Manava Dharmashastra 1.18

1.18

tadetatpradhānaṃ sarvabhūtakṛdbhavati | 'pyavyayamavināśaṃ kāraṇātmanā | kathaṃ sarvāṇi bhūtāni karoti ? yatastadāviśantīmāni | kāni punastāni | manaḥ sūkṣmairavayavaiḥ saha tanmātrairbuddhyahaṃkārendriyalakṣaṇaiḥ | anantaraṃ mahānti bhūtāni pṛthivyaptejovāyvākāśākhyāni| saha karmabhiḥ| dhṛtisaṃhananapaktivyūhāvakāśāḥ pṛthivyādīnāṃ yathākramaṃ karmāṇi| tatra dhṛtiḥ dhāraṇaṃ saraṇapatanadharmakasya ekatrāvasthānam| saṃgrāhakādvikīrṇasya saṃhananam | yathā pāṃsavo vikīrṇā udakena saṃhanyante piṇḍīkriyante | paktirannauṣadhatṛṇādestejasaḥ kāryatayā prasiddhā | vyūho vinyāsaḥ sanniveśaḥ | avakāśo mūrtyantareṇāpratibandhaḥ | na hi yasmindeśe mūrtirekā sthitā tatra mūrtyantarasya sthānam | suvarṇapiṇḍe na kasyacidantaḥ saṃbhavaḥ | manograhaṇaṃ sarvendriyapradarśanārtham | karmagrahaṇena ca karmendriyāṇi vā gṛhyante | athavā tatkāryaṃ sūkṣmairavayavairyuktaṃ mahānti bhūtānyadhitiṣṭhati paścādityevaṃ yojanā | indriyāṇi ca, manaḥśabdasya pradarśanārthatvāt |

The great elemental substances, along with their functions, as also the mind, along with its subtile components, enter into that which (on that account) is the generator of all things and imperishable.—(18)

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘That,’ ‘Primordial Matter—is ‘the generator of all things’:—it is ‘imperishable,’ i.e., in its original (causal) form it is indestructible.

“In what way does Primordial Matter generate all things?”

Because all these enter into it.

“What are all these that enter into it?”

First of all ‘the Mind along with its subtile components,’—i.e., along with the Rudimentary Substances, the Principle of Intelligence, the Principle of Egoism and the Sense-organs;—and then, the Great Elemental Substances—called ‘Earth,’ ‘Water,’ ‘Fire,’ ‘Wind,’ and ‘Ākāśa;’—‘along with their functions;—

sustaining,

conglutination,

cooking,

configuration

and making room (unobstruction) respectively are the ‘functions’ of Earth, &c.

Of these

‘sustaining’ means upholding, keeping in their places, things that are prone to falling;

‘conglutination’ means bringing together things that are loose and disjointed; e.g., loose and disjointed dust-particles are brought togther, cemented into, a mass by means of water;—

‘Cooking’ is the well-known effect produced by fire upon such tilings as medicine and herbs, &c.;

‘Configuration’ means conformation, shaping;—

‘making room’ means non-obstruction by another body; in a point in space where one body is already present, there can be no room for another body; e.g., no object can find room within a piece of gold.

‘Mind’—is meant to indicate all the organs of sensation; and the term ‘Karma’ may be taken as referring to the organs of action; or again, in the first line of the text, the term ‘Karma’ may be taken to mean the ‘products’ of the elementary substances; the sense of the passage being that ‘subsequently the products of the elemental substances, along with the subtile components, enter into the great elemental substances’—‘as also do the organs of sensation,’ this latter being indicated by the word ‘Mind.’—(18)