Commentary on the Panchadasi: 27. Swami Krishnananda.
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UPANISHAD
Commentary on the Panchadasi: 27.
Chapter 2: Pancha Mahabhuta Viveka – Discrimination of the Elements
Discourse 7
Mantras 1-18
SWAMI KRISHNANANDA
Post-27.
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Chapter 2: Pancha Mahabhuta Viveka – Discrimination of the Elements
Discourse 7
Mantras 1-18
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Mantras - 1to6.
Mantram-1.
Sad-advaitaṁ śrutaṁ yat-tat-pañca-bhūta vivekataḥ, boddhuṁ śakyaṁ tato bhūta-pañcakaṁ pravi vicyate (1).
In the Chhandogya Upanishad's Sixth Chapter, Uddalaka instructs his disciple and son Svetaketu, and pronounces a great statement. Sad eva, saumya, idam agra āsīd (C.U. 6.2.1): Being alone was. To understand the meaning of this statement that Being alone was before the creation of this world, we have to conduct an analysis of the involvement of Being in creation through the study of the five elements, the pancha bhutas—earth, water, fire, air, ether—which are the stuff of this world. A study of the inner constitution of these five elements will also enable us to know what kind of involvement there is of this Pure Being in these five elements. Therefore, for the sake of understanding the true meaning of this proclamation “Existence alone was” we now try to go into an investigation of the nature of the five elements. This is the subject matter of the Second Chapter.
What are the five elements? The gross elements are space or sky (akasha), air, fire, water, earth; and the inner constituents are sabda, sparsa, rupa, rasa, gandha. These words must be remembered because they will be coming again and again in some way or other.
Mantram-2.
Śabda-sparśau rūpa-rasau gandho bhūta-guṇā ime, eka-dvi-tri-catuḥ pañca guṇāḥ vyomādiṣu kramāt (2).
The qualities of these elements are, in respective order: sound, which is the quality of space; touch, which is the quality of air; form, which is the quality of fire; taste, which is the quality of water; and smell, which is the quality of earth. These are the qualities of the five elements.
Only one quality can be seen in space. Space can reverberate sound, but we cannot touch it, taste it, smell it, etc. Space can only cause an atmosphere for creating a vibration of sound, and as nothing else is possible there, sound alone is the quality of space. But of air, there are two qualities. Air can make sound, and also it can be felt. It can be touched. Sound is the quality of space; sound and touch are the qualities of air. But fire has sound, touch and form, so we can see it. As for water, we can hear its sound, we can touch it, we can see it, and we can taste it. But we cannot taste fire, taste air, taste space, etc. Earth has five qualities. It can create sound, it can be touched, it can be seen, it can be tasted, and it can be smelled. Smelling is the quality only of earth, and so earth has five qualities. Water has four, fire has three, air has two, and space has only one quality. This is the meaning of eka-dvi-tri-catuḥ pañca guṇāḥ vyomādiṣu kramāt, the second half of the verse. Now it is said that certain of these elements make sound, etc. What kind of sound do they make?
Mantras-3,4,5.
Prati-dhvanir viyacchabdo vāyau bīsīti śabdanam, anuṣṇā-śīta saṁsparśaḥ vahnau bhugu-bhugu-dhvaniḥ (3)
Uṣṇa-sparśaḥ prabhā-rūpaṁ jale bulu-bulu dhvaniḥ, śīta-sparśaḥ śukla-rūpaṁ raso mādhūryam īritaḥ (4).
Bhūmau kaḍakaḍā-śabdaḥ kāṭhinyaṁ sparśa iṣyate, nīlādikaṁ citra-rūpaṁ madhurāmlādiko rasaḥ (5).
There are five qualities in earth, four in water, three in fire, two in air, one in space. This is how we have to understand the manner of the functioning of these elements. Only earth has all the qualities of the original causes from where it has come.
This group of five elements can be perceived only through the sense organs, which are correspondingly connected with these elements, and the sense organs connected with these elements respectively are:
Mantram-6.
surabhī tara gaṇdhau dvau guṇāḥ samyag vivecitāḥ, śrotraṁ tvak cakṣuṣi jihvā ghrāṇaṁ cendriya pañcakam (6).
Sound can be heard by the ear, touch can be felt by the skin, form can be seen by the eyes, taste can be felt by the tongue, and fragrance or smell can be received by the nose, through the nostrils. These are the five sense organs.
There is a connection of the sense organs with the five elements. In the Bhagavadgita there is a beautiful statement. Guṇā guṇeṣu vartante (B.G 3.28): Qualities or properties of prakriti move among properties of prakriti when any perception takes place. The sabda tanmatra, the potential of sound that is outside in space, comes in contact with the very same tanmatra in the eardrum; there is a correspondence between the two, and we hear the reverberation of sound.
So is the case with the other sense organs. The corresponding object of sensory perception in each case is respectively the connection between the quality of one particular element in relation to the particular sense organ which is also made up of the same element. So it is as if waves are dashing on waves in the body of the ocean. The element inside in the form of the sense organs dashes against, or comes in contact with, the same element outside in objects. Prakriti is perceiving prakriti. Sense organs come in contact with the objects. We generally say, “I am seeing the objects.” It is a confused statement. It is not 'I'; it is the sense organs that come in contact—matra sparsa, as the Bhagavadgita calls it. Mātrāsparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇasukhaduḥkhadāḥ (B.G. 2.14): The principles of matter constituting outside objects as well as internal sense organs bring about the feeling of these sensations of heat, cold, sound, touch, etc.
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