tanmAtrAs - What they are !

[Guest guest]

The sanskrit meaning of TanmAtra is,

tat + mAtra = That Alone(Exclusively). Different ideas have been

expressed by various researchers till today on this concept.

Basically, from the very meaning of the term, we can say that tanmAtra

is the first and the basic " substance " (used only for the sake of

convenience) in the process of Creation(Evolution).

 

We know that the action of PrANa on AkAsha has transformed the AkAsha

into four other tanmAtras. But the question here may be asked as what

qualifies the difference between these tanmAtras? What is that

qualification, that makes the subtle principle behind the

Fire-agni(rUpa tanmAtra) to be different from that behind the

Water-apas(rasa tanmAtra)? Is it the gradation in the vibrations

arising in the primal AkAsha that creates four other tanmAtras which

are different from the primal element AkAsha itself?

 

Some of these tanmAtras due to the preponderance of sattva or rajas

produce finer instruments like jnAnendriyAs(Individually),

antahkaraNa(Collectively) AND karmendriyAs, Pancha prANas, upa

prANas(Collectively) respectively at the vyashTi(individual) level of

evolution.

 

Rest of the tanmAtras, undergo a process called

pancheekaraNam(Quintuplication) wherein the following steps occur as

per tattva bodha,

1. The Tamas aspect of each of the five elements divide into two equal

parts

2. one half of each remains intact.

3. The other half of each gets divided into four equal parts.

4. Then, to the intact half of one element, one one-eighth portion

from each of the other four elements gets joined.

5. Then Panchikarana (the process by which the subtle elements become

the gross elements) is complete.

From these five grossified elements the gross body is formed.

 

Now, these tanmAtras are not just matter, but the " Principles " behind

the five-fold existence of sensual world. We also have to consider the

role of triguNas which are responsible for all these changes.

 

All this is a realistic approach to the explanation of the World. It

cannot be solved entirely because it may be questioned as how is the

Material world formed out of these Incomprehensible Principles? How

have the principles transformed themselves into Matter and Force?

 

Science has framed various concepts around the terms Matter, Force,

Energy etc.

 

The existence of Force presupposes the existence of Matter. And Energy

is the measure of the change brought about by the Force on the Matter.

 

We can call the " Flow of tanmAtrAs " as " Energy " .

 

In this way, we are led to believe that everything here is but a

transformation of these tanmAtrAs. Describing how this occurs is

always incomplete realistically because the very truth is that the

world that we see is what we know it as !

 

It is " Matter " in that we " Know " it as Matter. Its true nature may be

something else that we don't know or that which is ever unknown and

unknowable.

 

So there is a need for us to inquire idealistically too because the

perception as such is always Subjective.

 

The tanmAtrAs must be an explanation accepted only to explain the

process of Creation/Evolution which would help us to get directed

towards the Brahman regarding which Adi Sankara would use the term,

" taTasthalakshaNa " (Accidental Characteristics).

 

There is no beginning to our Perception. So we need to explain the

world in the reverse order of its evolution, by merging the grosser

evolutes into the finer ones and taking it to the ultimate source

Mahat or Ishvara who is but the Brahman qualified by mAyA and acted

upon by its Vikshepa Shakti. Swami Vivekananda says, the external

world is a result partly of " Something " existing outside and partly of

" Something " which our Mind " contributes " to that which exists outside.

The external world is a fabrication, a mixing up of realities. On

Brahman, the eternal substratum which is ever unknown and unknowable,

the whole universe is painted just like a painting on a canvas.

 

Unless our Mind " Contributes " something to the Reality, we can never

know it as this Universe. We see the germs of this view in Lalitha

Sahasranaama,

 

" Mano rupeksu kodanda Pancha tanmatra sayaka "

Here, Mind is considered as the bow and the five arrows representing

the five Tanmatras as the arrows coming out from the mind.

 

It shows that the tanmAtras are an outcome of the contribution of the

Mind to the reality.

 

So more and more we research into these tanmAtrAs to find out their

subtle essence, we delve deep into the Nescience.

 

The whole problem with the concept of tanmAtrAs is because we tend to

deal with it realistically. I think there is a better way than doing this.

If we start with the question, " What is Space(AkAsha) " ? I am sure we

will get a convincing answer to everything else.

 

In this type of inquiry we are led to believe finally that the Mind

using the frames of Space and Time, Superimposes the falsity on the

eternal Brahman.

 

tanmAtras, being the basic underlying principles of all mundane

existence, they form the dividing line, rather the connecting link

between Matter and Thought. One cannot research out the nature of

tanmAtras unless he considers the Subjective involvement. This issue

takes us to the basic question, which was first? Matter or Thought?

Neither can be the first. All the fight between Idealists and Realists

is a mere word play.

 

SrI Sankara says,

The " Differentiae " which qualify the separate existence of two

Objects, are present in the Mind alone but not in the Objects. He

again says, *even if you see through the senses, only a single

homogeneous substance should appear to you* but all the multiplicity

that exists is created by the ^Memories^ present in your Mind. "

 

From where did I get these Memories? SrI Sankara says, " From the

previous adhyAsa " . Thus avidyA is anAdi, beginningless.

 

AkASa is the " Matter " of science. Here, this must be a thunderous

statement to say that AkASa is Matter itself. Because we know AkASa

means Space. Then how do we say, it is Matter?

 

To answer this question, one has to analyze the concept of Space.

 

Can there be any empty Space in the whole universe? " Empty " in the

sense, " Perfect Vacuum " , unoccupied by anything whatsoever! An idea of

" What fills the space " would be enough to convince that there cannot

be any space, *not filled* by anything. There must be something to

fill the space in between the most fundamental particles unless they

themselves leave no space between them.

 

Hence, Matter must be a superimposition done by Mind(Using the

imaginary frames of Space and Time) on some *eternal unchanging

substratum*.

 

Again, from this single homogeneous substance, are manifested(With the

Subjective involvement) the five tanmAtras, the underlying

*principles* which create the *Differentiae* in this single

homogeneous AkASa. Some of these differentiae are

grossified(indicating a further projection of the Gross universe by

the Mind) forming the gross differentiae which make up the whole gross

physical universe.

 

The finer, pure, unquintuplicated differentiae, dominated by different

guNAs, become the faculties of Sensing, thinking etc which is but a

material projection. In fact, its not the Mind made up of subtle

matter that thinks, but the unseen factor, mAyA itself is all the

projection and thought. Everything here is a mixing up of real and

unreal. Nothing is completely real and nothing is completely unreal in

this world.

 

!! SrI Adi SankarArpaNamastu !!

 

Hara Hara Vyom Vyom !!

 

SAMPATH.

[Guest guest]

Paramhamsaji,

Thanks for the complete definitions of the tanmAtrAs.

I would like to add what Swami Vivekananda says on this subject. This is from

his discussion of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.

 

" Now we shall understand the aphorism that the states of the qualities are

defined, undefined, indicated only, and signess. By the " defined " are meant the

gross elements, which we can sense. By the " undefined " are meant the very fine

materials, the Tanmatras, which cannot be sensed by ordinary men. If you

practise Yoga, however, says Patanjali, after a while your perceptions will

become so fine that you will actually see the Tanmatras. For instance, you have

heard how every man has a certain light about him; every living being emits a

certain light, and this, he says, can be seen by the Yogi. We do not all see it,

but we all throw out these Tanmatras, just as a flower continuously sends out

fine particles which enable us to smell it. Every day of our lives we throw out

a mass of good or evil, and everywhere we go the atmosphere is full of these

materials. That is how there came to the human mind, unconsciously, the idea of

building temples and churches. "

 

He clearly treats Tanmatras as simply finer particles of matter, which make up

the individual's subtle body.

 

Even in a lecture on Samkhya, he states:

" This egoism, this matter or substance, becomes changed, and out of this

material are manufactured these centres. Of the same substance is manufactured

the other variety, the Tanmatras, fine particles of matter, which strike our

organs of perception and bring about sensations. You cannot perceive them but

only know they are there. Out of the Tanmatras is manufactured the gross matter

— earth, water, and all the things that we see and feel. "

 

Even Swami Krishnanada calls them as " Building Blocks of Creation " .

" Tanmatra' is a Sanskrit word meaning the basic essential building brick of any

substance in this world. As electric energy is supposed to be the foundational

reality of all physical objects according to modern science, Tanmatras are

regarded as the basic foundational essences of all objects. "

http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/univ/univ_02.html

 

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The reason I quoted from these various sources is simply this: Although subtle,

and much beyond the scope of regular human comprehension, Tanmatras still are

parts of matter. Perhaps they are undetectable by any external instrument, but

only by a mind progressed in Yoga (as Patanjali states), but still they are

parts of matter. And hence there should not be anything unchangeable about them.

In fact, they HAVE to be changeable, if they are the building blocks of all

Universe.

 

Swami Vivekananda himself states in another lecture:

" Everything that is gross is composed of fine things, which they call the

Tanmâtras, the fine particles. I smell a flower. To smell, something must come

in contact with my nose; the flower is there, but I do not see it move towards

me. That which comes from the flower and in contact with my nose is called the

Tanmatra, fine molecules of that flower. So with heat, light and everything.

These Tanmatras can again be subdivided into atoms. "

 

The reason the change of Tanmatras becomes important is, that is the only way to

describe the functioning of the subtle body. I had earlier asked what 'subtle'

means exactly. As Swamiji states above, the " subtleness " is only something which

is infinitely smaller than what is normally perceived by human experience. When

the mind becomes keen by the practice of yoga, it is possible to see the

functioning of these subtle matters, as seen by the lives of various yogis.

 

Other than this particular point, I agree completely with your description of

Tanmatras, as well as in the other thread.

 

Hari Om,

~Vaibhav.

 

 

 

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