Prakrti – The Integral Vision (Set of 5 Volumes)

Book Specification

Book Description

This set consists of the following 5 Books:

Volume 1: Primal Elements The Oral Tradition
Volume 2: Vedic, Buddhist and Jain Traditions
Volume 3: The Agamic Tradition and the Arts
Volume 4: The Nature of Matter
Volume 5: Man in Nature

About the Book

PRAKRTI : The Integral Vision explores the concept of the primal Elements (Sky, Air, Fire, Water, Earth, etc.) which has governed and determined the evolution of civilizations and cultures. This 5-volume collection is the outcome of a series of five successive but inter-locked seminars culminating into cross-cultural, multi- disciplinary understanding.

The First Volume, Primal Elements: The Oral Tradition, focuses attention on the articulation of cohesive communities communicating with the Elements in continuous unceasing dialogue. To them the nature is not a matter of intellection; it is a question of life here and now. This is manifested in their primary myths and rituals which sacralize nature so that man can live as an integral part of the Universe.

The Second Volume,Vedic, Buddhist and Jain Traditions, centres on the texts, probing deep into the Vedic rituals, Upanisadic philosophies and Jyotisa sastra. There is a prodigious consideration of the concept of maha-bhutas in Buddhism and Jainism. It also brings forth the many covergences and divergences of the view-points between and amongst these different streams of Indian thought.

The Third Volume, The Agamic Tradition and the Arts, examines systematically the manifestation of the Elements in the Indian arts and their Agamic background. From the different vantage points of the architect, sculptor, painter, musician and dancer, the field is reopened here to discern the structure of the arts at its primal level. Experiences of the transformation of the gross to the subtle and the theories of aesthetics and cultural ecology emerge from such a captivating view-point.

The Fourth Volume, The Nature of Matter offers a much-needed critical appraisal of modern scientific concepts with reference to traditional thoughts. It contains invaluable discussion on quantum theory and elementary particles, evolution of living matter, nature and function of matter, scientific philosophy and Buddhist thought, Sankhya theory of matter, ancient and medieval biology, mysticism and modern science, traditional cosmology, matter and medicine, matter and consciousness, etc. The dialogue created between the method of science and the method of speculation is invigorating.

The Fifth Volume, Man in Nature, is a coming together of cultures and disciplines. Enchanting in their own way, the international community of scientists, philosophers, anthropologists, ecologists and artists, share in this volume the myths and cosmology of their respective societies and cultures. There emerges a most meaningful dialogue between those who live with the myths of primordial elements and those who have modified the tools of science to investigate the nature of matter.

This 5 -volume set, first of its kind, produced by the most distinguished specialists in the field, should enjoy a wide readership amongst philosophers of many different persuasions, scientists, theorists of art and culture, particularly ecologists and anthropologists seeking new insights into the phenomena of Nature.

Vol – I

Foreword

In 1986 when the first of the Multidisciplinary and Cross-cultural Seminars was held under the aegis of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, there was a trepidation. In my Introduction to the Volume on Concepts of Space: Ancient & Modern I have shared with the readers the sense of challenge as also of gratification. Then, it was not easy, nor has it been easy in the subsequent years to bring together people from different parts of the world of diverse disciplines and levels of society to speak through a multiplicity of languages to reflect and converse, and have a meaningful dialogue on the fundamental concerns of humanity in the past or present, in science or religion, philosophy and the arts, in civilizations as far apart as Egyptian, Chinese, Greek and Indian, permeating expressions through the written or the oral word, generating a language of myth and symbol which communicates across cultures.

The gathering, the dialogue and the discussion on a single concept of Space (Akasa) made it evident that the more fundamental and universal the concept, the greater the probability and possibility of diverse interpretations at multiple levels. The single concept of Space had taken us through the journey of the concepts of cavity, cave, aperture, fountainhead, body, air, sky, vacuity, cipher, point and much else. The scientist and the technologist explored the concept through their method of empirical investigation, the philosopher and the metaphysician, artists and the sociologist through perennial questioning and speculation. The two approaches and methods we learnt were complementary and not in conflict. The arts, architecture, sculpture, painting, music and dance enclose, embody and evoke space. Poetry creates vast edifices of space as spatial situations, and evoke the experience of outer and inner space.

The concern with Space (Akasa) could not be dissociated from the concern – the concept of Time (Kala). Two years later, a similar gathering with many familiar faces (who communicated with one another with greater ease) gathered to deliberate upon the many dimensions of Time (Kala). Once again, the discussions at that Seminar revolved round the micro and the macro levels of the single concept, from molecular time to the cosmic time, from the time of biologists to the time of astronomer, from the time of the seer and meditator to the time of the architect, sculptor, musician, dancer and the poet. Besides the familiar faces, there were others who had joined the family of the IGNCA. The enlarged family gave this Seminar a depth and richness, unique and unparalleled. The experiences His Holiness The Dalai Lama articulated in words lucid and resonant, were juxtaposed with the precision and meditation of a scientist – the late Professor D.S. Kothari. The depth of the experience of Time in religious traditions, Islamic, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, jain and Hebrew, and the embodiment of inner and outer Time in poetic language was shared through rapt silence through the voice of the Poet Kathleen Raine.

Logically and naturally, from these two fundamental and universal concepts the next step in our quest for exploration of a single universal theme through diverse paths recalling the Rgvedic Verse, Truth is one; man knows it by different names, was to explore the concept of the primal elements (five or four) in different civilizations which have governed and determined the evolution of civilization and culture. Perhaps, the first conscious awareness of Man was the fact that his life depended on water, Earth, air, fire and, above all, space. Understandably, in all civilizations, at the most sophisticated level as also at the simplest level, the recognition that the primal elements were primary and indispensable for Man, is universal. Myths of the origin of the universe, creation, cosmology and cosmogony, have been developed on the concept of the elements which are four or five. There is a vast body of primary sources and equally extensive and complex a history of critical discourse on the nature of primal elements and their indispensability, not only for Man but for all life on Earth.

The subject was too vast and too monumental to be taken up in a single Seminar. Organizationally, therefore, this time it was decided to hold five successive but interlocked Seminars, one leading to the others, so that they could all culminate in a final international cross-cultural multidisciplinary Seminar. Since cultures, disciplines, and levels of society are not completely autonomous and insulated, there was a planned and understandable overlapping between one Seminar or Workshop and another.

The five Seminars were divided more for facility than the autonomous nature of each area or field. The discussions, therefore, at one Seminar were taken up and did interpenetrate into the next.

Logically, the first of these Seminars focused attention on the articulations of cohesive communities in the world who have lived in harmony with nature and who have communicated with the five elements in a continuous unceasing dialogue. To them the nature of the five elements – water, earth, air, fire and space – is not a matter of intellection or breaking down into separation and divisions of totality or a whole; instead, it is a question of life here and now. This is manifested in ritual practices which sacrilize nature so that man can live as an integral part of the universe, the rhythmic movement of the changing seasons, and the symmetrical punctuation and cycle of seed sprouting, growing, flowering, fruiting, decaying and renewing. In modern discourse this is understood as the need for man to live in harmony with the environment for an evolution of socio-cultural systems and methodologies for ensuring the maintenance of ecological balances. The lives and lifestyles of these cohesive groups have begun to acquire renewed validity on account of what man has done to pollute, contaminate, desacrilize and desecrate the very fundamentals that sustain him and make it possible for him to live on earth. The first Volume is based on the papers submitted at this Seminar.

The second Seminar moved the emphasis to the textual traditions. There is a vast body of literature in Greek, Chinese and Indian sources where philosophic discourses have been held on the nature of the universe, the nature of matter, the elements and the possibility of transmutation of the gross to the subtle. In India all branches of the philosophic streams have discussed the nature of the Bhutas and the Mahabhutas. The discussion ranges from the earliest articulation on the subject in the Rgveda to the philosophic schools of Vaisesikas, Vedantins, Saiva and the Agamas. The old system of Ayurveda in India, as much of medicine in Greece in a very different way, is based on the concept of the Mahabhutas in the constitution of the body itself. The very conception of the five elements constitutes the body. Texts for Indian astronomy, chemistry, metallurgy are replete with discussions on the elements. This discussion cannot be dissociated from a speculation, and discourse of, the nature of the universe, cosmology, cosmogony. The second Seminar delved deep into each of these aspects specially in the Indian tradition – Vedic, Brahmanical, Upanisadic and Tantric. In addition, there was a consideration of the concept of the Mahabhutas in Buddhism and Jainism. This Seminar unfolded the very complex and subtle aspects of the discourse on the nature of the matter, the fivefold organic matter and the five external objects. It also brought forth the many convergences as also divergences of viewpoint between and amongst these different streams of Indian thought as exemplified in the textual tradition. The Seminar was hosted by the Department of Sanskrit, University of Poona, Pune. The second Volume of this series is based on the papers and the discussions held at this Seminar.

Logically, the third Seminar had to and did explore the discussions as also the manifestations of the five elements in the Indian arts, along with their Agamic background. As is well recognized, while the Upanisads provide the basis for speculative thinking, the Brahmanas give the methodology of ritual practice (Yajna and Prayoga). Parallel is the development in early and later medieval India where the texts on Vastu and Silpa provide the frame-work of the abstract principles of creating concrete structures through different media and in different forms. The Agama is the twin which provide the methodology of enlivening, giving life and breath to the concrete structures and forms of art. If monumental architecture, sculpture, painting, music or dance, poetry or theatre, is created on the comprehension of space and time, they are even more built on the system of correspondences first for embodying and then evoking the five elements. The fascinating and unceasing cycle of the movement from the inner experience to the creation of form, which would incorporate the five elements and the employment of a methodology of ritual, is outlined in the Agamic texts only to achieve the end experience of the transformation of the gross to the subtle. This was the subject of this Seminar. From different vantage points of the architect, sculptor, painter, musician and dancer, the field was re-opened to examine the structure of the Indian arts at its primal level.

Naturally, theories of aesthetics which have emerged from such a viewpoint had to be discussed and many questions asked. The third Volume incorporates the span of the papers presented and the discussions held at this Seminar.

If the arts deal with the process of transmutation and mutation of the subtle to the gross, and the evocation of the subtle from the gross, in other words, the process of the abstract and the concrete suggesting, stimulating and evoking the abstract, then the astrophysicist deals with the nature of primal matter itself. No discourse on the elements could have been completed by excluding the discussion on modern physics of elementary particles and the most recent developments in microbiology. The fourth Seminar took up the question of the nature and function of matter itself and discussed the theories of the creation of the universe and emergent cosmologies in the modern physics. This was juxtaposed with the consideration on the nature of matter and consciousness. It was obvious that the new developments in science were, perhaps, not all that far remote from the earlier insights in the context of consciousness. The debate between the nineteenth Century mechanistic science and the modern physics was re-opened. This was juxtaposed with speculations and the philosophic discourses in the Indian philosophic schools. If the second Seminar dealt with the textual traditions and the philosophic schools of Samkhya, Mimamsa and the Vaisesikas, this Seminar looked at these traditions as structuralistic traditions from a scientific point of view. The dialogue created between the method of science and the method of speculation was invigorating. The fourth Volume comprises papers and discussions at this Seminar.

The fifth and the last Seminar was a coming together of cultures as also disciplines. Coordinators of the earlier Seminars presented brief Reports on each of the Seminars which provided the background and the landscape. The international community, comprising scientists, biologists, philosophers, anthropologists, ecologists and artists shared not only the myth and cosmology of their particular societies but also there was a most meaningful dialogue between those who lived in the awareness of the primordial myths of the elements and those who had employed the tools of science to explore the nature of the phenomenon of matter.

The putting together of the deliberations of the five major Seminars, as a single or a multiple-volume, is a daunting task. Through the combined efforts of the Coordinators of each of these Seminars and, particularly, the Chief Coordinator – Professor B.N. Saraswati and his associates – it has been possible to prepare the five Volumes based on the deliberations of these Seminars as also a companion exhibition which was called Prakrti The Integral Vision”.

It is my hope that these Volumes will provide material for further discussion and dialogue. The perennial nature of the theme and its urgent and contemporary validity will, I hope, make these Volumes Significant. As I have said earlier in my Introduction, Man stands today at a moment where he is threatened by the pollution, inner and outer, of his own making. The primal elements and the urgent need for purification through austerity and discipline are not the matters of intellectual discourse alone. Their maintenance and sustenance, and the purity of these that are primary and primal, are the objectives of our life, lest death overtakes us.

Preface

It is my pleasure to introduce the first of the five Volumes, entitled Prakrti : The Integral Vision. This Volume focuses attention on the cosmogonical myths prevalent in cohesive societies which are articulated not as theory but are manifested in lifestyle, ritual practice, medical systems, art forms, music, dance and in the craft tradition.

The Seminar brought together a number of scholars who had been working at the field level for the programmes of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. Besides, there were others, who have, for years, been pursuing the role of understanding of the five elements in body systems – medicine – preventive and curative medicine and in healing. This was a rich fair. The Volume comprises the Papers and gives an inkling or insight into some of the discussions held at the Seminar.

Professor B.N. Saraswati’s introduction presents the essence as also the dynamics of the discussions which took place at this Seminar. However, no record of this Seminar would be complete without sharing with the readers, the wisdom, the insight, the scientific as also the meditative, outer and inner, vision of a scientist, thinker and philosopher, a modern rishi – who is no more amongst us – Professor D.S. Kothari – who inaugurated the Seminar, or, one should really say, the series of Seminars. He began with the simplicity of a child’s question – a simplicity which can only be given to one who had gone beyond the narrow boundaries of mere intellectual argumentation.

“Why do we feel warm in the sunlight?” “Why does the sun feel warm?”, he asked. This is the first and the last question. An attempt to give an answer to this question has been the history of civilizations, he said. Is it a physical phenomenon? Is it the body that feels warm? Is it nature that provides the warmth? Is it only the sun that provides the warmth? Or are there other elements in interaction with the body which produce the warmth? If it is the body that feels warm then what is body? Is it matter? Is it an aggregation of the five elements?

These are simple, child-like questions and within them is embodied the history of philosophy, science and the arts. Turning his attention from this, a very simple question, he elaborated lucidly on the eighth, thirteenth and the eighteenth chapters of the Bhagavad Gita, especially on sarira (body) as defined by the Gita. The question asked was: what is sarira? What are the epithets chosen even in seeking an answer to this fundamental question?

Krishna calls Arjuna ‘Kaunteya’, i.e., the son of Kunti – that is the biological link. But is sarira only a physical organism? Sarira is the ksetra (field). Krishna enjoins upon Arjuna to be the ‘knower of the field’. He who has the capacity of ‘knowing’ (comprehending) the field is the ksetrajna.

Body, therefore, is equal to the ksetra. And what is this field? The field is the fivefold body – the sheath of nature, comprising the five elements. Almost as a scientific equation, Professor Kothari extracted the essence of the Gita by stating, body = ksetra, ksetra = five elements. And where from do these five elements come? They come from nature, nature here understood by its Sanskrit name prakrti. Is nature dead without attributes? No, there is no absolute dead matter, because nature itself is psycho-physical, psycho-somatic because it is gunatmaka (Le., with attributes and qualities). Thus the system by which man comprehends nature and its elements is not just physical or material, it is a psycho-physical system. It begins with the wholeness. Professor Kothari continued to remind us that the material component of the universe is always changing from moment to moment, body to body, the macrocosm to the microcosm, and yet there is something which remains constant. What is that something? He continued, is it not logical that “I am more than the assembly of the parts and the moment I am more than the assembly of the parts, the implications are clear?” I am part of ananta and infinity, and infinity and a continuity despite every moment of flux and change. Consciousness is the eternity and the immutable, he said.

From an enumeration of the thirteenth chapter of the Gita he took us to the eighteenth, where nature of the consciousness of total surrender and of meditation and reflection is articulated. It is thus consciousness and not dead matter, but the combination of consciousness and matter which makes us feel warm in the Sun.

Modern science, he reminded us, has realized for the first time that the atom has a wholeness of its own. It is also ananta, its growth is a dynamic process and it is not merely an aggregation of electrons and protons. Time has now come, said he, when science has to be spiritualized, just as the ritual of the indigenous people had been spiritualized so as to sacralize nature. Science and the perceptions at the level of textual traditions, the metaphysics and the arts and those lived by cohesive communities must converge. Science, he said, has arrived at the dictum that the velocity of light is absolute. It is only modern science which is linking physical matter with consciousness, and if the IGNCA has begun this exploration then it must be complimented and congratulated for its courage. Such questions can only be asked in a spirit of humility, modesty and with an openness of mind where the barriers of disciplines and cultures, ideologies and positions are transcended. The symbiosis of knowledge, vision and values alone can bring about a consciousness of the wholeness.

How can this happen? It can happen with a sense of feeling, bhavana, of reflection and of meditation. All this is possible only if man lives by the perennial consciousness that he is one amongst all particles of nature, and is also conscious of the probability and possibility that he can be Brahman.

The audience was blessed and stood in silence and in grace because a scientist and mystic had spoken. The journey of the Seminar had begun.

Introduction

Ancient vision of the cosmic order has certain fundamental features that separate it from the modern science perspective. The exchange of views between the two systems of knowledge seems to be problematic. Yet, as humans, we cannot dispense with searching for our foundations.

Human science presents a picture of the cosmos as seen by man, the master of the universe. It describes the role evolution plays within the biological and cultural spheres; constructs a theory of culture as the tribal microcosm conditioned by human instincts; and creates a super-ideology of power that places man at the centre of the universe. The result of this anthropocentric attitude is that the cosmos sharing the human adventure is overwhelmed by the tension between nature and culture.

The traditional vision of man, on the contrary, is cosmocentric. Man is made up of four or five cosmic elements. The cosmic order that governs the dynamism of all reality, envelops human life, creates awareness, and signifies patterns of culture. As a result, the cosmic equilibrium is maintained both in nature and in culture. This primal vision is incontestable and fully integrated in two different but related traditions – the textual and the oral. The textual tradition offers a complete and systematic analysis of the universe. Reflections of the oral tradition are more concentrated in practice than systematic in analysis.

The essays compiled here are based on papers presented in the seminar on ‘Perceptions of Bhutas (Elements) in the Oral Tradition’ held at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) in February 1992. They trace the areas where reflections on man and the universe emerge. Of these presentations, eleven are the fruits of the IGNCA pilot projects on cross-cultural lifestyle studies.

Primal Elements of the Universe

Tribal cosmogony refers to a variety of elements, some of which are self-existing and others created. For instance, the tribes of Arunachal Pradesh speak of water, cloud, mist, egg and wood as the basic elements from which all other elements are known to have originated (Saraswati). For them, as also for other archaic groups, creation is a male-female principle, allegorically termed ‘marriage’ or ‘sexual union’ (Adhikary, Prasad, Purohit, Saraswati). It has also been held that the world was created in phases by a number of heavenly bodies and not by one Creator-God, a single supreme being (Saraswati). The hunter-gatherer Birhors divide the world into two halves: the sky and the earth. There is a world beyond the sky and another below the earth. The earth is a round-shaped flat surface; the sky a hollow concave over-arching the earth. The structure of the universe is thus somewhat like a cone, similar to the structure of the Birhor leaf-hut (Adhikary).

It is curious that many of the tribes who have never seen the sea, or even large sheets of water, should visualize a primeval ocean from which the universe is said to have emerged. Another remarkable feature of the tribal vision is the notion of the pluriverse. There is, however, no clear distinction between this world and the other worlds.

Structured Sequence of Elements

The idea that the world was created in phases made the elements structured in a sequence. In the beginning was a state of nothingness. But this nothingness is described not as an absolute void. Before the earth was created, everything was water, or cloud, or nothing, nothing at all but two eggs which shone like gold. From that state of nothingness came the earth and the sky; and when the sky made love to the earth, every kind of tree and grass and all living creatures came into being (Saraswati). The Santhals claim that water and earth came first, air fourth, man fifth and fire was sixth and the last (Prasad). In the Garhwal Himalayas, the sequence is visualized as follows: from the mysterious syllable onkar to the primeval whizzing; from whizzing air; from air clouds; from clouds water; from water to lotus; and from lotus the creator Brahma was born. In yet another sequence of creation, the earth was first and afterwards the sky; first female then male; first night then day; first guru then disciple; first daughter then son (Dhasmana).

The archaic cultures developed their own jargon, just as the modern specialists have complex theories. The tribal notion of the beginning of the universe as ‘not absolutely void’ seems to be in line with the scientific cosmology. The archaic realization of the origin of the universe from a primeval sound is another interesting resemblance with the theories in modern physics.

Gross and Subtle Elements

The primal elements are said to have personal (material) as well as spiritual attributes. The Angami Nagas assign positive quality to water, and both positive and negative qualities to fire. Water is perceived to have cleansing properties; fire, though not capable of cleansing, is regarded as an agent of good and bad fortunes (Joshi). The Bhuiyans ascribe sacredness to all five elements. The earth is associated with their entire lifestyle, rituals and festivals. Fire is an object of worship; it is kindled in a special manner. It epitomizes the fundamental principle of the cosmic order. The power of water is utilized against evil. It is also a medium for transferring sin or impurity to the enemies. For the Bhuiyans the sky and the sun are synonymous. The sun and the earth are always viewed as benevolent deities. The ritual act of blowing (air) heals the sick (Mohanty). The Birhor hunters believe that fire also has life and death; the sun is the supreme creator of all things on earth; a female presides over the earth; and there are deities of rain and storm, thunder and meteor, wind and so on (Adhikary). The marine fishers of Kerala think that every element has a spirit or demon (Mathur). The farmers of Karnataka worship the earth, consider water divine and fire auspicious, associate air or wind with life, and regard the sky as a home for the countless celestial bodies (Chandran).

These examples make a great impression on the gross and the subtle aspects of an element; but the cognitive distinction between them remains unexplained. According to Adhikary, the Birhors think that the deities who control the elements are the natural phenomena superior to man. Purohit, reporting on the folk myths of Garhwal, observes that a recognizable pattern of the gross and the subtle is found in the form of the concrete matter and the all-powerful souls of gods, goddesses, men, animals and birds. All souls are believed to be the subtle form of the five basic elements. Khubchandani cites an example of the incarnation of the Sindhi’s lord of the river in a family of boatman. Thus three types of cognitive distinctions are identifiable:

(i) in the tribal perception the gross and the subtle are inter locked;

(ii) in the folk beliefs the two levels overlap;

(iii) at a higher abstraction, the reality of the subtler plane is responsible for the reality of the grosser plane.

Integral View of Man and Nature

The Arunachal tribes consider man as an integral part of nature. In their perception man is not unique insofar as his origin is concerned. There is no ontological difference between man and non-man. Every element has a form, a location, a function and a dependent relation with other elements. Man is not unique even in the possession of knowledge; for primordial knowledge came to him from birds and animals (Saraswati). The Santhals also think of man and nature as an inseparable whole. According to them the human body is made up of three elements – air, earth and water (Prasad). Different parts of the body are associated with different elements – head and ears with sky, neck and chest with air, stomach with fire, and body with earth (Mital). Thus man as a microcosm fits harmoniously with the macrocosm, both being subject to the rule of the sphere (Patnaik).