Shakti and Shakta: Essays and Addresses on the Shakta Tantrashastra c19.5.2

c19.5.2

I do not say that scientific "ether" is Âkâsha, which is a concept belonging to a different train of thought. Moreover the sensible is derived from the supersensible Âkâsha Tanmâtra, and is not therefore an ultimate. But it is important to note the agreement in this, that both in East and West, the various forms of gross matter derive from some single substance which is not "matter". Matter is *dematerialized*, and the way is made for the Indian concept of Mâyâ. There is a point at which the mind cannot any longer usefully work outward. Therefore, after the Tanmâtra, the mind is turned within to discover their cause in that Egoism which, reaching forth to the world of enjoyment produces sensorium, senses, and objects of sensation. That the mind and senses are also material has the support of some forms of western philosophy, such as that of Herbert Spencer, for he holds that the Universe, whether physical or psychical, is a play of force which in the case of matter we experience as object. Mind as such is, he says, as much a "material" organ as the brain and outer sense-organs, though they are differing forms of Force. His affirmation that scientific "matter" is an appearance produced by the play of cosmic force, and that mind itself is a product of the same play, is what Sâṅkhya and Vedânta hold. The way again is opened for the concept, Mâyâ.