This page has been validated.
Chap. III.]
OF CREATION.
41
only a series of impressions of the spirit. Others maintain that matter, though helpless without spirit, is co-eternal with it ; and when it comes into union with the spirit, it becomes active and procreant. It is not intended to dwell at length on the details of this system. Suffice it to say, that it recognises Man as a microcosm possessing parts corresponding to the globe, and describes him as made up of the following twenty-five principles (tattvas):—
- Prakriti or Nature, prime cause of all things, the universal material cause (prima matrix).
- Buddhi — Intelligence, the first step in the evolution of Prakriti.
- Ahankara — Self-consciousness.
- Manas— Mind.
- Shabda — Sound, rudiment of ether.
- Sparsha — Touch, rudiment of air.
- Roopa — Form, rudiment of fire.
- Rasa — Taste, rudiment of water.
- Gandha — Smell, rudiment of earth.
- Shrotra — Organ of hearing.
- Tvak — Organ of touch.
- Jihva — Organ of taste.
- Chakshu — Organ of sight.
