Everything that is mobile & immobile is made up of Five Elements also called “Pancha Bhutas” in Sanskrit. The Five Elements are: Earth, Fire, Space, Water & Wind (Air). Apart from these Five elements, the other “Fives” are:
- Five Sense Organs (Jnanendriyas) are: Ears, Eyes, Nose, Mouth/Tongue & Skin.
- Five Objects of Perception (Tanmatras): Sound, Sight, Smell, Taste & Touch.
- Five Objects of Action (Karma Indriyas): Speech, Hands, Feet, Organ of Excretion (Anus) & Organ of Procreation (Genitals).
We will now look at the above in detail and how they relate to each other:
Sound (Ears) is equated with Space, Smell (Nose) with Earth, Taste (Tongue) with Water, Touch (Skin) with Air & Sight (Eyes) with Fire.
The five elements or Pancha Bhutas reside in immobile objects; Trees for example. Tree trunks are dense and Space exists in them. Furthermore, its roots take in nutrients from the Earth and drink up Water so that the tree to grow (they possess taste). Also, trees need Air as they take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen into the atmosphere. Because of Heat or Fire element in them, leaves, bark, fruits & flowers are seen to decay & dry (they possess Touch).
Moreover, manifestation of flowers & fruits are always noticed in them. When trees are healthy, there are flowers, and many kinds of auspicious & inauspicious fragrances & scents. Trees can smell. Crushed by Wind & Thunder, fruits & flowers wither away (Plants can Hear sounds from the local environment). Creepers wind around trees and envelops it from all sides. They can see. It is seen that when they suffer from disease, they can be cured. When cut down, they grow again. They are of course living!
Now let us take a look at Five Elements or Pancha Bhutas that exist in bodies of mobile objects (eg. Human Beings), and what they comprise of:
Table 1:
1) Earth | 2)Fire | 3)Space | 4)Water | 5)Wind * |
Skin | Energy | Ears | Phelgm | Prana (In-breath) |
Flesh | Anger | Nose | Bile | Apana (Out -breath) |
Bones | Eyes | Mouth | Sweat | Vyana (Diffused Breath – in between the above two breaths) |
Marrow | Internal Fire | Heart | Fat | Samana (Equalizing Breath) |
Veins | Fire of Digestion | Stomach | Blood | Udana (Upward breath) |
*Wind or the Vital Air Sheath has the following faculties:
Prana: Perception. The 5 senses of seeing, hearing, smelling, Tasting & touching. Vital Energy – Power of Life.
Apana: Excretion & Procreation. That which throws out the feaces, urine, sperm, sputum, perspiration etc. Controls biological function & sexual energy.
Vyana: Circulation. Distributes digested food to different parts of the body. Energy distribution.
Samana: Digestion. Digests food consumed (Ushma – Heat or Fire Element). Equalizing/ Balancing force in the middle.
Udana: Thought Absorption. Takes in fresh knowledge. Subtle track up the spinal cord. Power governing rise of spiritual energy.
We have seen above that Pancha Bhutas or Five Elements exist in our human body. We will now look at 10 qualities or properties of each of these five elements, that exert their influence on us.
The qualities of Five Elements (50 in total):
Table 2:
Earth | Water | Fire | Wind | Space |
Stability | Coolness | Transformation | Control | Sound |
Hardness | Adaptability | Energy | Touch | Expansiveness |
Productiveness | Moisture | Heat | Prana, Life Force | All Pervading, Infinite |
Smell | Vitality | Intensity | Independence | Lack of foundation |
Attachment | Softness | Radiance | Strength | Lack of refuge |
Capacity | Tranquility | Purification | Speed | Not being manifest |
Accumulation | Taste | Affection | Confusion | Not being transformed/changed |
Establishment | Fluidity/Change | Lightness | Effort | Ability of not being resisted |
Fortitude | Wetness | Sharpness | Performance of tasks, Sustenance | Ability to cause transformation. |
Gravity | Odorless | Ability to rise up | Direction | Subtleness |
Nine qualities of the Mind: Fickleness, argumentation, perception, expression, detachment, imagination, forgiveness, propensity (meaning a natural tendency to behave in a certain manner) towards good, propensity towards evil & lack of readiness.
Five qualities of Intelligence: Reasoning & Critical thinking, Creativity, concentration, Observation & Analysis.
Considering only five qualities from the mind, we get a total of 60 qualities for the five elements, mind & intelligence. Human Beings are always attached to these qualities! But then, we can always use our Intelligence to counter any negative influences caused by some of these qualities.
Pancha Bhutas or Five Elements vs Objects of Perception
Ether (Akasha) – Sound (Shabda)
Air (Vayu) – Sound and touch (Sparsha)
Fire (Agni) – Sound, touch and form (Rupa)
Water (Apah) – Sound, touch, form and taste (Rasa)
Earth (Prithivi) – Sound, touch, form, taste and smell (Gandha)
It is seen from the above that the most subtle and the first element namely Ether or Absolute space or Akasha has only one Guna or Property which is Sound or Shabda. The rest of the elements accumulate the previous properties with the highest gross element namely Earth or Prithivi which has all the five properties which correspond to the five senses. This ordering is not arbitrary, and it is based on the decreasing subtlety and increasing gross nature of elements.
Sound – the only property of Space.
Absolute space should not be mistaken for vacuum, as vacuum means emptiness. However, on the contrary, absolute space (Ether or Akasha) does not mean emptiness. The word Akasha refers to the substance (ether) or element that is spread in all corporeal space, meaning the space capable of containing other elements and bodies.
Conclusion:
Human body is made up of 75% Water (Hydrogen + Oxygen), Carbon, Nitrogen, and host of other elements like Calcium, Potassium, Iron, Magnesium, Sulfur, etc (which are found on mother Earth), together with the other four Main elements listed in Table 1. Upon death, Hindus consign their body to flames – (Fire), also known as cremation. The body requires Air to burn. The resultant smoke goes up into Space. The Sound (which is the only property of Space ) of the popping of the skull (cracking due to approx. 1000 Deg C heat), signifies the final release of Atman or the Soul. While performing the last rites, the ashes of the body are then made to flow into a river (Water) and some of it touches the Earth below.
The River finally meets the Ocean signifying the symbolism of the Jivatman (River) merging with the Paramatman (Ocean). Thus, the body which is made up of Pancha Bhutas (Five Elements) goes back into the same Pancha Bhutas (Five Elements) upon death. The cycle is complete. We go back to where we came from! Where is the grief upon death? There is no grief! But we are emotional beings. There is Grief when you lose a beloved one, but it is temporary!
What then happens to our Atman or Brahman & Subtle Body after death? We shall look at this in a much later blog.
References: Mahabharata – Snippets from Moksha Dharma Parva.