The material creation (Sankhya #05)
Originally, the material nature appears in the form of pradhāna, the subtle, undifferentiated sum total of all material elements. When touched by time, time transforms.
« SANKHYA, The Philosophy of Lord Kapila
The material creation
From verses ten to fifteen, Lord Kapila describes the material elements that compose the material creation. These material elements are counted incorrectly in the atheistic Sankhya (which tries to artificially divide them into five groups of five), but Lord Kapila gives the correct classification:
"The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: The unmanifested eternal combination of the three modes is the cause of the manifest state and is called pradhāna. It is called prakṛti when in the manifested stage of existence.
The aggregate elements, namely the five gross elements, the five subtle elements, the four internal senses, the five senses for gathering knowledge and the five outward organs of action, are known as the pradhāna.
There are five gross elements, namely earth, water, fire, air and ether. There are also five subtle elements: smell, taste, color, touch and sound.
The senses for acquiring knowledge and the organs for action number ten, namely the auditory sense, the sense of taste, the tactile sense, the sense of sight, the sense of smell, and the active organs for speaking, working, traveling, generating and evacuating.
The internal, subtle senses are experienced as having four aspects, in the shape of mind, intelligence, ego and contaminated consciousness. Distinctions between them can be made only by different functions, since they represent different characteristics.
All these are considered the qualified Brahman. The mixing element, which is known as time, is counted as the twenty-fifth element." (SB 3.26.10-15)
Originally, the material nature appears in the form of pradhāna, the subtle, undifferentiated sum total of all material elements, just like milk contains many different components, such as proteins, fat, sugars, etc. in a dissolved form. When pradhāna is touched by time, the three modes of material nature become apparent (just as cream comes to the top when we put milk to rest overnight) and by the further interaction of the three modes, time and the total material energy, all material elements become apparent (just as we may separate milk into butter, cream, powder milk, etc. and then create different preparations by mixing these different ingredients in different ways and in different proportions).
When the material modes as well as the material elements become apparent, the result is called prakṛti, or mahat-tattva. Pradhāna and prakṛti are thus basically the same thing, but on the stage of pradhāna the material elements are dissolved, and on the stage of prakṛti, they are apparent.
In this way, we have:
1) Brahman: The pure, transcendental manifestation, beyond the three modes of material nature.
2) Jiva: The souls, who can choose between being part of the eternal spiritual manifestation, or joining the material creation.
3) Kala (time): The eternal energy of the Lord that puts the material energy in movement.
4) Pradhāna: The subtle, undifferentiated form of the material nature.
5) Prakṛti: The stage of material nature when the material elements become apparent.
The material elements can be counted in different ways, as Krsna Himself explains in the 11th canto. However, in the Sankhya system of Lord Kapila, the material elements are counted as twenty-five. These 25 elements are:
a) The five material elements (earth, water, fire, air, and ether).
b) The qualities of these elements (odor, taste, form, touch, and sound).
c) The five senses for acquiring knowledge (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch).
d) The five senses of action (the tongue, hands, legs, genital and excretory system).
e) The four internal senses (mind, intelligence, material ego, and material consciousness).
f) Time, which is counted as the 25th element.
In material science, the chemical elements are counted according to their atomic composition. Hydrogen is composed of atoms with one proton and one electron, lithium is composed of atoms with two of each, iron is made of atoms with twenty-six, and so on. There are also variations, like tritium, which is a hydrogen isotope, with one proton and two neutrons, for example.
The Vedas however classify the elements according to their characteristics, and not according to their atomic structure. The reason is that material reality is composed of different levels of existence, that go from gross to subtle. In the gross level we live, matter is composed of atoms, but in the subtle realms of the inhabitants of Bhu-Mandala, of the demigods in Svargaloka, great sages in the higher planetary systems, etc. matter has different compositions. The classification of modern science, based on types of atoms is valid only for our plane, while the classification of the Vedas in terms of fire, ether, water, smell, taste, sight, hearing, etc. describes reality in all planes, because everywhere people see, taste, hear, and matter has properties of having taste, form, odor and so on. This classification of elements given by Lord Kapila is thus much more scientific than it may seem at first.
When we come to the four internal senses (mind, intelligence, material ego, and material consciousness), we can say that consciousness is a symptom of the soul. We can't see the soul, but we can understand the soul is present by the manifestation of consciousness. Originally, the consciousness of the soul is completely spiritual. However, when the soul comes in contact with matter, this consciousness is manifested in a perverted way, just as the light of the sun may appear to be red or blue when reflected in a blue or red object, or the moon may appear to be trembling when reflected in the waters of a lake agitated by the wind.
The first layer that covers the original consciousness of the soul is the false ego, which leads one to identify with both the subtle and gross material bodies. The subtle material body includes the material mind and intelligence. The mind creates different material desires, and material intelligence makes plans on how to satisfy them. In order to experience the world, we receive a gross body, which includes senses. Due to the false ego, the soul identifies with this combination of mind, intelligence, senses, and gross body and tries to enjoy the material world through it. We then see ourselves as men or women, members of certain families, countries, or groups, and so on. These false identifications that form our material identity are called ahankāra.
There are many separate details in the explanation of the material elements given by Lord Kapila, but one essential point to understand is that all energies are part of Krsna or the Supreme Brahman. Everything that exists is part of Krsna, there is nothing separated or independent from Him. At the same time, however, He has multiple potencies, and they have different characteristics and distinctions. As souls, we are parts and parcels of Krsna, but at the same, we are separate individuals. All these apparent contradictions were harmonized by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in his achintya-bheda-abheda tattva philosophy, or the inconceivable simultaneously oneness and difference.
Mayavadis believe that Brahman is formless and qualityless, but as Vaishnavas we believe in the precise opposite: Krsna has all qualities, controls all types of energies, performs all types of activities, and cultivates all kinds of relationships, and everything simultaneously. Some of these qualities, potencies, activities, etc. may appear to be contradictory, but they are inconceivably harmonized in the Supreme Person.
The study of the material elements inside the philosophy of Lord Kapila should, therefore, not be seen as something separated from Krsna, because the material elements are part of Krsna's energy. By studying the material elements and the interactions between them we can better understand how the material creation works, what keeps us bound here, and how we can free ourselves. People are naturally curious about the structure of the universe, and this curiosity leads to the development of material science. However, because there are no studies about the soul and the subtle material manifestations, scientific theories are incomplete and don't help us on the path of self-realization. The teachings of Lord Kapila offer a more complete view.
The time factor
Lord Kapila proceeds, explaining now about time:
"The influence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is felt in the time factor, which causes fear of death due to the false ego of the deluded soul who has contacted material nature.
My dear mother, O daughter of Svāyambhuva Manu, the time factor, as I have explained, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, from whom the creation begins as a result of the agitation of the neutral, unmanifested nature.
By exhibiting His potencies, the Supreme Personality of Godhead adjusts all these different elements, keeping Himself within as the Supersoul and without as time." (SB 3.26.16-18)
Ultimately, no material identity can be eternal because the material world is not the original position of the soul. We can temporarily assume a material body and a material identity under the influence of the false ego, but because this is not our original identity, eventually we have to move. The material creation itself is based on the permutation of energy, and therefore it can't also be eternal. The energies are eternal, but the interaction between them, or the cosmic manifestation, has a beginning and an end. The material world can be considered eternal in the sense that the cycles of creation and destruction are going on indefinitely, however, inside of it everything is temporary.
Everything that exists in the material creation exists under the limits of material time. Time can't be stopped, because it is the divine energy of the Lord, and this also reminds us that we must surrender unto the Lord.
Time also exists in the spiritual world, but time manifests itself there in the form of an eternal present. Everything that exists is eternal, and full of bliss. Nothing changes and therefore there is no anxiety. Once we have something it is ours forever. However, in the material world, time manifests as an oppressive force that changes and gradually destroys everything. Everything material exists inside this purview of past, present, and future, and therefore everything is temporary, including the universe itself. There is no death or destruction for the soul, but because we identify with the temporary body and the temporary world, we fear loss and death.
Pradhāna is originally inert, but as soon as it is touched by time, it starts moving and producing the material manifestations. As Prabhupada explains in his purport: "The unmanifested state of material nature, pradhāna, is being explained. The Lord says that when the unmanifested material nature is agitated by the glance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it begins to manifest itself in different ways. Before this agitation, it remains in the neutral state, without interaction by the three modes of material nature. In other words, material nature cannot produce any variety of manifestations without the contact of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is very nicely explained in Bhagavad-gītā. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the cause of the products of material nature. Without His contact, material nature cannot produce anything."
Manifestation of the mahat-tattva
After describing the Lord, the jivas, material nature, and time, Lord Kapila will describe how the universe appears from the combination of these four. Once manifested, the universe serves as a stage for the performance of material activities, or karma, which is the final component of the five.
"After the Supreme Personality of Godhead impregnates material nature with His internal potency, material nature delivers the sum total of the cosmic intelligence, which is known as Hiraṇmaya. This takes place in material nature when she is agitated by the destinations of the conditioned souls.
Thus, after manifesting variegatedness, the effulgent mahat-tattva, which contains all the universes within itself, which is the root of all cosmic manifestations and which is not destroyed at the time of annihilation, swallows the darkness that covered the effulgence at the time of dissolution." (SB 3.26.19-20)
Originally, material nature exists in the unmanifested stage, as pradhāna. This pradhāna is impregnated by the look of Maha-Vishnu, which contains the time energy, as well as all the souls who will participate in the cosmic creation. The word used in the verse is "vīryam". Srila Jiva Goswami described this vīryam as the jivakhya cit-rupa sakti, or the conditioned souls who want to participate in the material creation. These souls are part of the internal potency of the Lord, but because they have free will, and can thus choose between staying in contact with the spiritual potency or coming to the material manifestation, they are called marginal.
In the word-for-word meaning for verse nineteen, Prabhupada adds another meaning to the word: "semen", giving the analogy that the souls are like the semen of the Lord, which impregnates the material nature. The material nature is thus compared to the mother, who produces the bodies of the living entities, and the Lord with the father, who puts the souls inside the womb of the mother.
Apart from containing the souls, the look itself is an expansion of the Lord, Sadha-Shiva, who later expands himself into all the forms of Shiva that appear inside each universe. Lord Sadha-Shiva, the personified look of Maha-Vishnu, carries the souls, and acts like a father for all living beings of the universe, constantly working for their deliverance. In Caitanya Lila, he appears as Advaita Acharya, who takes the responsibility for bringing the Lord to our planet through his incessant prayers. Sometimes it's said that Advaita Acharya is the incarnation of Maha-Vishnu or the combined incarnation of Maha-Vishnu and Sadha-Shiva. All these explanations are valid because Sadha-Shiva is an incarnation of Lord Maha-Vishnu and is non-different from Him. Lord Sadha-Shiva becomes shiva-tattva when he expands himself into the many forms of Lord Shiva inside each universe. In this case, due to his association with material nature, part of his qualities are covered and he displays just 84% of the qualities of the Lord.
The look of Lord Maha-Vishnu, personified in the person of Sadha-Shiva, contains thus two components: the time energy, kala, and the marginal potency of the Lord, the souls. Being impregnated by these two energies, pradhāna is agitated and the three modes of nature become apparent, leading to the manifestation of the mahat-tattva. Simultaneously, the presence of the souls adds consciousness, making the mahat-tattva golden and effulgent. This effulgent combination is called hiraṇmaya, the sum total of the cosmic intelligence, and from it, all the material universes are generated.
We have thus three words that describe the same thing but at different stages. Pradhāna refers to the original manifestation, where all material elements are dissolved. Mahat-tattva describes the stage when the material elements become apparent, and hiraṇmaya describes the combination of the mahat-tattva and the souls, which add consciousness to it.
The mahat-tattva is also sometimes described as saguṇa Brahman in both Vedanta philosophy and the Sankhya system. This comes from the idea that everything is Brahman, and therefore there is the nirguṇa Brahman, the supreme Lord, transcendental to matter, and saguṇa Brahman, or mahat-tatva, the energy of the Supreme where the 24 material elements become manifested. Just like we say "Krsna" and "material energy", some prefer to say "nirguṇa Brahman" and "saguṇa Brahman", it is just a difference in terminology.
Mayavadis, however, impose an artificial and incorrect interpretation of the term, interpreting "nirguṇa Brahman" as the original, transcendental spirit, and "saguṇa Brahman" as Brahman falling under the material modes and developing material qualities when coming as an incarnation. To call the mahat-tattva "nirguṇa Brahman" as part of the energy of the Lord is perfectly in line with the philosophy of Lord Kapila, but to use the term to promote the incorrect and offensive interpretation that the Lord assumes a material form when He appears as an incarnation is misleading, improper and incorrect.
Souls and matter: like oil and water
Although put into the mahat-tattva, the souls don't mix with the material elements, remaining separate, just like oil floating on top of water. In fact, even when the universe is fully manifested, the soul never mixes with the material creation, remaining always aloof. Our material experience comes just from our identification with different material bodies, just as someone looking at his phone and identifying with whatever is going on the screen.
As Prabhupada explains (conversation, July 6, 1976, with Swarupa Damodhara Maharaja): "The living entities are always in pure goodness. This material covering is separated. The living entities can be freed from material covering at any moment. Just like water and oil, it is always separated; it does not mix. The Vedic mantra also says, asango 'yam puruṣaḥ. Actually, it is not mixed, but it is covered. Such covering can be taken away at any moment simply by Kṛṣṇa consciousness."
Another component is the material desires of the souls. Every time the universe is destroyed, the subtle bodies containing the material desires of the souls are destroyed, and the souls merge into Lord Maha-Vishnu for a long sleep. When the universe is created again, the Lord remembers the previous nature of each individual soul and restores their material propensities and desires, as well as their karma, from the point they stopped in the last cycle. The souls then become active and desire to assume material bodies to continue their activities. From this point they continue to enjoy or suffer the reactions from their previous activities, continuing from where they stopped in the previous cycle.
That's why it's described that material nature is agitated by the destinations of the conditioned souls. The Sanskrit word is "daivāt", which means "according to destiny", or "due to one's fate". As long as we desire to enjoy the material manifestation, we continue on the path determined by our previous activities. This process stops only when we surrender to the Lord and seriously practice the process of devotional service.
The second verse (3.26.20) mentions that the mahat-tattva is not destroyed at the time of annihilation because at that time the material manifestation is dissolved and the energy returns to its original state, as pradhāna. The cosmic manifestation is thus destroyed but the energy is eternal. The mahat-tattva is thus never destroyed, it just returns to its original state as pradhāna. We should remember that these are two stages of the same thing, just as milk in its original state, and milk with the cream separated on the top. As soon as the milk is mixed, the cream dissolves and it returns to its initial state.
Lord Kapila adds to the previous descriptions of creation
Before coming to the teachings of Lord Kapila, the second and third cantos of the Srimad Bhagavatam offer several descriptions of the creation of the universe. Each of these descriptions brings new details, helping us to progressively grow our understanding. This system of explaining the same topic repeatedly with a growing level of detail is often found in Vedic literature. We can see that Krsna uses it in the Bhagavad-gita, for example. This is a quite natural system because it's not possible to immediately understand all the complexity of any subject. Even in school, we study mathematics in the first year, then in the second year, the third year, and so on, but each year we study it at a higher level of complexity.
The Srimad Bhagavatam includes the following explanations of the material creation:
Chapter 1.3: A brief explanation of how the Lord becomes Maha-Vishnu, Garbhodakasayi Vishnu, and Ksirodakasayi Vishnu to facilitate the material creation.
Chapter 2.5: Brahma describes to Narada Muni the creation of the material elements, starting from the mahat-tattva. First false ego manifests, and then it is divided into three features: in goodness, in passion, and in ignorance. From these three, the five elements, ether, air, fire, water, and earth are generated, together with sound, touch, form, etc. followed by the mind and senses. From there, the universes were created and the Lord entered each one as Garbhodakasayi Vishnu and manifested the universal form, which serves as a blueprint for the creation performed by Brahma.
Chapter 2.6: Brahma describes features of the universal form, the subtle manifestation of the universe that is manifested by the Lord previous to the creation performed by him. The universal form is the source of everything and contains all manifestations in a subtle form, as a blueprint. Brahma has the function of giving physical forms to these manifestations. Later in the chapter Brahma describes his appearance from the lotus flower and how he organized the first sacrifices. In this chapter, the ten sons of Brahma, as well as the Manus and others are mentioned, but no details are given about their creation.
Chapter 2.9: Here it is described how Brahma met the Lord at the beginning of his current day and received the four original verses of the Srimad Bhagavatam from Him. The Lord existed before the material creation and He is the cause of the creation. Everything is connected with Him, and maya means the illusion of seeing things as disconnected or independent from Him. The Lord is everywhere, we are always with the Lord, and the purpose of human life is to search for Him.
Chapter 2.10: This chapter again describes the universal form, but now with a different purpose: explaining how everything is connected with the Lord, and how we can see Him everywhere. This explanation is connected with the ten topics of the Srimad Bhagavatam, describing how the Lord is the ultimate shelter and how He is behind everything.
Chapter 3.5: This chapter narrates again the creation of the material elements starting from the mahat-tattva but with more detail than in chapter 2.5. It also goes further by describing how the Lord enters into the material elements and how material creation becomes possible only due to His presence.
Chapter 3.6: Now the creation of the universal form is described, again in more detail than in the previous explanation. Another difference is that in chapter 2.6 the universal form is described from the viewpoint of Brahma, while in chapter 3.6 it is described from the viewpoint of the Lord. The creation of the material elements is described thus in chapters 2.5 and 3.5, and the universal form in 2.6 and 3.6. This description of the creation of the elements and the universal form comprises the primary creation (performed by the Lord), while the following chapters describe the secondary creation performed by Brahma.
Chapter 3.8: This chapter describes Brahma waking up on the lotus flower, seeing only darkness around, performing meditation, and seeing the Lord. Again, this description is similar to what is described before, in chapter 2.9, but from a different perspective. In chapter 2.9 the meeting is described from the perspective of Brahma receiving the original verses of the Srimad Bhagavatam from the Lord, while in 3.8 it is described from the perspective of the creation of the universe. Therefore, different details are emphasized.
Chapter 3.10: In this chapter, Maitreya offers a condensed description of the nine creations, six of them performed by the Lord as part of the primary creation, and three performed by Brahma as part of the secondary creation. The description of the creation of Brahma here is very short.
Chapter 3.11: This is the chapter that describes material time, detailing the divisions from the truṭi to the maha-kalpa, the lifetime of Brahma.
Chapter 3.12: Here the creation of Brahma is described in more detail. He first created nescience (self-deception, sense of death, false ownership, etc.) and proceeded to create the Kumaras and Lord Shiva. Next, he created his ten sons, including Narada, and proceeded to create religion and irreligion, lust, anger, greed, etc. Later, the Vedas became manifest, and Brahma created the different components of sacrifice (Vedic hymns, rituals, recitation, etc.) He then created the Upa-vedas (secondary scriptures, containing material knowledge about medicine, music, astrology, sciences, etc.), the Puranas and histories (the fifth Veda), the Varnasrama system, etc. The description is concluded with the creation of Manu.
Chapter 3.20: This explanation adds more detail to the creation of Brahma, detailing how he created the different species, including the Yakṣas and Rākṣasas, the demigods and demons, ghosts and spirits, etc. as well as the different times of the day, and other manifestations, culminating with the creation of the manus and human beings.
The explanation of creation given by Lord Kapila in chapter 3.26 offers a description that combines details of the previous explanations and helps us understand how they fit together, offering us a detailed picture of how the universe came to be and how we ended up being entangled here. This description of Lord Kapila is extremely intricate because it is the post-graduation on the topic of creation, building on a sequence of different descriptions offered in the Srimad Bhagavatam. This is a knowledge originally intended to be studied by great sages. Devahuti, although posing as an ordinary woman, was a great ascetic, and therefore Lord Kapila didn't hold back in explaining this knowledge to her.