Tattvas in Saṃkhyā
This essay, originally published on the London Tantra Group wiki, is the first part of three pieces in which I attempted to make sense of the tattva schemas central to yoga and the tantric traditions.
Now, because of being overcome,
he goes to confusedness,
he sees not the blessed Lord,
the causer of action,
who stands within oneself.
Borne along and defiled by the stream of Guṇas,
unsteady, wavering, bewildered, full of desire,
distracted, this one goes to the state of self-conceit
In thinking ‘This is I’ and ‘That is mine,’
he binds himself with his self,
as a bird does with a snare.
Maitreya Upaniṣad
Saṃkhyā (often translated as “enumeration” or “perfect declaration”) is one of the schools of classical Indian Philosophy, and possibly, one of the earliest. It is thought to have developed from dualist teachings in the Upanishads. It was an important influence on the development of Yoga. Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra also shows traces of Saṃkhyā influences. The most well-known Saṃkhyā text is the Sāṃkhyakārikā of Iśvarakṛṣṇa. Saṃkhyā is characterised by a reliance on traditional doctrine and a form of rational enquiry into the nature of reality and human existence. Saṃkhyā is often presented as nontheistic, as opposed to Yoga, which is theistic.
Puruṣa and Prakṛti
The Saṃkhyā doctrine is dualist, regarding the universe as consisting of two eternal and distinct realities – Puruṣa (Consciousness) and Prakṛti (material existence). Puruṣa is sometimes referred to as the “Transcendental Self” or Eternal Witness. It is absolute, independent, and – above all experience – unknowable. Prakṛti– “The Seen” – is matter – unconscious and transient; composed of the three Guṇas– that which multiplies.
Everything in the world – all physical events, all experiences – are rooted in Prakṛti. This includes self-consciousness, intellectual activity and emotions. Everything in the universe (with the exception of Puruṣa) is composed of varying degrees of the three “primary strands” – the Guṇas: sattva, rajas and tamas. Sattva is illuminating, Rajas is activating, and Tamas imposes limitations and restrictions. These three qualities are continually transforming and are interdependent. Puruṣa (as “Pure Consciousness”) cannot create anything of its own accord. It is only when Puruṣa ‘witnesses’ Prakṛti that the world comes into being and things are presented to consciousness. The union (Saṃyoga) of these two principles is mutually beneficial: Puruṣa is given something to “see”, and Prakṛti gains the illumination of consciousness.
The Tattvas
In the Saṃkhyā doctrine, there are 25 Tattvas:
1. Puruṣa (Transcendental Self)
2. The uncreated (unmanifest) Prakṛti (primordial nature)
3. Mahat/Buddhi (intellect)
4. Ahaṃkāra (ego, consciousness of self)
5. Manas (mind)
6-10. The five sense-organs
11-15. The five motor-organs
16-20. The five subtle elements
21-25. The five gross elements
Tattvas 3-25 evolve from primordial nature. All of the Tattvas account for the totality of the universe as a whole, and each individual being.
The Antaḥkaraṇa & the Powers
Buddhi
Buddhi is the principle of reflective discrimination. It is through the activity of Buddhi that all things are known, classified or understood. One might say that it is Buddhi’s “task” to distinguish between Puruṣa and Prakṛti.
The Bhavas
In Saṃkhyā, the Buddhi is divided into bhavas– states of being which are illustrative of particular modes of action. The bhavas are sattvic or tamasic: thus Virtue (dharma), Knowledge (Jñāna) Non-attachment (Virāga) and Power (Aiśvarya) are sattvic bhavas, and Nonvirtue (adharma), Ignorance (Ajñāna), Attachment (Rāga) and Weakness (Ānaiśvarya) are tamasic bhavas. These states pervade the individual sense of selfhood and shape the individual’s perception of the world – and the kinds of actions that one pursues as a result. For example, a predominance of the rāga bhava would result in the constant pursuit of personal desires, whilst a predominance of virāga bhava would result in non-attachment and contentment. Of the Sattvic bhavas, it is Discriminative Knowledge (Jñāna) that leads to liberation. Whilst notions of bondage and liberation are concepts of the intellect, the jñāna of nonattachment to the body, the sense-experiences, or the mind, the individual becomes gradually aware of the knowledge of the True Self (i.e. the Puruṣa) and is freed from confusion and false identifications.
Ahaṃkāra
Ahaṃkāra (“I-maker) is the sense of subjective selfhood – that which interprets the activities of the three Guṇas in a way that understands the “I” as the agent or origin of an experience, i.e. “this is my experience.” From the Ahaṃkāra springs the desire to experience the five sense-objects. From the establishment of Ahaṃkāra, its further evolution takes two forms – the production of Manas and the Tanmātras. Out of Manas are formed the five Buddhindriyas: the sense-powers of hearing, touching, seeing, tasting, smelling, and the five Karmendriyas: the action-powers of speaking, grasping, walking, excreting and generating. It is with these ten powers that Manas is able to gratify the desires which arise out of the Ahaṃkāra. Also from the Ahaṃkāra arise the five Tanmātras or qualities of subtle matter: sound, touch, form, taste and smell, which are in turn, the essences of the five Bhūtas (gross) or visible elements: Space, Air, Fire, Water, Earth.
Buddhi, Ahaṃkāra and Manas are collectively referred to as the “inner organ” – the Antaḥkaraṇa. Predominately Sattvic, they determine how the world will be seen. The groups of five-powers, Tanmātras and Bhūtas are related to each other as follows:
| Sense-Power | Action-Power | Tanmātra | Bhūta |
| Hearing | Speaking | Sound | Space |
| Touching | Grasping | Touch | Air |
| Seeing | Walking | Form | Fire |
| Tasting | Excreting | Taste | Water |
| Smelling | Generation | Smell | Earth |
Liberation
Suffering (caused by ignorance – the ground state of the human condition) is associated with a failure to discriminate between Puruṣa and Prakṛti. The bound self identifies itself with the body and its constituents, such as Manas and Ahaṃkāra. Liberation occurs when one realises that one is distinct from, and not restricted to, physical matter. It is the curiousity of the Puruṣa for experience that leads to the identification with the limitations of Prakṛti and thus causes bondage. The Puruṣa is sometimes likened to an observer who, enchanted by a beautiful dancer, cannot take his eyes off the performer. The Saṃkhyān approach to Liberation involves examining how perception operates, to reverse the world-generating process and allow Pure Consciousness to be released from its bonds.
Some thoughts
I have, heretofore, tended to pass over the tattva “system” due to the way I’ve often seen it presented – as rather dry, abstract categories of “spiritual” hierarchy. However, it seems immediately clear from looking at the Saṃkhyān presentation of the tattvas that this is a human-oriented schema – one in which the world is not understood as something seperate to human existence. The Saṃkhyā Tattvas schema is not so much a sequence of “cosmic creation” as is often presented, but rather, an account of the formation of conscious experience.
The Kid in the Sweetshop
An analogy I’ve come up with to illustrate the Tattva process is the Kid in the Sweetshop. A kid goes into a sweetshop for the first time – this is the conjunction of Puruṣa with Prakṛti. Before him is arrayed a dazzling splendour – one of those WOW! moments. The dazzling splendour of the sweetshop is made up of things. “There’s that! And that! And oh, look, that!” This is the activity of Buddhi – the discriminating facility. The kid “realises” that all those things are different – and seperate to him (i.e. not self). It’s at this point that the Ahaṃkāra comes into play as the kid thinks “I want that! And I want that! And that!” Simultaneously, the mind – Manas – draws the kid’s attention to the (perceived) external world through the capacity to make sensory distinctions (smells, sights, tastes, etc.) and the capacities for action (speech, grasping, etc.)
It’s through the interaction of the sense-capacity and the objective sense that gives rise to knowledge of that sense. When an object excites the senses, Manas arranges the sense-impressions, the Ahaṃkāra makes it self-referential, and the Buddhi forms the concept. The Antahkarana makes claim to the objects of the world, identifying with the desired objects and rejecting the undesirable ones, so leading to the pursuit of that which is desired and the avoidance of that which is rejected – thus leading to pleasure and pain.
This is a natural process, but, according to Saṃkhyā, it is because of the predominance of tamas (intertia) and rajas (activity) and the intense attachment to the objects of the world, that the Antahkarana loses its capacity for “right discrimination”. The answer, therefore, is to examine one’s thought-processes to develop the proper attitudes towards the objects of the senses – in order to extricate oneself from the constant agitations of the mental complex (desire, anger, disappointment, attachment, etc.).
In Saṃkhyā, consciousness becomes authentic when claims of “I, mine or me” no longer intrude. An example of this might be that of a piano player who, asked to focus on how his fingers dance over the keyboard, loses the ability to play fluently. For the player’s hands to work, the mind has to be stilled.
