind, the subtle tanmAtras. These tanmAtras then give rise to senosry organs, and the sensory organs then 'create' the gross elements.
This inverted version is quite interesting from a philosophical viewpoint. For example the question is whether gross elements crerate the perception or the perception creates the gross elements, goes to the heart of ontology versus epistemology.