While the Gods Play

by Alain Daniélou

  In the phenomenal world, there is nothing absolutely conscious or absolutely unconscious. Consciousness and unconsciousness are always intermingled. Some things, however, appear to be more conscious and some more unconscious than others. This is due to the fact that Cit, which is never absent in anything, yet manifests itself in various ways and degrees. The degree of this manifestation is determined by the nature and development of the mind and body in which it is enshrined. [Woodroffe, The Serpent Power, p. 30]

  The principle of perception precedes the formation of what is perceived. The principle of the senses precedes the differentiation of the elements that are perceived. The perception, consciousness, and thought of living beings reflect the first aspect of universal being. They are mirrors in which the creator contemplates his work. An unperceived universe does not exist, any more than a perception without an object does. The world only exists to the extent that it is perceived. Aspects of the world perceived by senses other than our own, or according to other norms of time or dimension, appear completely different, and reflect other facets of the game of creation. The entity that thinks the world needs this mirror to give a visible reality to his dream. Different kinds of beings play this role at different levels. For this reason, multiple forms of plants, animals, men, spirits, and gods exist.

  If we want to try to understand the structures of the universe, we must first establish the potentials and limits of the instrument of understanding, that is, man himself. This is why the counterpart of the Sâmkhyä is the method of Yogä, which is the study of the inner man, his nature, potentials, latent powers, and limitations. This is how the pair Sâmkhyä-Yogä is formed to allow the study of the macrocosm and the microcosm of the individual being and the universal being, in relation to one another. An understanding of the conclusions of the Sâmkhyä concerning the nature of man and his place in the universe is indispensable to explain how the methods of Yogä have contributed to this end.

  Nature and Perception

  ABSOLUTE being is the only reality. It is external to existence, to the worlds it invents. It is neutral, nonactive, without substance, duration, or place, and is beyond the perceptible or conceivable. Although indescribable, it is called Paramä-Shivä (beyond the creative principle); although without dimension, Parä-Brahman (the beyond-infinity); although impersonal, Paramâtman (the beyond-self).

  It escapes human understanding, is not identifiable. It is not part of the Tattvä(s), the definable. It is outside what has been created. It cannot be represented by any symbol, verbal or visual. "Absolute being is beyond Prakriti (nature), substance, and creation; is without form, color, name, evolution, or effect; does not suffer deterioration; is indestructible and unchanging. All that can be said of it is that it is and that the universe rests on it" (Vishnu Purânä, 1.2, 10–13).

  When within this unknowable being, the "desire to create" (sishrikshâ) is born, like a kind of dream, this represents the first form of dynamic tendency, of potential energy. From the uncreated comes the "possibility" (avakâshä), the conditions that will permit the development of creation. This possibility is the principle of space (âkâshä). Space is not an absolute. It is merely the specific condition in which the world we know can develop. Space is neither eternal nor limitless. It is the receptacle in which the plan or model of the universe will be able to develop. This plan is called Universal Man, Purushä. "Prakriti, nature, only works because it has as a support or basis the pure Intelligence present everywhere in the form of the plan represented by Universal Man, Purushä" (Shashti Tanträ, cited by Gaudpada in his commentary of the Sâmkhyä-Kârikâ, p. 16). Therefore, the first stage of creation is not the appearance of matter or energy, but the appearance, or creation, of space.

  The principle that will permit the visible universe to evolve in the spatial receptable emanates from the "desire to create" (sishrikshâ). Desire is a directed force, the principle of Energy (shakti).

  Time and everything that will be established in the universe are forms of energy. The various forms of time are simply the relative measurement of dynamic tendencies (vritti), the vibratory or gravitational movements that constitute matter, the perceptible substance of the universe. It is from the sudden explosion of an incredible mass of energy that all the elements, including the corresponding forms of perception and life, are gradually released. The world is only created from forms of energy coordinated in Space-Time. Matter is merely appearance. All the energetic relationships that we perceive in the forms of matter, electricity, radioactivity, magnetism, or gravitation constitute the substance of things. The principle of Energy (shakti) is called the Nature (Prakriti) of the world, or Pradhânä, "the basic element." We could represent the pair Purushä-Prakriti (form and substance) by saying that the Universal Man, Purushä, is the plan, the model of the world, and Nature, Prakriti, constitutes its material, its substance.4

  In this way, we will symbolically take as the principle of the world, as the original cause, Universal Man, Purushä, the symbol of the plan, and Energy (Shakti) or Nature (Prakriti) as the material of its realization.

  The Three Tendencies of Prakriti, the Nature of Nature

  THREE fundamental tendencies are the basis of the energetic relationships that form the substance of the world. These tendencies can be found in all aspects of the universe. They constitute the nature (svabhâvä) of Nature (Prakriti).5

  The first of these tendencies is called Tamas, expansion (centrifugal force); it is responsible for the birth and destruction of the worlds, and the life and death of universes like those of the atoms or conglomerates that make up galaxies and living beings. Tamas is also the principle of unmeasured unidirectional time (mahâ-kâlä).

  The second tendency, called Sattvä, is attraction. This is the centripetal force that causes particles and stars to be attracted to each other rather than repelled. It is this tendency which, by allowing condensation, is the principle of the formation of stars, the source of light.

  From these two conflicting tendencies the current that causes both vibratory movement and gravitation is born. It forms the magnetic field that links together the particles and stars and gives birth to the formation of atomic and stellar systems. This third tendency, called Rajas, is the basis of the formation of matter but also governs the activities of the subtle energies such as perception and thought. Symbolically, these three tendencies are personified, cosmogonically speaking, by three divine personages: Shivä represents Tamas, creative and destructive expansion; Vishnu represents Sattvä, coagulation or attraction, and Brahmâ represents Rajas, activity, movement, gravitation, and orbiting. Therefore, from the point of view of matter, Brahmâ is the initial point of the visible world and is called the Creator, even though he is only the fifth principle in the order of manifestation.6 Nothing exists, nothing can exist in the universe that is not governed by these three tendencies, by the three characteristics or "qualities" (gunä[s]) of Nature, or Energy. We will come across them everywhere, at all levels, material or subtle, intellectual or sensory, spiritual or social, in the animate and the inanimate worlds. It is gravitation that gives rise to the measurement of relative time and space. In cosmogonic myth, the sun is the center of the cosmic cell of the world we live in. It is its attraction that keeps the planets in orbit. Sattvä-Vishnu is therefore identified with the sun, light, illumination, knowledge, and order, everything that allows man to make progress in the world, to develop and to improve himself, but also everything that links people together: society, conventions, virtues, and so forth.

  Tamas-Shivä is the opposite force. It is the source, the primary impulse, the explosion that gives birth to the world, but it is also the force that tends to disintegrate or disperse the atomic or cosmic cells into endless obscurity. Shivä therefore represents darkness, the black hole that precedes and engulfs light and the diffuse night where it dissipates. Shivä is at the same time the source of life and the power of time, of death. He is liberation, detachment, everything that distances us from the
organized world, society, conventional order, duration, possessions, and acquired virtues. He is the god of pleasure, the enemy of all human conventions.

  Rajas-Brahmâ is the power of organization, the force of gravitation, the result of conflicting forces. It is the equilibrium of these forces that controls both atoms and astral systems, all the molecules and cells of matter and the life of all individual and collective organisms. This is why Brahma is called the modeler, the craftsman of creation. In the human being, he represents activity, power, organization, and social order.

  In living beings Shivä appears in everything masculine, and Vishnu in the feminine, while Brahmâ is neuter.

  The Definables (Tattvä): The Twenty-five Constituents of the World

  FROM the different combinations of the three tendencies, the "primordial elements" or "distinct and identifiable principles" are formed, called Tattvä(s) (from tad, that) in the Sâmkhyä, to show that they can be designated as "something." The slightly pretentious word quiddity has sometimes been used.

  The number of Tattvä(s) in the Sâmkhyä is twenty-five, but the addition of subdivisions of some of the basic constituents results in thirty-six or even sixty-six Tattvä(s) being envisaged. The universe is made up of these constituents or "identifiable ontological elements," which originate from one another in a given order, a given hierarchy, in the same way that the geometric diagrams, Yanträ(s), which symbolize them variously combine lines, curves, proportions, and numbers.

  The Plan (Purushä)

  PURUSHÄ, or Universal Man, the plan, the model, is the first of the Tattvä(s). It (or he) is a sort of complex equation, a set of formulae, intentions, and archetypes out of which the universe will be formed. Purushä will only achieve its fullness when, materialized in energetic substance, it has filled the void of space and the universe reaches its limits. It is preexistent, abstract, but "it is present in all aspects of the nonperceptible (avyaktä) or perceptible (vyaktä) universe" (Vishnu Purânä 1.2.14).

  Originally the Hebrew concept of Adam, the first man, seems to be derived from the notion of Purushä, the Universal Man. In fact Adam, like Purushä, simply means "man" and not one man in particular. The vast body of this primordial Adam stretched from earth to sky.

  The World-Substance (Prakriti)

  THE second of the Tattvä(s) is the energetic principle from which thought, perception, matter, and life stem. This principle is called Prakriti, Nature. "It is also given other names: the fundamental element (pradhânä), boundless Being (Brahmâ), Potentiality (avyaktä), the principle of Multiplicity (bahudhâtmä), the Power of Illusion (mâyâ)" (Gaudpadä, Commentary on the Sâmkhyä Kârikâ, 22).

  Nothing exists that is not made from the energetic material which Prakriti represents. But the universe is not eternal: all that we perceive is, in the final analysis, only composed of unstable and immaterial combinations of elements that continually transform themselves and will one day cease to exist. This is why Prakriti is also called Mâyâ, the Power of Illusion. The reason for the existence of Prakriti is to put Purushä, the plan, the set of laws that will enable the primordial energy to be manifested in the multiple aspects of creation, into a concrete form. The universe therefore originated from two complementary and contrary fundamental entities, which are not derived from each other. On the one hand is the plan (Purushä) and on the other the material (Prakriti). According to Gaudpadä: "Purushä, Universal Man, the transcendent consciousness (vijñânä) (which represents the plan of the world), is inactive, immobile, external to the visible world. Primordial Nature (Mûlä Prakriti) does not stem from Purushä, it is autonomous." The formation of the revealed world starts with seven principles derived from Prakriti, which are Mahat, the universal omnipresent intelligence; Ahamkarä, the principle of individuality; and the five Tanmaträ(s), the modes of the interaction of matter, the origin of the senses and the elements. Materialism attributes the conception of the world to Prakriti alone by ignoring the ordering principle, the omnipresent universal intelligence, Purushä.

  Cosmic Intelligence (Mahat)

  The set of archetypes (which are to be found in all forms of existence) is used and regulated by Cosmic Intelligence, the "Great Principle" (Mahat), a manifest form of Purushä, also called the object of Knowledge (khyati), the Idea (mati), or the Intelligence (huddhi). It manifests itself in living beings in the power of knowledge (jñânä) or consciousness (prajñâ). It is also given the name Magic Power (asurî). [Gaudpadä, Commentary on the Sâmkhyä-Kârikâ, 22]

  Mahat is given the name "magic power" because the universe is only an appearance stemming from the Power of Illusion (mâyâ). Like a magician, Mâyâ makes a world appear which has no permanent reality. Mahat, Cosmic Intelligence, represents the presence of the plan, of consciousness, in all aspects of what has been created, consciousness (cit) is present in matter at all levels. The unmasking of an aspect of Mahat, the intelligent organization of the world, is called Revelation.

  The Principle of Individuality (Ahamkarä)

  "FROM Mahat comes the notion of identity, individuality, the Self (ahamkarä), which makes differentiation and multiplicity possible" (Gaudpadä, Commentary on the Sâmkhyä-Kârikâ, 3). All development implies multiplicity, but this can only exist if the different entities each have a separate identity. For this reason, the first of the principles that stem from Mahat, universal Intelligence, is the principle of identity, the notion of self (ahamkarä).

  The interplay of the three tendencies of Nature allows for the formation of energetic cells, atoms in which the notion of individuality, autonomy, and "self" will blossom.

  The awareness of being autonomous is the characteristic of atoms, as well as solar systems, or individual beings, men, or gods. Every cell in the world, whether infinitesimal or gigantic, gathers around a "self." This self is inhabited by consciousness (cit), which is part of the omnipresent universal consciousness (mahat). It is this element of consciousness, apparently individualized, which allows the cells to detect each other, to communicate, to collaborate and organize themselves.

  The notion-of-self (aham) is universal and primordial. It is found in all forms of matter and life. "Depending on the situation, it is called the principle of identity or sense of self (ahamkarä), the subtle origin of elements (bhûtâdi), the sense of difference (vaïkritä), the radiance (taïjas), vanity, or pride (abhimânä)" (Gaudpadä, Commentary on the Sâmkhyä-Kârikâ, 22).

  Each atom or group of elements is therefore going to see itself as an autonomous and independent center. This is the self of living beings. It is via this notion of individuality and autonomy that the world substance differentiates itself, manifests itself in innumerable entities, each having its own personality, which will become atoms, different elementary chemical substances, but also conglomerates, whether solar systems, galaxies, chemical bodies, or living beings. Each conglomeration forms around its notion of identity, of its self. An atom of hydrogen forms around its notion of being an atom of hydrogen and defends its identity. It possesses a "self' just as does a man, who himself is also only an assemblage of various molecules. We all say "I" without really knowing to which part of ourselves this "I" corresponds. Yet the self is a fiction.7 In living beings, it is seen as a knot temporarily formed by the different constituents of the transmigratory or subtle body. The self is the nucleus of every object conceived of and shaped by the creative thought. Like the nodes of the lunar orbit that causes eclipses, the self is a precise but abstract and insubstantial place where magnetic lines intersect.

  The Modes of Interaction of Matter (Tanmâträ)

  ALL the structures of the world are founded on the five modes of interaction (tanmâträ[s]) between particles (anu) or atoms (paramanu). These modes of interaction, of varying intensity, are electrical (vidyut-shakti) or magnetic (mohakä) in nature. They give birth to the different elements and also to the organs that permit their perception. "The five modes of interaction stem from the principle of differentiation, that is, the principle of
individuality (ahamkarä)" (ibid.).

  It is from these modes of interaction, experienced in living beings through corresponding five forms of perceptions, that the perceptible elements (bhûtä) are born.

  Space or ether (âkâshä) is the field of the vibratory principle, also called the Word (shabdä). The gaseous state (vâyu) is governed by the principle of touch (sparshä). The principle of smell (gandhä) determines the solid state (Prithivi). The principle of sight (rûpä) is the reason for existence of the igneous state (tejas) of light. The principle of taste (rasä) determines the liquid state (apä). Not only do these modes of interaction (tanmaträ[s]) give birth to the perceptible elements, but their repercussions on the individual self, the Sattvä Ahamkarä, is the cause of the organs (indriyä[s]) of the senses. [Ibid.]

  The Principles of the Senses (Mahabhûtä)

  THE Mahabhûtä(s) are the different modes of interaction that determine the different states of matter called elements (bhûtä[s]). They are only truly differentiated with respect to the centers of perception within the given limits of relative time and space. The differences, obvious to us, among the vibratory, igneous, gaseous, liquid, and solid states of matter are merely the varying behaviors of the atoms that comprise them, and are not transformations of these atoms. It is only differences of perception linked to the duration of the time span that make conglomerations of atoms appear to be in a vibratory, gaseous, liquid, igneous, or solid state.8

  The atoms of matter are therefore organized according to variable degrees of concentration corresponding to the different forms of relationships, modes of interaction, or communication. The elements appear on the physical plane according to an organized hierarchy. First the substratum appears, which permits the manifestation of vibratory (spandanä) or magnetic (âkarshanä) forms, and which is called ether and has space as one of its properties. Everything that we perceive can, in the final analysis, be reduced to a vibration of ether, but in order to gain an intelligible idea of it, we liken it to the invisible vibration of air which we call sound. It is from "primordial sound" (nâdä), the inaudible vibration (anâhatä nâdä), that the other visible states of matter originate, although they too are only formed from different organizations of energetic elements and are not different in nature. It is from this aspect of the nature of the world that the symbolic image of creation by the Word is born.