97. The Tanmatras of elements, the constitution of forms and functions of the senses

DISCOURSES ON

RADHASOAMI FAITH

BY

MAHARAJ SAHAB

Pandit Brahm Sankar Misra, M.A.

97. THE TANMATRAS OF ELEMENTS, THE CONSTITUTION OF FORMS AND FUNCTIONS OF THE SENSES

            147. The tanmatra of Akasa tattva was located within the sense of hearing, while those of the remaining four tattvas, viz, Agni, Vayu, Jala and Prithvi were located in the senses of sight, smell, taste, and touch respectively. As ether is the most subtle condition of matter and is highly charged with energy, the faculty of sound-perception may be stated to be synonymous with the faculty of force-perception; and as soon as a force is resolved to the ethereal plane, it is felt as sound. Here we are looking at force with reference to its action as a kinetic currents, without taking into consideration the eventual effect produced by it. When the stage arrives at which the current forms a focus, the effect manifests itself in the grouping of the ungrouped molecules into a condition which is known as form. The constituents of Akasa cannot group themselves in the manner indicated above, and Akasa is, therefore, considered to be formless and incapable of producing forms. This conception, however, requires qualification. We have already stated in Article 93, that Akasa was evolved as separate stratum of the molecules evolved at Trikuti during the creation of that sphere. Accordingly, Akasa occupies a separate sphere of its own below Trikuti, and with reference to this sphere (on account of its spherical form), it is not formless as a whole. Akasa, accordingly, serves the purpose of a vehicle of higher forces in the economy of creation. Next to Akasa, Agni is the most subtle condition of matter out of the four remaining tattvas. Out of the molecules of Agni (heat), form has been evolved by the action of force which is applied to them through Akasa, and which is ever associated with Akasa, although it produces no effect on the latter, and this can be carried by means of the light-currents propagated through Akasa to the sense of sight and perceived there as form. The carriage of forms to the eye, in the manner indicated above, is somewhat similar to the carriage of the aqueous vapour by means of air. Light, devoid of all admixture with conditions of matter other than the ethereal, is pure electricity of the third grand division of creation, and cannot be perceived by the sense of sight. Its refulgence is perceived when the spirit-force is developed. All the lights that we see in this creation, be they stellar, solar, electric etc. are always highly charged with atoms other than the constituents of ether, viz, ions. The admixture of these atoms, which in the case of heat are ordinary atoms in a condition of disintegration (vide Article 11), imparts the distinctive characteristics of the various forms of light. The sense of sound is, therefore, subtler than the sense of sight, and all sounds are always associated with forms in a hidden or latent condition. Whenever matter is reduced to the condition of Vayu tattva, it is then perceived by the state of smell.