44 Spirituality Studies 10-2 Fall 2024 1 Introduction The effort to understand any teaching, where the source person of the teaching is no longer alive is a challenge and a source of possible mistakes. This is so as the ṛṣi (Sa. “seer”) has to give linguistical form to his realizations in a language, which may or may not his mother tongue, using contexts that are usual at his time. The one that writes the teaching down for the posteriority writes what he understands or hears in language that is identical or not with the language of the teaching. When a later study occurs, the context and the meaning of the words may have changed, so even knowers of that given language may have difficulty to understand it as correctly as it was meant to be. When a translation is made to another language, it brings further possibilities of inaccuracies as the translator’s way of thinking, knowledge in the given area and linguistic abilities may significantly influence the translation. Finally, when the end-user is trying to apply the teachings given in the text, he faces the same challenge. The paper given below stems from the effort of the authors to better understand and contextualize the concept of tattvas, kōśas, and ahaṁkāra in relation to “spiritual practice” (Sa. sā dhana). 2 Definitions of Kōśas and Tattvas In the yogic description of functional units of human beings, kōśas (Sa. “sheath”) represent the tools through which humans can exist and be active during their life cycle. Apart from the first kōśa, i.e., the physical body, the other four kōśas, i.e., prāṇamaya, manomaya, vijñānamaya, and ānandamaya kōśa are more linked to the activities of the brain and thus represent mental functions. Their properties will be indicated below. Thus, the concept of tattvas (Sa. tattvaṁ, “truth”) in Indian philosophy was used to model the building elements of the manifested reality (Avalon 1978, 283). The manifested universe is said to have undergone three stages of development (Figure 1). The first level of manifestation was formed by śuddha tattva (Sa. “clean”), then the śuddha-aśuddha tattva appeared due to the “pollution” of the system that hosted living forms by the change in their quality of perception as well as actions. Here, additional information can be deduced from the work of Vay (1869, 40–47). On this level of manifestation, the kañcukās (Sa. “limitations”) came to existence, barring the living entities from having an inherent access to reality and binding them to avidya (Sa. “ignorance”). The kañcukās are: “limited all might” (Sa. kalā), “limitation of knowledge” (Sa. vidyā), “limited omniscience” or “limited jñāna” (Sa. avidya vidyā), “limitation of attachment” (Sa. rāga), limited iccha śakti – “ability to create at will”, that leads to cravings, attachment, and permanent discontent, “limitation of time” (Sa. kāla), “limitation by cause-effect” – limits the free will and thus creates karma, which forces humans to a chain of births (Sa. niyati), and “illusion” (Sa. māyā). With further degradation of the system, the aśuddha tattvas (Sa. aśuddha, “unclean”) came to existence and the tattvas needed for manifesting living entities on this level (from buddhi a.k.a. vijñānamaya kōśa till pṛthivī (Sa. “earth”) (Satyasangananda 1995, 31–37; Avalon 1978, 283–287; Figure 2). The link to the universal frame of existence is given both in Sāṃkhya and Vedānta (Avalon 1978, 283–286) by adding the changeless Absolute consciousness and Śakti to the list of tattvas. In case of aśuddha tattvas, the model of quintuplication explains the “pollution” (Shankaracharya 1979, 1–8). According to this model, every tattva contains a fraction of the other tattvas (Figure 3). For purification of tattvas, practices called Tattva Śuddhi are used (Satyasangananda 1992, 91–100; Avalon 1913, 97–108; Woodroffe 1990, 109–115). According to this model, for a human being to be able to live, tattvic entities are needed, that are given in Figure 4 and are mostly related to sensory and mental activity. Tattvas are sorted out according to their character as related to creation. Thus, Puruṣa (Sa. “soul”) is non-created and does not create. Prakṛti (Sa. “source”) is non-created but creates. Mahat (Sa. “great principle”), ahaṁkāra (Sa. “I-making”) and the five tanmātras (Sa. “mere essence”) – sound till smell – are created and they themselves create. Finally, manas (Sa. “mind”), the five jñānendriyas (Sa. “sense organs”), five karmendriyas (Sa. “organs of actions”), five mahābhūtas (Sa. “great elements”), i.e., ākāśa (Sa. “space”), down to pṛthivī are created, but they do not create. The last group is needed as tools for perceiving the manifested world in which we live (Avalon 1974, 54–75).
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTUwMDU5Ng==