The Samkhya System: A History of the Samkhya Philosophy c5.11

c5.11

imperishable, which has no shadow, blood or body, the order being the five elements, each with its corresponding Mātrā, which appears to denote the corresponding fine element, the five organs of perception with their functions, the five organs of action with their functions, the mind, intellect, individuation, Ahaṃkāra, thought, Citta, brilliance, and breath, and their functions. From the highest self there is here distinguished the Vijñānātman, the individual self, which experiences the impressions of the senses, and so forth. It is perfectly clear that the Praśna is not an exposition of the Sāṃkhya, but the elements of the Sāṃkhya derivation are present. The conception of the fine elements seems to owe its origin to the view expressed in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad (vi, 3), according to which the gross elements, corresponding to fire, water and earth, are not in themselves pure, but each is compounded with some portion of the others: the name, Tanmātra, which is later normal, is first given expressly in the Maitrāyaṇī Upaniṣad (iii, 2).