thathva thrayam – achith – What is matter?

sri:
srimathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srimadh varavaramunayE nama:
sri vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:



This article can be viewed as a presentation by clicking https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/188gzTl_qZKtyIxiwKguIjBSkxH-9t9zUw_U98YJGbkk/present#slide=id.p. 

• In the previous article (https://granthams.koyil.org/2013/03/06/thathva-thrayam-chith-who-am-i/), we observed the nature of chith thathvam (Soul).
• We are continuing our journey in understanding the three entities (chith, achith, Iswara) through the divine grantham “thathva thrayam” (tattva trayam) of piLLai lOkAchAryar with the help of maNavALa mAmunigaL‘s beautiful commentary.

 

Understanding the achith (matter) thathvam through the teachings of the wise men

• achith
  (insentient) is devoid of knowledge and is abode for
  change/transformation.
• Since,
  achith is devoid of knowledge, it purely exists for the enjoyment of
  others.
• Unlike chith (sentient – soul), which is unchangeable (does not change its
  nature), achith undergoes changes.
• There
  are three types of achith, namely
  • sudhdha
    sathvam – pure goodness devoid of any rajas (passion) and thamas
    (ignorance)
  • miSra
    sathvam – combination of sathvam (goodness), rajas (passion) and thamas
    (ignorance)
  • sathva
    sUnyam (kAlam) – The principle of time which is devoid of  any guNam
    (sathvam, rajas, thamas)

• This is pure goodness devoid of any rajas and
  thamas. This is mainly focussed on all achith (insentients) in
  paramapadham. 

• By nature, this

• • is eternal 
  • is source of knowledge and joy 
  • manifests as vimAnams/gOpurams (towers),
    mandapams (halls), etc by the divine desire of bhagavAn instead of being created by the desire of a jIvAthmA induced by his karmA. 
  • is in an unlimited brilliantly shining
    form 
  • cannot be quantified/fully comprehended
    by nithyas (eternally free from samsAram), mukthas (one who became
    free from samsAram) and bhagavAn himself. mAmunigaL raises a doubt and clarifies it himself – if bhagavAn cannot
    quantify/fully comprehend this, would it not affect his sarvagyathvam –
    omniscience (knower of everything)? He beautifully explains that knower
    of everything means knowing the true nature of everything – so, bhagavAn knows that sudhdha sathvam is unlimited which is its true nature
    and that is true omniscience. 
  • is exceedingly marvellous 
• Some say that, this is luminous and others say
  that is this is non-luminous. There are two opinions about it.
  
• But there is more weightage for the view that
  it is luminous. In such case, it will reveal itself to nithyas, mukthas
  and bhagavAn. But samsAris will be unable to perceive it. 
• It is different from the soul since
  •  it does not realize itself
  •  it transforms into many forms
• It is different from knowledge since 
  • it manifests into different forms (knowledge
    does not take any gross form) without the help of others
  • unlike knowledge which grasps thanmAthras
    (objects of senses – sound, touch, form, taste and smell), this is abode
    of the subtle elements.

• By nature, this is 
  • a mixture of sathvam, rajas and thamas
  • a veil which blocks the jIvAthmA from
    realising full knowledge and bliss
  • the source of perverse knowledge for the
    jIvAthmAs
  • eternal
  • an instrument for ISwaran in his pastimes
  • at times
    similar to each other and at other times different from each other
    depending on state (avyaktha – unmanifested state vs vyaktha – manifested
    state) and time (srushti – creation vs samhAram – destruction time)
  • popularly known as
    • prakruthi – since it is the source of all
      changes
    • avidhya – since it is tangential to true
      knowledge
    • mAyA – since
      its outcome is marvellous and full of different varieties 

• As identified by nammAzhwAr in thiruvAimozhi 10.7.10, there are 24 elements of matter, namely
  • pancha thanmAthras – 5 objects of senses –
    Sabdha (sound), sparSa (touch), rUpa (form), rasa (taste), gandha (smell)
  • pancha gyAnEndhriyas – 5 sense organs of
    knowledge -srOthra (ears), thvak (skin), chakshur (eyes), jihvA (tongue),
    grAhNa (nose) 
  • pancha karmEndhriyas – 5 sense organs of
    actions – vAk (mouth), pANi (hands), pAdha (legs), pAyu (excretory
    organs), upastha (organs for procreation) 
  • pancha bhUthas – 5 great elements – AkASa
    (ether), vAyu(air), agni (fire), Apa/jala (water), prthvi (earth)
  • manas – mind
  • ahankAram – ego
  • mahAn – manifested state of matter 
  • mUla prakruthi – unmanifested state of matter
    

• Of these, mUla prakruthi is the primordial
  matter which manifests itself into various states due to the mixture of
  guNams (attributes)
• guNams are of three categories – sathvam
  (goodness), rajas (passion) and thamas (ignorance)
• sathvam is the inducer/source of happiness and
  pleasure
• rajas is the inducer/source of attachment and
  thirst for material aspirations
• thamas is the inducer/source of perverse knowledge,
  forgetfulness, lethargy/laziness and sleep
• When the 3 guNams are equally distributed,
  that results in unmanifested state of matter.
• When they are unequally distributed, that
  results in manifested state of matter. 
• mahAn is the first state of manifested matter.
• ahankAram comes into existence from mahAn.
• Subsequently all the other elements
  (thanmAthras, gyAna indhriyas, karma indhriyas, etc) manifest from mahAn
  and ahankAram.
• pancha thanmAthras (objects of senses) are the
  subtle state of pancha bhUthas (gross elements) 
• bhagavAn creates the manifested universes by mixing these different
  elements.
• bhagavAn creates the universes (effect) and
  their cause. i.e.,transforms the unmanifested mUla prakruthi into the
  manifested state of elements by his sankalpam (effortlessly).
• All entities which live in the universes are
  created by bhagavAn through other living entities such as brahmA,
  prajApathi et al (by guiding them being their antharyAmi – in-dwelling
  super-soul)
• Innumerable universes exist.

• They are created simultaneously and
  effortlessly by bhagavAn just by his sankalpam.
• Each universe has 14 layers. mAmunigaL explains in great detail about the structure of the universe based
  on various pramANams. 

• 7 bottom layers
  • From the top, they are named – athalam,
    vithalam, nithalam, kapasthimath (thalAthalam), mahAthalam, suthalam and
    pAthAlam  these are occupied by demoniac people, snakes, birds, etc
  • there are many beautiful towers, palaces, etc
    which are more enjoyable than even svarga lOkam

• 7 top layers
  • bhU lOkam – where humans, animals, birds, etc
    live. Split into 7 large dhvIpams (islands). We are living in
    jambhUdhvIpam.
  • bhuvar lOkam – where gandharvas (celestial
    singers) live
  • svarga lOkam – where indhran (a post which is
    to manage the activities of bhUlOkam, bhuvar lOkam and svarga lOkam) and
    his associates live
  • mahar lOkam – where the retired indhrans and
    the ones who desire/waiting to be indhran live
  • janar lOkam – where many great sages like
    brahmA’s 4 sons sanaka, sanakAdhika, sanAthana and sanandhana, etc live
  • thapa lOkam – where prajApathis (primordial
    progenitors) live

• sathya lOkam – where brahmA, vishNu and Siva
  and their devotees live Each universe (made of 14 layers) is surrounded by
  7 layers of protection – water, fire, air, ether, ahankAram, mahAn and
  finally by mUla prakruthi.
• gyAnEndhriyas acquire knowledge about subtle
  and gross elements. karmEndhriyas
  are used in performing various physical actions. Mind is common to all and
  helps in
  every aspect. 

• panchIkaraNam is the process by which bhagavAn
  mixes the various elements and leads to the manifestation of the universe
  as we see it now.

• By nature, time
  • acts like a catalyst in the tranformation of
    matter (from unmanifested state to manifested state and subsequently as
    well).
  • manifests in different scales of measurement
    (like day, week, fortnight, etc).
  • is eternal – meaning there is no beginning or
    end for time
  • helps ISwaran in his pastimes
  • is also a form (body) of emperumAn himself
• mAmunigaL quotes naduvil thiruvEdhip piLLai bhattar who explained
  classification of time into many parts.
  • nimEsham (moment, winking of the eye – equal
    to a second) is the lowest unit of time
  • 15 nimEshams = 1 kAshta
  • 30 kAshta = 1 kalai
  • 30 kalais = 1 muhurtham
  • 30 muhurthams = 1 dhivasam (1 day)
  • 30 dhivasams = 2 pakshams (fortnights) = 1
    mAsam (month)
  • 2 mAsams = 1 ruthu (season)
  • 3 ruthus = 1 ayanam (6 months – uttarAyanam
    and dhakshiNAyanam)
  • 2 ayanams = 1 samvathsaram (year)
  • 360 human samvathsaram = 1 dhEva samvathsaram
    

• Other two achith thathvams (sudhdha sathvam
  and miSra sathvam) are the enjoyable items, abode of enjoyment and
  instrument of enjoyment.
• sudhdha sathvam (divine matter) is boundless
  at the top/sides and bounded at the bottom (it is fully present in
  paramapadham – the higher/spiritual universes)
• misra sathvam (matter) is boundless at the
  bottom/sides and bounded at the top (it is fully present in samsAram – the
  lower/material universes)
• kAla thathvam is present everywhere (both in
  paramapadham and samsAram).
• It is said that time is permanent/eternal in
  paramapadham and temporary/transient in samsAram. mAmunigaL quotes periyavAchAn piLLai‘s explaination – “time is of uniform (eternal) nature in both
  paramapadham and samsAram” in his thathva thraya vivaraNam (a
  grantham which is not to be found these days). So, that is considered as
  the ultimate authority. But since some AchAryas have explained the
  difference in nature of time between paramapadham and samsAram – it has to
  be understood that because of its ever changing nature in samsAram, it is
  considered as temporary here.
• Some say time does not exist. But since it
  defies logic and SAsthramm that cannot be accepted.

Thus we have seen a bit about the achith
(matter) thathvam which falls under 3 categories (sudhdha sathvam –
divine matter in paramapadham, misra sathvam – matter in this samsAram and
sathva sUnyam – time, common to both places). As said before, this
subject matter is very complex and this article is aimed at creating interest
to hear this subject matter under an AchAryan in the form of kAlakshEpam for
true enlightenment.

srImathE ramyajAmAthru munIndhrAya mahAthmanE
srIrangavAsinE bhUyAth nithyasrI nithya mangaLAm

mangaLAsAsana parai: madhAchArya purOgamai:
sarvaischa pUrvai: AchAryai satkruthAyAsthu mangaLam 

Up next,  We will see in detail about Iswara thathvam (God).

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan

Sources: thathva thrayamarchived in https://granthams.koyil.org, also visit https://acharyas.koyil.org