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The Positive Sciences of the Ancient Hindus c4: Chapter I. The Mechanical, Physical, and Chemical Theories of the Ancient Hindus

The Positive Sciences of the Ancient Hindus c4

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English

Contents

Chapter I. The Mechanical, Physical, and Chemical Theories of the Ancient Hindus

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I propose in this paper to give a synoptic view of the mechanical, physical, and chemical theories of the ancient Hindus. A chronological survey, even if the materials for it were available, would be here of little account. The origins of Hindu natural philosophy in the speculations of the Bráhmanas and the Upanishads, or in the mythology of the Puránas, do not come within the scope of the present exposition, which relates to the results of systematic thought as directed to the phenomena and processes of Nature. I have therefore confined myself to an account of natural philosophy as expounded in the principal systems of Hindu thought. The Sánkhya-Pátañjala system accounts for the Universe on principles of cosmic evolution; the Vaiseshika-Nyáya lays down the methodology of science, and elaborates the concepts of mechanics, physics, and chemistry. The Vedánta, the Púrva-Mímámsá, and in a less degree the Bauddha, the Jaina, and the Chárváka systems, make incidental contributions on points of special interest, but their main value in this regard is critical and negative. The principal authorities followed in this account—the Vyása-Bháshya on Pátañjali’s Sútras, the Samhitá of Charaka, the Bháshya of Prasastapáda, the Vártika of Udyotakara, and the Vrihat Samhitá of Varáhamihira—all centre round the Hindu Renaissance, the beginnings of the anti-Buddhist reaction in the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries of the Christian era. Whenever I have made use of later authors, *e.g.* Kumárila, Śaṅkara, Śrídhara, Váchaspati, Udayana, Bháskara, Jayanta, Varavara, Raghunátha, Vijñána-bhikshu, etc., I have taken care to see (except where the opposite is expressly mentioned) that no idea is surreptitiously introduced which is not explicitly contained in the earlier authors.

The Sáṅkhya-Pátañjala System

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This system possesses a unique interest in the history of thought as embodying the earliest clear and comprehensive account of the process of cosmic evolution, viewed not as a mere metaphysical speculation but as a positive principle based on the conservation, the transformation, and the dissipation of Energy.

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*Prakriti: the Ultimate Ground.*—The manifested world is traced in the Sáṅkhya to an unmanifested ground, Prakriti, which is conceived as formless and undifferentiated, limitless and ubiquitous, indestructible and undecaying, ungrounded and uncontrolled, without beginning and without end. But the unity of Prakriti is a mere abstraction; it is in reality an undifferentiated manifold, an indeterminate infinite continuum of infinitesimal Reals. These Reals, termed Guṇas, may by another abstraction be classed under three heads: (1) Sattva, the Essence which manifests itself in a phenomenon, and which is characterised by this tendency to manifestation, the Essence, in other words, which serves as the medium for the reflection of Intelligence; (2) Rajas, Energy, that which is efficient in a phenomenon, and is characterised by a tendency to do work or overcome resistance; and (3) Tamas, Mass or Inertia, which counteracts the tendency of Rajas to do work, and of Sattva to conscious manifestation.

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The ultimate factors of the Universe, then, are (1) Essence, or intelligence-stuff, (2) Energy, and (3) Matter, characterised by mass or inertia.

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These Guṇas are conceived to be Reals, substantive entities—not, however, as self-subsistent or independent entities (अधात), but as interdependent moments in every real or substantive Existence.

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Even Energy is substantive in this sense. The infinitesimals of Energy do not possess inertia or gravity, and are not therefore material, but they possess quantum and extensity (परिमाण—परिच्छिन्नत्व).

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The very nature of Energy is to do work, to overcome resistance (रजश्चलम् उपष्टम्भकम्), to produce motion. All Energy is therefore ultimately kinetic; even potential Energy (अनुद्भूतवृत्तिशक्ति) is only the Energy of motion in imperceptible forms.

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*The Original Constituents and their Interaction.*—Every phenomenon, it has been explained, consists of a three-fold *arche*, intelligible Essence, Energy, and Mass. In intimate union these enter into things as essential constitutive factors. The essence of a thing (Sattva) is that by which it manifests itself to intelligence, and nothing exists without such manifestation in the Universe of Consciousness (समष्टिबुद्धि). But the Essence is only one of three moments. It does not possess mass or gravity, it neither offers resistance nor does work. Next there is the element of Tamas, mass, inertia, matter-stuff, which offers resistance to motion as well as to conscious reflection (तमः गुरु वरणकम्).

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But the intelligence-stuff and the matter-stuff cannot do any work, and are devoid of productive activity in themselves. All work comes from Rajas, the principle of Energy, which overcomes the resistance of matter, and supplies even Intelligence with the Energy which it requires for its own work of conscious regulation and adaptation. (अन्याभ्याम् अहङ्काराभ्यां स्वकार्योपजनने राजसाहङ्कारः सहकारी भवति। लोकाचार्य्य - तत्त्वत्रय-अचित्प्रकरण ।)

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The Guṇas are always uniting, separating, uniting again. (अन्योत्यमिथुनाः सर्वे, नैषामादिसम्प्रयोगो वियोगो वा उपलभ्यते।) Everything in the world results from their peculiar arrangement and combination. Varying quantities of Essence, Energy, and Mass, in varied groupings, act on one another, and through their mutual interaction and interdependence evolve from the indefinite or qualitatively indeterminate to the definite or qualitatively determinate. (एते गुणाः परस्परोपरक्तप्रविभागाः संयोगविभागधर्म्माणः

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इतरेतरोपाश्रयेण उपार्जितमूर्तयः।—व्यासभाष्य।) But though co-operating to produce the world of effects, these divers moments with divers tendencies never coalesce. In the phenomenal product whatever Energy there is is due to the element of Rajas, and Rajas alone; all matter, resistance, stability is due to Tamas, and all conscious manifestation to Sattva. (परस्पराङ्गाङ्गित्वेऽपि असंभिन्नशक्तिप्र-विभागाः—व्यासभाष्य। अन्योन्याङ्गाङ्गिभावेन उत्पादितेऽपि द्रव्ये प्रकाशगुणः सत्त्वस्यैव क्रियागुणः रजसएव स्थितिगुणस्तमसएव—विज्ञानभिक्षु, योगवार्त्तिक on व्यासभाष्य, *ibid.* नैषां शक्तयः संकीर्य्यन्ते—वाचस्पतिमिश्र, तत्त्ववैशारदी on व्यासभाष्य, *ibid.*)

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The nature of the interaction is peculiar. In order that there may be evolution with transformation of Energy, there must be a disturbance of equilibrium, a preponderance of either Energy or Mass-resistance or Essence over the other moments. The particular Guna which happens to be predominant in any phenomenon becomes manifest in that phenomenon, and the others become latent, though their presence is inferred by their effect. For example, in any material system at rest the Mass is patent, the Energy latent, and the conscious manifestation sub-latent. In a moving body, the Rajas, Energy, is predominant (kinetic), while the Mass, or rather the resistance it offers, is overcome. In the volitional consciousness accompanied with movement, the transformation of Energy (or work done by Rajas) goes hand in hand with the predominance of the conscious manifestation, while the matter-stuff or Mass, though latent, is to be inferred from the resistance overcome. (प्रधानवेलायाम् उपदर्शितसन्निधाना गुणत्वेऽपि च व्यापारमात्रेण प्रधानान्तर्णीतानुमितास्तिताः—व्यासभाष्य।)

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*The Starting-point.*—The starting-point in the cosmic history is a condition of equilibrium or equipoise consisting in a uniform diffusion of the Reals. The tendencies to conscious manifestation, as well as the powers of doing work, are exactly counterbalanced by the resistances of the inertia or Mass: the process of cosmic evolution (परिणाम) is under arrest. (सत्त्वरजस्तमसां साम्यावस्था प्रकृतिः—Pravachana, Sutra 61, Chap. I. साम्यावस्था अन्यूनानतिरिक्तावस्था अन्यूनाधिकभावेन असंहतावस्था अकार्यावस्था इति निष्कर्षः—विज्ञानभिक्षु, *ibid.*)

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*Beginning of Evolution.*—The transcendental (non-mechanical) influence of the Purusha (the Absolute) puts an end to this arrest, and initiates the process of creation. Evolution begins with the disturbance of the original equilibrium. How this is mechanically brought about is not very clear. A modern expounder of the Sáṅkhya supposes that the particles of Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas possess a natural affinity for other particles of their own class, and that when the transcendental influence of the Purusha ends the state of arrest, the affinity comes into play, breaks up the uniform diffusion, and leads to unequal aggregation, and therefore to the relative preponderance of one or more of the three Gunas over the others. Thus commences formative combination among the Reals, and consequent productive activity. (संहननम् आरम्भकसंयोगः न्यूनाधिकभावेन अन्योन्यं संयोगविशेषः—Sutra 66, Chap. I., प्रवचनभाष्य—विज्ञानभिक्षु । पृथिवीव्यक्तीनां पृथिवीत्वेनैव सत्त्वव्यक्तीनाम् एकजातीयतया एकता । सजातीयोपष्टम्भादिना वृद्धिह्रासादिकं च युक्तम् *ibid.*, Sutra 128, Chap. I.)

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*Formation of Wholes or Systems—Collocation of Reals.*—Creative transformation accompanied with evolution of motion (परिस्पन्द) and work done by Energy (क्रिया) cannot take place without a peculiar collocation of the Reals (Guṇas). To form wholes or systems (समुदय) it is essential that one Guṇa should for the moment be preponderant and the others co-operant. And this cannot be without an unequal aggregation which overthrows the original equilibrium (गुणवैषम्य, न्यूनाधिकभाव)—in other words, without unequal forces or stresses coming into play in different parts of the system. (गुणवैषम्यै—वाचस्पति। व्यक्तं सक्रियं परिस्पन्दवत् ... समुदयः समवायः। स च गुणानां गुणप्रधानभावमन्तरेण न सम्भवति। न गुणप्रधानभावो वैषम्यं विना। न च वैषम्यमुपमर्द्दोपमर्द्दकभावादृते।—वाचस्पति, कौमुदी on Káriká 16.)

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*The Formula of Evolution—Differentiation in Integration.*—Evolution (परिणाम) in its formal aspect is defined as differentiation in the integrated (संसृष्टविवेक). In other words, the process of Evolution consists in the development of the differentiated (वैषम्य) within the undifferentiated (साम्यावस्था), of the determinate (विशेष) within the indeterminate (अविशेष), of the coherent (युतसिद्ध) within the incoherent (अयुतसिद्ध). The evolutionary series is subject to a definite law which it cannot overstep (परिणामक्रमनियम). The order of succession is not from the whole to parts, nor from parts to the whole, but ever from a relatively less differentiated, less determinate, less coherent whole to a relatively more differentiated, more determinate, more coherent whole. That the process of differentiation evolves out of homogeneity separate or unrelated parts, which are then integrated into a whole, and that this whole again breaks up by fresh differentiation into isolated factors for a subsequent redintegration, and so on *ad infinitum*, is a fundamental misconception of *the course of material evolution*. That the antithesis stands over against the thesis, and that the synthesis supervenes and imposes unity *ab extra* on these two independent and mutually hostile moments, is the same radical misconception as regards *the dialectical form* of cosmic development. On the Sāṅkhya view, increasing differentiation proceeds *pari passu* with increasing integration within the evolving whole, so that by this two-fold process what was an incoherent indeterminate homogeneous whole evolves into a coherent determinate heterogeneous whole.

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The different stadia in the order of cosmic evolution are characterised as follows:—

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(1) The inconceivable, the unknowable, the formless, of which no character can be predicated (**अलिङ्ग**), including Prakriti, or the Reals in a state of equilibrium.

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(2) The knowable, the empirical universe, cosmic matter of experience, things as matter or stuff of consciousness (**लिङ्ग**), comprising Mahat, the intelligible Essence of the cosmos, evolved by differentiation and integration within the formless, characterless, inconceivable Prakriti.

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(3) Individual but still indeterminate stuff bifurcating into two series—Subject-experience and Object-experience, comprising on the one hand the indeterminate unity of apperception, or the empirical Ego, as the co-ordinating principle of the Subject-series (**अस्मिता**), and on the other hand (though through the mediation of this subjective modification, अस्मिता or Ahaṅkára) the indeterminate material potencies, the subtile vehicles of potential Energy (तन्मात्र, सूक्ष्मभूत), the ultimate subtile constituents of the Object-series (the material world). The previous stadium, the cosmic matter of Experience (लिङ्ग, महत्), evolves within itself, by differentiation and integration, an individuated but still indeterminate stuff in two co-ordinated series, Subject and Object, though the latter is mediated through the former.

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(4) Determinate stuff (विशेष) evolved within the indeterminate by further differentiation and integration, viz., in the series of Subject-experience, sensory and motor stuff; and in the Object-series, a corresponding atomic matter-stuff actualising the material potencies in the form of specific sensible Energies. The latter includes the different classes of Paramánus, the different kinds of atomic constituents of different kinds of gross matter (स्थूलभूत).

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(5) Coherent and integrated matter-stuff, individual substances, characterised by generic and specific properties, which however are not rigidly fixed, but fluent, being subject to a three-fold change and constantly evolving. (अयुतसिद्धावयवभेदानुगतः समूहः द्रव्यमिति पतञ्जलिः—व्यासभाष्य, Sutra 44, Chap. III. सामान्यविशेषसमुदायो द्रव्यं—व्यासभाष्य, *ibid*. सामान्यविशेषात्मा अन्वयी धर्मी, *ibid*. धर्मिणो धर्मलक्षणावस्थापरिणामः)

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(6) And so the cosmic series moves on in ascending stages of unstable equilibrium (विसदृशपरिणाम) until the reverse course of equilibriation and dissipation of Energy (सदृशपरिणाम and साम्यावस्था), which even now constantly accompanies the evolution and transformation of Energy, completes the disintegration of the Universe into its original unmanifested ground, the unknowable Prakriti.

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The order of Cosmic Evolution according to the व्यासभाष्य (Sutra 19, Pada II.) is shown below in a tabular form:—

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Prakriti, the unmanifested unknowable ground (गूढमव्यक्तमलिङ्गं)

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Cosmic matter of experience (महत्, लिङ्गं)

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Subject Series (अविशेष). —> Object Series (अविशेष): evolved in the cosmic matter of experience but through the mediation of the individuated mind-stuff अस्मिता (Ahaṅkára). Individuated indeterminate mind-stuff (unity of apperception, empirical Ego (अस्मिता). Individuated but indeterminate matter - stuff (subtile material potencies (तन्मात्र).

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| Determinate mind-stuff (विशेष), sensory and motor psychoses, etc. (ज्ञानेन्द्रिय, कर्मेन्द्रिय and मनः). | Determinate matter-stuff (विशेष), atomic and molecular constituents of gross matter (परमाणु—स्थूलभूत). |
| | Coherent and integrated matter-stuff (अयुतसिद्धावयवः समूहः सङ्घातः द्रव्यं). Individual substances, with generic and specific characters subject to constant change or evolution, *e.g.* inorganic objects composed of atoms or molecules (परमाणु), vegetable organisms (वृक्ष), animal organisms (शरीर). (अयुतसिद्धावयवः सङ्घातः शरीरं वृक्षः परमाणुरिति—व्यासभाष्य, Sutra 44, Pada III.) |

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तत्र तत् संसृष्टं विविच्यते क्रमानतिवृत्तेः, तथा षडविशेषाः लिङ्गमात्रे संसृष्टा विविच्यन्ते, परिणामक्रमनियमात्, तथा तेषु अविशेषेषु भूतेन्द्रियाणि संसृष्टानि विविच्यन्ते, न विशेषेभ्यः परं तत्त्वान्तरमस्ति तेषांन्तु धर्मलक्षणावस्थापरिणामा व्याख्यायिष्यन्ते । (व्यासभाष्य, Sutra 19, Pada II.)

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*N.B.*—The usual order given in the Sánkhya-Pátañjala compendiums is as follows :—Prakriti, Mahat, Ahaṅkára—and then the bifurcation, viz. 11 organs (sensory, motor and common sensori-motor) from Rájasic Ahaṅkára, and Tanmátras from Támasic Ahaṅkára—and finally the Paramánus of the Sthúla Bhútas. This is literally correct, but misses the significance of the doctrine of "differentiation within the integrated," according to which the Tanmátras are all evolved, through the medium of Ahaṅkára, in the cosmic matter of Experience (Mahat).

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*The Conservation of Energy (and of Mass)—the Transformation of Energy.*—The Guṇas (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 divers 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.

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गुनास्तु सर्व्वधर्मानुपातिनः न प्रत्यस्तमयन्ते नोपजायन्ते व्यक्तिभिरेव अतीतानागतव्ययागमवतीभिः गुणान्वयिनीभिः उपजनापायधर्मका इव प्रत्यवभासन्ते (व्यासभाष्य, Sutra 19, Pada II.) परिणामिनित्यता गुणानाम्। सर्व्वमिदं गुणानां सन्निवेशविशेषमात्रम् । (*ibid.*, Sutra 13, Pada IV.) एते गुणाः तुल्यजातीयातुल्यजातीयशक्तिभेदानुपातिनः (*ibid.*, Sutra 19, Pada II.) परिणामक्रमनियमात् (व्यासभाष्य, Sutra 19, Pada II.) क्रमान्यत्वं परिणामान्यत्वे हेतुः (Patañjali, Sutra 15, Pada III.) प्रकृतिः परिणमनशीला क्षणमप्यपरिणम्य नावतिष्ठते ।

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*The Doctrine of Causation, a corollary from the conservation and transformation of Energy—the Principle of Collocation—the Storing-up and the Liberation of Energy:—*

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The Sáṅkhya view of causation follows at once as a corollary from this doctrine of the conservation and transformation of Energy. As the total Energy remains the same while the world is constantly evolving, cause and effect are only more or less evolved forms of the same ultimate Energy. The sum of effects exists in the sum of causes in a potential (or unevolved) form. The grouping or collocation alone changes, and this brings on the manifestation of the latent powers of the Guṇas, but without creation of anything new. What is called the (material) cause or sum of material causes is only the power which is efficient in the production, or rather the vehicle, of the power. This power is the unmanifested (or potential) form of the Energy set free (उद्भूतवृत्ति) in the effect. But the concomitant conditions are necessary to call forth the so-called material cause into activity. When the favourable combination or co-operation of concomitants is wanting, there is no manifestation of the effect. The question is—what is the aid which the concomitant conditions render to the determination (and production) of the effect existing in potency in its material cause? First there is the merely mechanical view as illustrated by some commonplace examples, *e.g.*, the manifestation of the figure of the statue in the marble block by the causal efficiency of the sculptor’s art, or of the oil in the sesamum-seed by pressing, or of the grain of rice out of the paddy by the process of husking. In these cases the manifestation of an effect is only its passage from potentiality to actuality, a stadium in the process of evolution from possible (future) existence to actual (present) existence; and the concomitant condition (सहकारिशक्ति) or efficient cause (निमित्तकारण), the sculptor’s chiselling, the pressing, the husking, is a sort of mechanical or instrumental help to this passage or transition. कार्य्यशक्तिमत्त्वमेव उपादानकारणत्वम् । सा शक्तिः कार्य्यस्य अनागतावस्था एव । स एव विशेषः (उत्पत्तेः प्राक् कारणे विशेषः) अस्माभिः कार्य्यस्य अनागतावस्था इत्युच्यते । (विज्ञानभिक्षु-प्रवचनभाष्य, Sutra 115, Chap. I.) अभिव्यक्तिः वर्त्तमानावस्था । कारणव्यापारोऽपि कार्य्यस्य वर्त्तमानलक्षणपरिणाममेव जनयति । यथा शिलामध्यस्थप्रतिमायाः लैङ्गिकव्यापारेण अभिव्यक्तिमात्रं तिलस्यतैलस्य च निष्पीड़नेन धान्यस्यतण्डुलस्य च अवघातेन । (विज्ञानभिक्षु-प्रवचनभाष्य, Sutra 129, Chap. I.)

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These mechanical examples of the Kapila-Sáṅkhya have the merit of simplicity, but the Patañjali-Sáṅkhya brushes them aside, and explains causation on the basis of the conservation and transformation of Energy advancing it as the liberation of potential Energy existing stored up in a Guṇa collocation (the sum of material causes), the liberation following on the action of the proximate efficient cause, or concomitant condition (निमित्तकारण).

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The causal operation of concomitant conditions (efficient causes) lies only in this, that they supply a physical stimulus which liberates the potential Energy stored up in a given collocation. Everything in the phenomenal world is but a special collocation of the ultimate Reals (Energy, Mass, and Essence). The sum of (material) causes potentially contains the Energy manifested in the sum of effects ; and in the passage from potency to actualisation, the effectuating condition (the concomitant cause), when it is itself accomplished, is only a step in the evolutionary series, which adds a specific stimulus, and renders determinate that which was previously indeterminate. When the effectuating condition is added to the sum of material conditions in a given collocation, all that happens is that a stimulus is imparted which removes the arrest, disturbs the relatively stable equilibrium, and brings on a liberation of Energy (उद्भूतवृत्तिशक्ति) together with a fresh collocation (गुणसन्निवेशविशेष). सर्व्वमिदं गुणानां सन्निवेशविशेषमात्रम् इति परमार्थतो गुणात्मानः (व्यासभाष्य, Sutra 13, Pada IV.) सतश्च फलस्य निमित्तं वर्त्तमानोकरणे समर्थं न अपूर्वोपजनने । सिद्धं निमित्तं नैमित्तिकस्य विशेषानुग्रहं कुरुते । नापूर्व्वमुत्पादयति । (व्यासभाष्य, Sutra 12, Pada IV.).

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Describing the production of bodies ("organic vehicles") for individual souls out of matter of Prakriti, under the influence of their merit and demerit, as concomitant conditions, Patañjali points out that non-material concomitants like merit and demerit do not supply any moving force or Energy to the sum of material conditions, but only remove the arrest (the state of relatively stable equilibrium) in a given collocation, even as the owner of a field removes the barrier in flooding his field from a reservoir of water. This description is intended to represent the super-physical influence of non-material concomitants (or causes) like volition, merit and demerit, etc., but the causal operation of a material concomitant condition is essentially the same; there is the same reservoir of stored-up Energy in a given collocation, the same condition of arrest or relatively stable equilibrium, the same liberation of the stored-up potential Energy which flows along the line of least resistance; the only difference being that in the case of material concomitants the stimulus which removes the arrest is physical, instead of being transcendental as in the case of non-material causes like will, merit and demerit, etc.

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The Vyása-Bháshya helps us to a clear mental representation of the details of this process:—As the owner of many fields can irrigate, from a field which is already flooded, others of the same or a lower level, without forcing the waters thereto with his hands, and merely by making an opening in the barrier or dyke, on which the waters rush in by their own force; or, further, as the same person cannot force these waters, or the earthy matters held in solution therein, into the roots of the rice plants, but only removes the obstructive grasses and weeds, on which the fluids of their own power enter the roots;—such is the action of an effectuating condition (निमित्त) added to a sum of material causes or conditions.

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निमित्तम् अप्रयोजकं प्रवृत्तीनां वरणभेदस्तु ततः क्षेत्रिकवत् । (Patañjali, Sutra 3, Pada IV.) न हि धर्म्मादि निमित्तं यथा क्षेत्रिकः केदारात् अपां पूरणात् केदारं प्लावयिषुः समं निम्नं वा निम्नतरं वा नापः पाणिनापकर्षति आवरणं तु आसां भिनत्ति तस्मिन् भिन्ने स्वयमेवापः केदारान्तरम् आप्लावयन्ति ।

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*Chain of Causation—Fixed Order.*—The order of Evolution with the transformation of the Energies follows a definite law. The unalterable chain of causes and effects in the phenomenal world illustrates this fixed order. But though the cosmic order is one and fixed, it comprehends divers series arising from different combinations of the original Gunas, which constitute subordinate or particular laws of cause and effect (क्रमान्यत्वं परिणामान्यत्वे हेतुः, Patañjali, Sutra 15, Pada III.).

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What we call the qualities of things are only modes of Energy acting in those collocations. योग्यतावच्छिन्ना धर्मिणः शक्तिरेव धर्म्मः—स च फलप्रसवभेदानुमितसद्भावः । (व्यासभाष्य, Sutra 14, Pada III.) ते खल्वमी धर्म्मा वर्त्तमाना व्यक्तात्मानः, अतीतानागताः सूक्ष्मात्मानः सर्व्वमिदं गुणानां सन्निवेशमात्रमिति परमार्थतो गुणात्मानः । (व्यासभाष्य, Sutra 3, Pada IV.). And these various Energies are sometimes actual (kinetic), sometimes potential, rising to actuality, and sometimes sub-latent, subsiding from actuality into sub-latency. In fact, the original Energy is one and ubiquitous, and everything therefore exists in everything else, *potentialiter* (सर्व्वं सर्व्वात्मकमिति), without prejudice to the generic and specific differences of things (जात्यनुच्छेदेन सर्व्वं सर्व्वात्मकं). Inorganic matter, vegetable organisms, and animal organisms are essentially and ultimately one (जलभूम्योः पारिणामिकं रसादिवैश्वरूप्यं स्थावरेषु दृष्टं तथा स्थावराणां जङ्गमेषु जङ्गमानां स्थावरेषु) so far as Mass and Energy are concerned, but the varied forms of Energy and the generic and specific qualities (or properties) of things, which are but modes of Energy, follow a definite unalterable law in the order of their appearance and succession, under conditions of space, time, mode, and causality, and hence all effects do not manifest themselves at once. देशकालाकारनिमित्तापबन्धात् न खलु समानकालम् आत्मनामभिव्यक्तिः (*ibid.*, Sutra 14, Pada III.) यो यस्य धर्मस्य समनन्तरो धर्मः स तस्य क्रमः । पिण्डः प्रध्वंसते घट उपजायते इति धर्मपरिणामक्रमः । लक्षणपरिणामक्रमः घटस्यानगतभावात् वर्त्तमानभावक्रमः, तथा पिण्डस्य वर्त्तमानभावात् अतीतभावक्रमः । (व्यासभाष्य, Sutra 15, Pada III.).

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*Time, Space, and the Causal Series.*—A Tanmátra (infra-atomic particle of subtile matter) is conceived by our understanding to stand in three relations—(1) position in Space (देशावच्छिन्न), (2) position in the Time-series (कालावच्छिन्न), and (3) position in the Causal-series (निमित्तावच्छिन्न).

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These three relations are the work of the intuitive stage of knowledge (निर्व्विकल्पप्रज्ञा) as opposed to the conceptual (सविकल्पप्रज्ञा). But this is not the pure relationless intuition of Reality (निर्विचारा निर्व्विकल्पप्रज्ञा), which may be termed intellectual intuition, but the intuition that imposes its forms on the Real substrate (सविचारा निर्व्विकल्पप्रज्ञा) or in other words empirical intuition.

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तत्र भूतसूक्ष्मेषु अभिव्यक्तधर्मकेषु देशकालनिमित्तानुभवावच्छिन्नेषु या समापत्तिः सा सविचारा इत्युच्यते । तत्रापि एकबुद्धिनिर्ग्राह्यमेव उदितधर्मवैशिष्ट्यं भूतसूक्ष्ममालम्बनीभूतं समाधिप्रज्ञायामुपतिष्ठते । (व्यासभाष्य, Sutra 44, Pada I.).

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Infinite Time is a non-entity objectively considered, being only a construction of the understanding (बुद्धिनिर्माण) based on the relation of antecedence and sequence, in which the members of the phenomenal series are intuited to stand to one another. These phenomenal changes as intuited by us in the empirical consciousness fall into a series, which the understanding conceives as order in Time. The Time-series, then, is a *schema* of the understanding for representing the course of Evolution. The *schema* of the understanding supervenes on the phenomenal world as order in Time, and hence in the empirical consciousness the Time-series appears to have an objective reality, and to form a continuum. As there is an ultimate and irreducible unit of extensive quantity (परिमाण) in the Guṇas or infinitesimal Reals of Prakriti, which are without constituent parts, so the moment may be conceived as the ultimate and irreducible unit of this Time-continuum as represented in the empirical consciousness. A moment therefore cannot be thought of as containing any parts standing in the relation of antecedence and sequence. If change is represented by the Time-series, a moment as the unit of time may be supposed to represent the unit of change. Now all physical change may be reduced to the motion of atoms in space, and we may therefore define the moment as representing the ultimate unit of such change—viz. the (instantaneous) transit of an atom (or rather a Tanmátra) from one point in space to the next succeeding point. Even an atom has constituent parts (the Tanmátras), and hence an atom must take more than one moment to change its position. The motion of that which is absolutely simple and without parts from one point in space to the next must be instantaneous, and conceived as the absolute unit of change (and therefore of time, क्षण). If this is held to be an irreducible absolute unit, it will follow that what we represent as the Time-continuum is really discrete. Time is of one dimension. Two moments cannot co-exist; neither does any series of moments exist in reality. Order in Time is nothing but the relation of antecedence and sequence, between the moment that is and the moment that went just before. But only one moment, the present, exists. The future and the past have no meaning apart from potential and sub-latent phenomena. One kind of transformation to which a thing is subject is that it changes from the potential to the actual, and from the actual to the sub-latent. This may be called the change of mark (लचणपरिणाम) as opposed to change of quality (धर्मपरिणाम) and the change due to duration or lapse of time (अवस्यापरिणाम). The present is the mark of actuality, the future the mark of potentiality, and the past of sub-latency, in a phenomenon. Only one single moment is actual, and the whole Universe evolves in that one single moment. The rest is but potential or sub-latent.

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क्षणतत्क्रमयोर्नास्ति वस्तुसमाहार इति बुद्धिसमाहारः मुहूर्त्तोहोरात्रादयः। स खल्वयं कालः वस्तुशून्यो बुद्धिनिर्माणः शब्दज्ञानानुपाती लौकिकानां व्युत्थितदर्शनानां वस्तुस्वरूप इव अवभासते। क्षणस्तु वस्तुपतितक्रमावलम्बी। क्रमश्च क्षणानन्तर्यात्मा। तं कालविदः काल इति आचक्षते योगिनः। न च द्वौ क्षणौ सह भवतः, क्रमश्च न द्वयोः सहभुवोरसम्भवात् पूर्व्वस्मादुत्तरभाविनो यदानन्तर्य्यं क्षणस्य स क्रमः। तस्मात् वर्त्तमान श्वेकः क्षणः न पूर्व्वोत्तरक्षणाः सन्तीति तस्मान्नास्ति तत्समाहारः। ये तु भूतभाविनः क्षणाः ते परिणामान्विता व्याख्येयाः। तेनैकेन क्षणेन कृत्स्नो लोकः परिणाममनुभवति, तत्क्षणारूढ़ाः

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सत्यमो धर्म्मः। यथाऽपकर्षपर्य्यन्तं द्रव्यं परमाणुः एवं परमापकर्षपर्य्यन्तः कालः क्षणः। यावता वा समयेन चलितः परमाणुः पूर्व्वदेशं जह्यात् उत्तरदेशम् उपसम्पद्येत स कालः क्षणः, तत्प्रवाहाविच्छेदस्तु क्रमः। (व्यासभाष्य, Sutra 52, Pada III.).

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Vijñána-bhikshu points out that this does not amount to a denial of Time. It means that Time has no real (or objective) existence apart from the "moment." But the latter is real, being identical with the unit of change in phenomena (गुणपरिणामस्य क्षणत्ववचनात्). But even this is real only for our empirical (relative) consciousness (व्युत्थितदर्शन), which intuits the relation of antecedence and sequence into the evolving Reals (Gunas), in the stage of "empirical intuition" (सविचारा निर्व्विकल्पप्रज्ञा). The "intellectual intuition" (निर्विचारा निर्व्विकल्पप्रज्ञा), on the other hand, apprehends the Reals as they are, without the imported empirical relations of Space, Time, and Causality.

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*Space as Extension and Space as Position.*—Space must be distinguished as Desa (locus, or rather extension) and Dik (relative position). Space (Dik) as the totality of position, or as an order of co-existent points, is wholly relative to the understanding, like order in Time, being constructed on the basis of relations of position intuited by our empirical (or relative) consciousness. But there is this difference between Space-order and Time-order: there is no unit of Space as position (Dik), though we may conceive a unit of Time, viz. the moment (क्षण), regarded as the unit of change in the phenomenal or causal series (परमाणुक्रिया—गुणपरिणामस्य क्षणत्ववचनात्—योगवार्त्तिक, Sutra 51, Pada III.). Spatial position (Dik) results only from the different relations in which the all-pervasive Ákása stands to the various finite (or bounded) objects. On the other hand, Space as extension or locus of a finite body, Desa (देशः स्थित्याधारः), has an ultimate unit, being analysable into the infinitesimal extensive quantity inherent in the Reals (Gunas) of Prakriti. (गुणप्रकृतेरणुपरिणामः—योगवार्त्तिक । एतेन नित्या दिगपि अप्रमाणिकी व्याख्याता, सामान्यतो दिग्‌व्यवहाराभावात् । पूर्व्वादिव्यवहारस्य दिगुपाधिभिरेव सम्भवात् । सामान्यतः कालदिग्‌व्यवहारसत्त्वेऽपि आकाशादेव तदुपपत्तेश्च । कालाञ्च दिश्ययं विशेषः यत् कालः क्षणरूप इष्यते, दिक् तु सर्व्वथैव नेष्यते ।)

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*The Causal-Series.*—The relation of Cause and Effect has been already explained. It only remains to add that the category of causality is mediated through the *schema* of order in Time. The empirical intuition first superimposes relations of antecedence and sequence on changing phenomena (the evolving Gunas or Reals), and the understanding out of these relations creates order in Time. The empirical intuition then intuits the phenomenal series of transformations of Energy in this Time-order, and in so doing imports the relation of cause and effect into the course of Nature. (कार्य्यकारणभावादीनां क्षणघटितत्वात्—योगवार्त्तिक, Sutra 51, Pada III.)

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*The Dissipation of Energy (and of Mass)—their Dissolution into the Formless Prakriti.*—Cosmic Evolution (परिणाम) is a two-fold process, creative as well as destructive, dissimilative as well as assimilative, katabolic as well as anabolic (अनुलोमसर्ग and विलोमसर्ग, विसदृशपरिणाम and सदृशपरिणाम). In one aspect there is the aggregation (unequal aggregation) of Mass and Energy, with consequent transformation of Energy, resulting in the creation of inorganic as well as organic matter, and the genesis of worlds. The successive steps of this process may be described as (1) unequal aggregation with storing-up of Energy in a certain collocation, under a state of arrest (*i.e.* in a state of relatively stable equilibrium), (2) a stimulus removing the arrest and disturbing the equilibrium, and (3) liberation of the Energy, moving on to a fresh collocation, fresh aggregation, arrest, and equilibrium. The process of the world thus moves on from equilibrium to equilibrium, and the result of that process is the development of a coherent determinate heterogeneous whole (लिङ्ग, अविशेष, विशेष, अयुतसिद्धावयवसमूह, युतसिद्धावयवसमूह) in what is essentially an incoherent indeterminate homogeneous whole (अलिङ्ग).

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But there is a second aspect of this evolutionary process. Unequal aggregations are unstable; there is a constant tendency in things to go back to the original stable equilibrium, the state of uniform equal diffusion of Reals. This process is called the resolution of like to like (सदृशपरिणाम), consisting in assimilation and dissipation, and being the exact opposite of the process of "differentiation in the integrated" which has evolved the Cosmos. The collocations of Mass, Energy, and Essence are always breaking up, and the Energy, as well as the Mass, however slowly, however imperceptibly, are being dissipated, *i.e.* dissolved into the original formless Prakriti, a state of permanent equilibrium and arrest, from which there is, and can be, no return, except under the transcendental influence of the Absolute at the commencement of a new creative cycle. Not that there is a destruction of the Mass or Energy, but a dissipation or dissolution into a condition of equal uniform diffusion from which there is no return. This is not the phenomenon of kinetic Energy disappearing and becoming potential or sub-latent, for in such cases there is restitution or reconversion by natural means. When this reverse current of assimilation (and dissipation) prevails over the current of dissimilation (and integration), the Universe will disintegrate more and more, until it disappears in the formless Prakriti, its unknowable source and ground. (*Vide* **तस्वत्रय** and **कौमुदी**.)

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*The Evolution of Matter* (**तान्मात्रिक सृष्टि**). — The ultimate constitution of Matter is a question of the profoundest interest in the Sáṅkhya-Pátañjala system. Three stages clearly stand out in the genesis of Matter :—(1) the original infinitesimal units of Mass or inertia, absolutely homogeneous and ubiquitous, on which Energy does work, when the original equilibrium comes to an end (**भूतादि—तामसाहङ्कार**); (2) the infra-atomic unit-potentials, charged with different kinds of Energy, which result from the action of Energy on the original units of Mass (**तन्मात्र**); and (3) the five different classes of atoms, the minutest divisions of which gross matter is capable, but which are themselves complex Tanmátric systems (**स्थूलभूतपरमाणु**).

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The first stadium, Bhútádi, is absolutely homogeneous and absolutely inert, being devoid of all physical and chemical characters (**रूपादिभिरसंयुतं**) except quantum or mass (**परिच्छिन्नत्व**, **परिमाण**); and this admits neither of addition nor of subtraction, can neither be created nor destroyed. The second stadium, Tanmátra, represents subtile matter, vibratory, impingent, radiant, etc., instinct with potential energy. These “potentials” arise from the unequal aggregation of the original Mass-units in different proportions and collocations with an unequal distribution of the original Energy (Rajas). (तन्मात्ररूपादेः किं कारणम् इति चेत् स्वकारणद्रव्याणां न्यूनाधिकभावेन अन्योऽन्यं प्रति संयोगविशेष एव—सजातीयोपष्टम्भादिना वृद्धिह्रासादिकं च युक्तं ।) The Tanmátras possess something more than quantum of Mass and Energy; they possess physical characters, some of them penetrability (अवकाशदान), others powers of impact or pressure, others radiant heat, others again capability of viscous and cohesive attraction. In intimate relation to these physical characters they also possess the potentials of the energies represented by sound, touch, colour, taste, and smell; but being subtile matter, they are devoid of the peculiar forms (विशेष) which these “potentials” assume in particles of gross matter like the atoms and their aggregates. In other words, the potentials lodged in subtile matter must undergo peculiar transformations by new groupings or collocations to be classed among sensory stimuli—gross matter being supposed to be matter endued with properties of the class of sensory stimuli, though in the minutest particles thereof the sensory stimuli may be infra-sensible (अतीन्द्रिय but not अनुद्भूत). (तस्मिंस्तस्मिंस्तु तन्मात्राः ते च अविशेषिणः । ते च पदार्थाः शान्तघोरमूढाख्यैः स्थूलगतशब्दादिविशेषैः शून्या एकरूपत्वात् । तथाच शान्तादिविशेषशून्यशब्दादिमत्त्वमेव भूतानां शब्दादितन्मात्रत्वम् ।)

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The Tanmátras, then, are infra-atomic particles charged with specific potential energies. First, the “potential” of the sound-stimulus is lodged in one class of particles, Tanmátras which possess the physical energy of vibration (परिस्पन्द), and serve to form the radicle of the ether-atom (आकाशपरमाणु); then the potential of the tactile stimulus is lodged in another class of Tanmátras, particles which possess the physical energy of impact or mechanical pressure in addition to that of vibration, and serve to form the radicle of the air-atom (Váyu Paramánu); next, the potential of the colour-stimulus is lodged in a third class of Tanmátras, particles which are charged with the energy of radiant heat-and-light, in addition to those of impact and vibration, and serve to form the nucleus of the light-and-heat corpuscle; then the potential of the taste-stimulus is lodged in other Tanmátras, particles which possess the energy of viscous attraction, in addition to those of heat, impact, and vibration, and which afterwards develop into the atom of water; and, lastly, the potential of the smell-stimulus is lodged in a further class of Tanmátras, particles which are charged with the energy of cohesive attraction, in addition to those of viscous attraction, heat, impact, and vibration, and which serve to form the radicle of the earth-atom.

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षडविशेषाः तद्यथा शब्दतन्मात्रं स्पर्शतन्मात्रं रूपतन्मात्रं रसतन्मात्रं गन्धतन्मात्रञ्च इत्येकद्वित्रिचतुष्पञ्चलक्षणाः शब्दादयः पञ्चाविशेषाः । (व्यासभाष्य, Sutra 19, Pada II.) अहङ्कारात् शब्दतन्मात्रं ततश्चाहङ्कारसहकृतात् शब्दतन्मात्रात् शब्दस्पर्शगुणं स्पर्शतन्मात्रम् । एवंक्रमेण एकैकगुणवृद्ध्या तन्मात्राणि उत्पद्यन्ते । (प्रवचनभाष्य, Sutra 62, Chap. I.).

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शब्दादीनां मूर्त्तिसमानजातीयानाम् एकः परिणामः पृथिवीपरमाणुः तन्मात्रावयवः । भूतान्तरेषु अपि स्नेहौष्ण्यप्रणामित्वावकाशदानानि उपादाय सामान्यम् एकविकारारम्भः समाधेयः । (व्यासभाष्य, Sutra 14, Pada IV.) तल्लक्षण । गन्धतन्मात्रं वर्जयित्वा चतुस्तन्मात्राणां स्नेहजातीयानाम् एकः परिणामः जलपरमाणुः तेषां च महाजलादिः । एवं गन्धरसौ वर्जयित्वा शौष्ण्यजातीयानां

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चितन्मात्राभ्यां तेजोऽणुः तेभ्यः महातेजश्चादिः। एवं गन्धरसरूपाणां वर्ज्हनात् द्वाभ्यां वाय्वणुः तेभ्यः महावाय्वादिः। एवं शब्दतन्मात्रादहङ्कारांशसहकृतात् आकाशाणुः तेभ्यः महाकाशादिः।

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विज्ञानभिक्षु remarks: अत्र दर्शने अयं सिद्धान्तः शब्दादितन्मात्रपञ्चके काठिन्यस्नेहादिव्यङ्ग्याः पृथिवीत्वादिजातयः सन्ति। (योगवार्त्तिक, Sutra 14, Pada IV.).

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Before explaining the genesis of atoms it is necessary to say something about Ákása, which is the link between the infra-atomic particles (Tanmátras) and atoms (Paramánus). Ákása corresponds in some respects to the ether of the physicists, and in others to what may be called proto-atom (protyle). In one aspect Ákása is all-pervasive (विभु), and devoid of the property of impenetrability which characterises even the infra-atomic potential units (Tanmátras). In another aspect Ákása is described as having originated out of the mass, or inertia, in Prakriti (Bhútádi) when the latter became charged with the first potential (the sound-potential). Vijñána-bhikshu, in the Yoga-Vártika, boldly tackles the difficulty. Ákása, he explains, has two forms—original and derivative, non-atomic and atomic. The original Ákása is the undifferentiated formless Tamas (mass in Prakriti, matter-rudiment—Bhútádi), which is devoid of all potentials, and is merely the all-pervasive seat or vehicle of the ubiquitous original Energy (Rajas). This Ákása must not be confounded with vacuum, which is merely negative (आवरणाभाव—un-occupiedness), though it must be conceived as all-pervasive, occupying the same space as the various forms of gross matter (समानदेशकम्—अवकाशस्वरूपम् आकाशं—योगवार्त्तिक), and therefore devoid of the property of impenetrability (मूर्त्तान्तरसमानदेशत्वं—योगवार्त्तिक) which characterises atomic matter. But when the original equilibrium (साम्यावस्था) comes to an end, unequal aggregations form collocations in different groups and proportions of the three Guṇas (न्यूनाधिकभावेन अन्योऽन्यं संयोगविशेषः संहननं—विज्ञानभिक्षु, प्रवचनभाष्य and योगवार्त्तिक). The transformation of Energy now begins—working on a collocation of mass (with Essence) (गुणान्तरोपसृष्टं संदंशतः—विज्ञानभिक्षु, योगवार्त्तिक); it first gives rise to the sound-potential (शब्दजननयोग्यbodyरूपेण परिणमति—विज्ञानभिक्षु), and the atomic Ákása (proto-atom, protyle) is but an integration of the original unit of mass charged with this vibration-potential. This vibratory (or rather rotary) ether-atom (आकाशाणु) is integrated, limited (परिच्छिन्न), and as such cannot occupy the same space with other (subsequently integrated) atoms. But this proto-atomic integration of Ákása (कार्याकाश) is formed everywhere, and, itself residing in the ubiquitous non-atomic Ákása (कारणाकाश—अवकाशरूपमाकाशं), forms the universal medium in which air or gas atoms, light-and-heat corpuscles, and other atoms move and float about.

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वायोरवरणं । यदि हि अवकाशरूपम् आकाशं न स्यात् तदा मूर्त्तद्रव्येषु स्वात्त्यादिषु अनलस्तेजआदिप्रवेशो न स्यात् (विज्ञानभिक्षु, योगवार्त्तिक, Sutra 40, Pada III.) आकाशं हि कार्यकारणरूपेण द्विविधम् । तत्र कारणाकाशं तमोगुणविशेषतयैव व्यवह्रियते । तदानीम् आकाशतावश्यकशब्दादिगुणविशेषा-भावात् । तच्च कारणाकाशं गुणान्तरोपसृष्टं सदंशतः आदौ शब्दजननयोग्यार्थरूपेण परिणमते । ततश्च व्युत्सङ्गातेन पृथिवौवदेव महाभूताकाशम् अहङ्कारापेक्षया परिच्छिन्नं वायोरवरणम् उत्पद्यते (विज्ञानभिक्षु, योगवार्त्तिक, Sutra 40, Pada III.).

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*The Genesis of the Infra-Atomic Unit-Potentials (Tanmátras) and of the Atoms.*—The subject of the genesis and the structure of the Tanmátras and the Paramánus was a fascinating one to these ancient thinkers, and a wide divergence of views prevailed. I will here notice several typical views—those of the Vishnu Purána, Parásara, Patañjali, and a certain school of Vedántists reported in the तत्त्वनिरूपण.

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I. A famous passage in the Vishnu Purána explains the genesis and the structure of the Tanmátras and of the Bhútas (Paramánus) in the following manner:—

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The first Tanmátra originated from the rudiment-matter (Bhútádi), the individuated but still indeterminate potential-less Mass in Prakriti, under the action of Energy (उपष्टम्भतः परिणामयन्ति—प्रवचनभाष्य, Sutra 62, Ch. I.) by a process of disintegration and emanation (विकुर्वाणः—विष्णुपुराण—एकविकारारम्भः — व्यासभाष्य, Sutra 14, Pada IV. विकरणभावः विकीर्णतास्वभावा व्यापिता इति यावत्, योगवार्त्तिक on Pátañjali's Sutra—मनोजवित्वं विकरणभावः etc.) in the menstruum, or surrounding medium of the unindividuated cosmic mass (Mahat, महतावृत्तः).

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This first subtile matter, the first result of "Mass-disintegration" and Energy-transformation, is charged with the sound-potential, the potential of vibration or oscillation (परिस्पन्द). It is called the sound-potential (शब्दतन्मात्र).

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This is typical of the genesis (and structure) of the other Tanmátras (kinds of subtile matter). In each of the remaining cases, an atomic Mass charged with actual specific energies (भूतपरमाणु) disintegrates and emanates, and thus evolves a form of subtile matter (a kind of Tanmátra) under the action of Energy, and always in the same menstruum or surrounding medium —that of Bhútádi, the super-subtile. Each kind of subtile matter becomes charged with a new potential in addition to the potentials already evolved. The genesis of an atom, a Bhúta-Paramánu, is a quite different process. Here the unit-potential (Tanmátra) receives an accretion of Mass, and by a sort of condensation and collocation evolves an atom (Bhúta-Paramánu).

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The genesis and structure of the Tanmátras and the Bhúta-Paramánus are worked out below:—

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1. The super-subtile inviduated Mass (rudiment-matter, Bhútádi), under the action of the original Energy (रजः) disintegrates and emanates (विकुरुते) in the menstruum or surrounding medium (सणावरक) of Mahat cosmic super-subtile Mass, and evolves a form of subtile matter (तन्मात्र), which becomes charged with the sound-potential (vibration-potential, परिस्पन्द), and is called the unit of sound-potential (शब्दतन्मात्र).

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2. This subtile matter, the Mass, charged with sound-potential, receives an accretion of Mass from the rudiment-matter (Bhútádi), and by condensation and collocation evolves the Ákása Bhúta, the atomic Ákása, the proto-atom charged with the specific Energy of the sound-stimulus (actual vibratory motion). (स एष भूतादिः शब्द-तन्मात्रात् सदितीयात् शब्दगुणकम् आकाशं ससर्ज्ज । तथाच अहङ्कारशब्दतन्मात्राभ्यां मिलित्वा आकाशं सृज्यते—योगवार्त्तिक on the Vishnu Purána passage, Sutra 14, Pada IV.)

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3. This proto-atom, the atomic Ákása, charged with its actual specific Energy, again disintegrates and emanates, under the action of the original Energy and in the menstruum of the rudiment-matter (super-subtile Mass), and thus evolves another kind of subtile matter (Tanmátra) which becomes charged with the touch-potential (the potential of impact or mechanical pressure—प्रणामित्व, वहनशीलत्व) in addition to the sound-potential (vibration-potential—परिस्पन्द) and is called the unit of touch-potential (स्पर्शं-तन्मात्र).

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4. Next, this subtile matter, the Mass charged with touch- (and sound-) potential, *i.e.* with the potentials of vibration and impact, receives an accretion of Mass again from the rudiment-matter (Bhútádi), and by condensation and collocation evolves the Váyu Bhúta, a kind of gaseous matter or air of which the atoms are charged with the actual specific energy of the touch-stimulus, *i.e.*, with actual energy of impact in addition to the actual energy of vibratory motion.

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5. Next, the atom of Váyu, so charged with the actual specific energy of impact and vibration, again disintegrates and emanates, under the action of the original Energy, and in the same menstruum or surrounding medium of the rudiment-matter (super-subtile Mass—Bhútádi), and thus evolves another kind of subtile matter (Tanmátra), which becomes charged with the heat-potential (भौष्ण्य—रूप, heat-and-light potential) in addition to the impact-potential and the vibration-potential, and is called the unit of colour-potential (रूपतन्मात्र).

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6. Now this subtile matter, this radiant matter, charged with light-and-heat potential, and also with impact- and vibration-potential, receives an accretion of Mass again from the rudiment-matter (Bhútádi), and by condensation and collocation evolves the Tejas Bhúta, the light-and-heat corpuscle, which is charged with the specific Energy of the colour-stimulus, *i.e.* radiates actual heat and light (विकिरण) in addition to manifesting the energy of impact (impingency) and of vibration (or oscillation).

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7. Next, this atom or light-and-heat corpuscle disintegrates, and emanates as before a form of subtile matter charged with the taste-potential (रसतन्मात्र), in addition to the three potentials already generated, and also with the physical potential of viscous attraction.

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8. This subtile matter charged with the taste-potential and with the potential of viscous attraction condenses, and collocates as before into the water-atom, which manifests the actual specific energies of viscous attraction and the taste-stimulus.

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