PANCHABHUTA. ( doctrine of five elements )

PANCHABHUTA.

Prthvi (earth), Ap (water), Tejas (fire), Vayu (air) and Akasa (ether) are the Pancabhutas (five elements) . The whole visible world is composed of one or more of these five elements. This is called the Pancabhautikasiddhanta (doctrine of five elements).

Besides these five dravyas (elementary substance), people in Bharata have reckoned Time, space, soul and mind also as Padarthas or categories. Dravya, one of the seven categories according to Nyaya Vaigesikasutras, has nine svabhavas (inherent properties). The seven Padarthas of Vaisesika are Dravya, Guna, Karman Samanya, Visesa, Samavaya and Abhava.

(1 . Vaiies'.ka:- One of the six principal darsanas or systems of Philosophy founded by Kanada.
2. Padartha:- Anything which can be named ; a category.
3. Dravya:- An elementary substance, the substratum of properties.
4. Guna :-A characteristic or property of all substances.
5. Karman:- Motion, action.
6. Samanya:- General characteristic.
7. Viiefa:- A peculiar attribute, the eternal distinguishing factor of each of the nine dravyas.
8. Samavaya:- Intimate union, inseparable inherence or existence of one thing in another.
9. Abhava:- Nullity or negation.
Sankhyas:- followers of the Sankhya philosophy.
Advaitins:- followers of the Advaita philosophy.
Mimarhsakas:- followers of the Mlmarhsa system of philosophy.
Paramatma:- The supreme being.
Jivatma:- The individual soul enshrined in the body.
Karya:- Evolute.)

The word 'Padartha' has got a very wide meaning. The word 'matter' in English cannot indicate the full significance of the word Padartha. Kanada in his VaiSesika sutras has given the name 'Artha' combining in it the three svabhavas, Dravya, Guna and Karman. Of the above seven padarthas Prasastapada, the famous logician, has included only the first six in his book 'Padarthadharma Samgraha'. The Vaisesikas of a later period included 'abhava' also and raised the number of arthas to seven. Gautama, the Nyayasutrakara and Vatsyayana, the yayabhasyakara, and all their followers accepted the number of arthas as seven.

All that can be perceived by the senses are included in the seven Padarthas according to the systems of Nyaya and Vaisesika. Excepting abhava all the other six are bhavas. Kanada has dealt with 'abhava' but has not treated it as a category. Pra:'astapada has not mentioned about'abhava' at all. Gautama deals with sixteen Padarthas. The Mimarhsakas take into account only five Padarthas and the Sankhyas count only two Padarthas viz., Prakrti and Purusa. Advaitavadins reckon only two Padarthas and to them they are Cit and Jada 'Atma and Anatman).

Vi.'istadvaitins add god also to the above and make the number of Padarthas three. According to Nyaya Vais'esikasutras there are seven Padarthas and they comprise nine kinds of Dravya which
are the Pancabhutas (five elements) , Kala (time), Dik (space) , Atma (soul) , and Manas (mind) . They are described below:

1) Prthvi. (earth). The characteristic of this padartha is smell. Prthvi is of two kinds, Nitya (eternal) and Anitya (perishable). Nitya is in the form of atom (paramynu) and anitya in the form of Kiirya. They are classified into body, sense organs and objects.

2) Jala (water). Jala has a cold touch. It is of two kinds Nitya and Anitya. Nitya is in the form of paramanu (atom); Anitya in the form of Karya.


3) Agni (fire). It generates heat. It is of two kinds, Nitya and Anitya. Nitya is in the form of aramanu and Anitya, in the form of Karya. There are four kinds of Agnis : Fire of the earth, fire of the sky, fire of the stomach (digestive power) and the fire commonly used.

4) Vayu (air). It is without form but with the sense of touch. It is also of two kinds. Nitya in the form of paramanu and Anitya in the form of Karya.

5) Akasa (ether). This is the carrier of sound. It is single and eternal.

6) Kala (time). It is general cause for all actions embracing the elements. It is also single and eternal.

7) Dik. Places like north, south, east and west which are eternal.

Atma (soul) . It is related to knowledge and is of two kinds, Jivatma and Paramatma.

9) Manas (mind). It is the sense-organ to enjoy pleasures. It is in the form of paramanu and eternal.

In Ashtangahrudaya, the basic book of Ayurveda by Vaghbhat, the Pritvi is narrated as Bones and Flesh (Anatomy), Water as all the liquids like blood, urine, saliva, etc.(Digestive system), Agni as the temperature of the body or blood(Circulatory System), Vayu as the gaseous substance including oxygen and Carbone dioxide (Respiratory System) and Akash is as the mind (Psychological system).

In simple interpretation, we can see the darkness covering everything from our vision and by lighting a small fire we can see the object; reveals that the attribute FORM is linked with FIRE and been observed by the EYEs. Similarly the TASTE is felt when the saliva dissolving the substance and identify the taste, hence it is an attribute of WATER and linked with mouth and tongue. SMELL normally gets through the AIR and felt through the nose. Touch is the attribute of Skin, nail, hair, etc and belongs to EARTH and Finally SOUND is the attribute AKASH, the space directly interacting with sound waves and felt through Ears ( As the air column in the Eustachian tube is controlling the hearing, it may sometimes related to Air also) . The PRANAV (AUM) is the sound created by the universe due to its motion, it is contributed by all the celestial objects and living organisms. That is why the music is directly affecting our mental conditions. The AKASH (Mind) is getting happiness or becoming sad on good or bad FOOD, VIEW, SMELL, TOUCHING and SOUND out of which mouth, eyes and nose can be closed or hesitated to intake by Neuro-system, but Touch and Sound can be avoided only by an external action. So the conclusion is that there is an interference between all the Tavas with AKASH, by closing eyes you can see things, hear voice, smell, taste and touch in dreams.