Ayurvedic Big-Bang

[Guest guest]

Of late there seems to be a lot of interest generated in

the "Ayurvedic theory" of "Creation of the Universe". Maybe this is

because of the "Oops!, I was wrong about black holes" proclamation by

Stephen Hawking. I have tried to present the topic in a nutshell.

 

First of all there is no such thing as ayurvedic theory on the

subject of the creation of the universe. Creation of the universe is

a topic discussed threadbare by Indian philosophy. Those looking for

good books on this subject should therefore look in the "Indian

philosophy" section rather than "ayurveda" section in book shops.

 

There waere numerous schools of thought in Indian philosophy. The 9

prominent among them were Sankhya, Vaisheshik, Nyaya, Yog, Purva

Mimansa, Uttar Mimansa, Baudha, Jain and Charvak. Many other Indian

sciences have been influenced by one or more of these schools and

have often modified their concepts to suit their own needs.

 

Ayurveda is one such science. When ayurveda says it deals with the

maintainence of the well being of a healthy person and treatment of a

diseased person, it becomes neccesary to define this person. Ayurveda

has among its basic principles a priciple called as the "Pinda-

Brahmand theory", which states that "the human being (pinda) is a

minor manisfestation of the universe (brahmand) and similarly the

universe is amjor manisfestation of the universe"

 

So if we can define "the universe", everything applicable to it would

be applicable to the human being albiet in a smaller sense. The very

basic question was "how did the universe come into existence". Since

a lot of work was already done by the philosophy section, it would be

a lot easier for ayurveda to adapt their defination. The problem was

which one to adapt as there were many theories floating around. the

most sceintific among them were that of Sankhya and that of

Vaisheshik. So ayurveda decided to accept the "theory of creation"

from both these sources and make some adaption of its own. If

required this adapted version maybe refered to as "ayurvedic theory

of creation of universe"

 

As per Sankhya theory two basic tatvas (this concept has been

discussed previously) were responsible for the process. They were the

Purush and the Prakruti. These tatvas were always present. They do

not have a beginning. They have exactly opposing properties. Purusha

is the passive principle, is devoid of guna (properties) and aakar

(shape) and inspires prakriti to perform the process of creation,

while itself it only witnesses the act. Prakruti is the active

principle which has guna and aakar and performs the process of

creation after it has been initiated by Purusha.

 

Once the process has been initiated the first tatva to be created is

Mahat (intelligence). This gives rise to Ahankar (ego) which is of 3

types - Satvik, Rajasik and Tamasik.

 

Rajasik Ahankara aids Satvik ahankara to give rise to the eleven

indriyas - namely mana (mind), Karna-indriya (sense of sound is

received), Twak-indriya (sense of touch is received), Chakshu-indriya

(sense of sight is received), Rasa-indriya (sense of taste is

received), Ghrana-indriya (sense of smell is received), Hasta

(hands), Pada (feet), Mukha (mouth), Guda (Anal opening), Upastha

(Urinary opening).

 

Similarly Rajasik Ahankara aids Tamasik Ahankara to give rise to

pancha-tanmatras or the five subtle elements - namely Shabda (sound),

Sparsh (touch), Rupa (form), Rasa (taste), Gandha (scent).

 

The five subtle elements further give rise to the five basic elements

also known as pancha mahabhoota - namely Aakash (space), Vayu (air),

Teja (fire), Jala (water), Prithvi (earth).

 

>From Prakruti-Purush the count is 25 if both are taken separately and

24 if both are considered as one. The theory further states that

everything in the universe is a combination of one or more of the

five basic elements i.e. they don't give rise to any new element. A

combination of only the five basic elements gives rise to the

inorganic world while alongwith the indriya it gives rise to the

organic world.

 

The Vaisheshik theory also stated that the entire universe is a

combination of five basic elements, namely the ones mentioned above.

But it stated that before the act of creation the atoms i.e anu of

these elements were in a free state. When the process of creation was

started (why it started you need to dive deep in Indian philosophy, I

am cutting that out for the moment), two anu of each elemnt came

toghether to form a dwyanuka, three dwyanukas came toghether to from

a trasarenu. Many trasarenus then combined to form each individual

elements. This did not apply to aakash which is all pervading.

Therefore before creation there was no sense of aakash, after

creation this sense arose. Thenofcourse the entire universe was

created by a combinatiom permutation of these elements.

 

>From ayurvedic point of view in order to explain its defination

of "ayu" as a combination of sharir (body), indriya (senses), satva

(mind) and atma (soul) the Sankhya theory was perfect. But as far as

individual properties of medicinal substances was concerned the

Vaisheshik theory was more better suited. Therefore ayurveda accepted

both these theories as being the Theory of the creation of the

universe.

 

Coming back to Sankhya theory, whenever a tatva gives rise to another

tatva, the first one os called as prakriti while the second one is

called as vikruti.

Among the 25 tatvas,

1) Purush though being a tatva niether is created nor creates

anything, hence is called as na prakruti na vikruti (neither prakruti

nor vikruti)

2) Prakruti gives rise to Mahat but itself is not created by any

tatva, hence it is called as mula prakruti avikruti (basic prakruti

but not vikruti)

3) Mahat, Ahankar and the 5 tanmatras are themselves created by the

preceding tatva and themselves create the following tatvas, hence

they are referred to as prakruti-vikruti (both a prakruti and a

vikruti)

4) The eleven indriyas and the five basic elements are created by the

preceding tatvas but themselves do not give rise to any new tatva,

hence they are called as vikriti (only vikriti)

The last paragraph is the answer to Message 2328 by kris

 

Cybervaidya

[Guest guest]

Thank you so much for spreading some light on this

subject.

Really helped to clear my thoughts and a new fresh

start.

 

best regards,

kris

 

--- Cybervaidya <cybervaidya skrev:

 

 

[Edited by moderator to remove quoted lengthy message; those who wish to read

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