History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c39.s1.34

c39.s1.34

The *gunas* (Reals), though assuming an infinite diversity of forms and powers, can neither be created nor destroyed. The totality of the Mass (*tamas*) as well as of Energy (*rajas*) remains constant, if we take account both of the manifested and the unmanifested, the actual and the potential. But the individual products of the evolutionary process, the concrete phenomenal modes resulting from the combined action of the original Mass, Energy and Essence, are subject to addition and subtraction, growth and decay, which are only due to changes of collocation, and consequent changes of state from the potential to the actual, (in other words, from the future to the present, and from the present to the past, in a time series)—changes which are illusorily ascribed to the Reals themselves. The different collocations of Mass and Energy give birth to the diverse powers of things, the various forms of Energy which may be classed as like and unlike; indeed, the course of Evolution from the Reals conforms to a fixed law, not only as regards the order of succession, but also as regards the appearance (and mutual relations) of like and unlike Energies. And this transformation is constantly going on,—the course of Evolution is not arrested for a moment.