Pañcabhūta: The Five Great Elements

Pañcabhūta · pañca-bhūta, “the five elements”

The pañcabhūtas are the five great elements: ākāśa (space), vāyu (air), agni (fire), āpas (water) and pṛthivī (earth). Everything we can see and touch is made from them. They are the last and most solid products of the step-by-step unfolding of Prakṛti (nature), which passes first through Mahat-tattva (cosmic intelligence) and the three kinds of ahaṃkāra (the sense of “I”).

The Agni Purāṇa explains this teaching in Chapter 17 (Sṛshṭi-varṇana, “the description of creation”). There Agni-deva tells how the world unfolds from the creative will of Bhagavān Vishṇu, using the ideas of Sāṃkhya, the old Indian teaching of Prakṛti (nature) and Purusha (the conscious self). The Mahābhārata adds its own teaching on how each element is linked to a sense, an object of the senses and a presiding devatā. The Vāmana Purāṇa shows the five elements as Bhagavān Vishṇu himself in Bhagavān Śiva‘s stotra, as embodied beings who worship Brahmā in his sabhā, and as part of the whole universe that Prahlāda saw within the infant Vāmana in Aditi‘s womb.

The Agni Purāṇa returns to the five elements again and again. Hayagrīva tells Brahmā how the tanmātras come forth from Vāsudeva and his vyūhas, and how the sādhaka dissolves the elements one into another before a mūrti is installed. Maheśvara teaches Skanda bhūtaśuddhi, the purification of the five elements in the body, each with its own maṇḍala, shape, colour, bīja and kalā. The temple itself is seen as made of the five elements; the elements are placed by nyāsa in the rites of pratishṭhā, and they are worshipped in the corners in the Gaja-śānti. In the closing teachings on samādhi and Brahma-vijñāna, Agni-deva shows that ākāśa, vāyu, agni, jala and pṛthivī, like all the worlds and the ātmā, are Brahma-svarūpa, the very form of Brahman.

The Order of Creation

At first there was only the pure, unmanifest Brahman, which is sat-cit-ānanda (being, consciousness and bliss). It is described as “that which was, before the appearance of ākāśa, night and day.” This unmanifest state is Vishṇu or Nārāyaṇa, who is both guṇavān (with qualities) and nirguṇa (beyond qualities).

At the moment of creation, this first Brahman entered (praviveśa) into both Prakṛti (the feminine creative power) and Purusha (the male conscious witness). This caused a great stirring (kshobha). From the stirring of Prakṛti and Purusha together, the great chain of creation began:

From the stirring of Purusha and Prakṛti came Mahat-tattva (cosmic intellect, buddhi). This is the first product of creation, the universal intelligence that guides all later creation.

From Mahat came Ahaṃkāra (the sense of “I”). This is the principle that makes things separate, creating the sense “I am this and not that.”

Ahaṃkāra appears in three forms:

1. Tāmasa-ahaṃkāra (the dark, material form): produces the pañcatanmātras (five subtle essences), and from them the pañcabhūtas.
2. Taijasa-ahaṃkāra (the fiery, energetic form): produces the ten sense organs (five jñānendriyas, organs of knowing, and five karmendriyas, organs of action) and manas (the mind, which coordinates them).
3. Vaikārika-ahaṃkāra (the pure, changing form): produces the ten dikpālas (devatās of the directions), who preside over the ten sense organs.

The Five Elements

From Tāmasa-ahaṃkāra the five tanmātras (subtle essences) arise one after another. From each tanmātra one bhūta (element) appears:

Each element takes on all the qualities of the elements before it. So ākāśa has only sound. Vāyu has sound and touch. Agni has sound, touch and form. Āpas has all of these and taste. Pṛthivī has all five qualities. This is the classic Sāṃkhya picture of how the elements arise, and the Agni Purāṇa follows it.

Agni-deva’s own words in Chapter 17 are these. Ahaṃkāra is of more than one kind: the taijasa ahaṃkāra is the cause of the indriyas (senses) and their changes, and the tāmasa ahaṃkāra is the cause of the five bhūtas. From the tāmasa ahaṃkāra came ākāśa, of the form of śabda-tanmātra; from ākāśa came vāyu, of the form of sparśa-tanmātra; from vāyu came agni, of the form of rūpa-tanmātra; from agni came water, of the form of rasa-tanmātra; and from water came pṛthivī, of the form of gandha-tanmātra. Then from the taijasa ahaṃkāra arose the ten indriyas, the vaikārika devatās, and manas, the eleventh indriya. In Chapter 376 he gives the same order in brief: from Prakṛti comes buddhi, the mahat-tattva; from it ahaṃkāra; from it the five mahābhūtas. Each later element has one guṇa more than the one before it: śabda, sparśa, rūpa, rasa and gandha.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 17, 376

Brahmā’s Creation from the First Waters

After the pañcabhūtas appear, the Agni Purāṇa tells of Brahmā‘s own work of creation.

Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa first created the first waters (āpas). Into those waters he placed his vīrya (creative seed). The waters, called “nārāḥ” (from “nara”, the first being), became the dwelling of the Purusha. This is why he is called Nārāyaṇa, “the one whose dwelling is the first waters”.

The seed in the cosmic waters became a golden egg (Hiraṇyagarbha, the Brahmāṇḍa). Inside this golden egg Svayambhū Brahmā was born, self-born (hiraṇyagarbha means “the golden womb”). Brahmā stayed inside the egg for one parivatsara (a divine year). Then he split it into two halves. The upper half became the upper region (Dyuloka), the lower half became the earth (Bhūloka), and the space between became the middle region (Antariksha). He then created Mount Meru, the directions, the waters, the ten directions, time, manas (mind), vāk (speech), kāma (desire), krodha (anger) and rati (love).

From his four mouths Brahmā brought forth the Ṛg, Yajus and Sāma Vedas, and he performed a yajña (sacred fire offering) for the Sādhyas and the devas. He then created the beings of the sky (birds), lightning, clouds and the rainbow. From his body he created the Prajāpatis (fathers of beings) to carry on creation: Marīci, Atri, Aṅgiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu and Vasishṭha. These seven are the mānasa-putras (sons born of the mind), the first of the progenitors. From his anger he created Rudra.

Chapter 17 tells more of this work. Agni-deva says that Bhagavān Brahmā, wishing to create many kinds of beings, first created the waters and released his vīrya into them, and “we have heard” that Svayambhū Brahmā was born in the golden egg. Between the two halves of the egg he created ākāśa, and he made the earth floating on the waters. Wishing to make the coming creation joined to ākāśa and the other elements, he created the lightnings, the vajra (thunderbolt), the clouds, the red glow, the rainbow, the birds and Parjanya. From his arm he created Sanatkumāra. The seven mind-born sons became famous as the seven Brahmās, and with the Rudras they carried out the creation of beings. Then Brahmā divided his own body into two parts: one became a man and the other a woman, and through her he created beings.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 17

The elements in the adhivāsana

In Chapter 59 Hayagrīva teaches Brahmā the adhivāsana, the rite by which the sānnidhya (presence) of Śrī Hari is gained before a mūrti is installed. In it the sādhaka first dissolves the whole creation within himself, and then contemplates its coming forth again.

Meditating “I am Purushottama, all-knowing and all-pervading,” he makes himself one with the Paramātmā named by Oṃkāra. Then, by the prāṇa-vāyu, he burns the earth, whose bīja is laṃ, in the fire that arises from the fire-bīja raṃ: he contemplates that earth has dissolved into fire. Fire is then dissolved into vāyu, and vāyu into ākāśa. All the bhūtas, with their glories as adhibhūta, adhyātma and adhidaiva, are dissolved into the tanmātras, and all these in order into ākāśa. Ākāśa is dissolved into manas, manas into ahaṃkāra, ahaṃkāra into the mahat-tattva, and the mahat-tattva into the unmanifest prakṛti (avyākṛta). The avyākṛta is dissolved into the Paramātmā whose form is jñāna, and this Paramātmā is Vāsudeva.

Then creation comes forth again. Vāsudeva, whose form is śabda (sound), resolved to create and, resting on the unmanifest māyā, brought forth Saṅkarshaṇa, who is named sparśa (touch). Saṅkarshaṇa created Pradyumna, whose form is tejas; Pradyumna created Aniruddha, whose form is rasa (taste); and Aniruddha created Brahmā, whose form is gandha (smell). Brahmā first created the waters, and in them a golden egg with the five bhūtas. In that egg the jīva-śakti, the power of life, began to move. The jīva, dwelling in the prāṇas, is called the ādhyātmika purusha, and from him arose buddhi joined with prāṇa. From buddhi came ahaṃkāra, and from ahaṃkāra manas. From manas arose the five objects of the senses, śabda, sparśa, rūpa, rasa and gandha; from these the five jñānendriyas (organs of knowing): skin, ear, nose, eye and tongue. Feet, the organ of excretion, hands, speech and the organ of generation are the five karmendriyas (organs of action). Then Hayagrīva says, “Now hear the names of the five bhūtas”: ākāśa, vāyu, tejas, jala and pṛthivī are the five mahābhūtas, and from them is born the gross body (sthūla śarīra), the support of all.

He then gives the bījas for the nyāsa of the tattvas on the body. For the tanmātras: naṃ for śabda on the head, dhaṃ for sparśa on the face, daṃ for rūpa on the eyes, thaṃ for rasa on the vasti (the lower belly), and taṃ for gandha on the shanks. For the elements: jaṃ, the form of the pṛthvī-tattva, on the feet; ghaṃ on the vasti; gaṃ, the form of the tejas-tattva, on the heart; khaṃ, the form of the vāyu-tattva, on the nose; and kaṃ, the form of the ākāśa-tattva, which the learned one always places on the head.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 59

Bhūtaśuddhi: purifying the five elements

Bhūtaśuddhi is the purification of the five elements of the body, done by the sādhaka before pūjā. Maheśvara teaches it to Skanda in Chapter 74, in the rite of Śiva-pūjā.

The sādhaka visualises an opening in the body and purifies the five bhūtas in order. He raises Kuṇḍalinī śakti from the mūlādhāra through the heart, the throat, the palate and the point between the brows to the brahmarandhra, and merges the jīva, which is pure consciousness alone, into Śiva. Absorbed in Śiva, he purifies the bhūtas in the body with sabīja-recaka prāṇāyāma, breathing out with the seed syllable, and contemplates all the tattvas in the body from the feet up to the bindu in reverse order. He dissolves earth and air one into the other, and fire and water one into the other: so the two pairs of opposed elements are dissolved one into the other. Ākāśa is opposed to nothing.

Then Maheśvara says, “Hear the special account of this bhūtaśuddhi.” Each element is contemplated as a maṇḍala in its own place in the body, from the feet to the head:

Contemplating each so, he purifies its tattva: the water-tattva is dissolved into the form of fire and so purified, and ākāśa is supremely pure. Then with the nectar-raining mūla-mantra he nourishes everything.

The fruit of this practice is given in Chapter 30. The sādhaka who purifies the five bhūtas and the tanmātras and practises yoga gains, if he has desires, the siddhis beginning with aṇimā. If he has vairāgya (dispassion), he passes beyond those siddhis, abides in his own form of pure consciousness, and is for ever freed from the bhūtas, the tanmātras and the grahas called the indriyas, the senses that seize.

Bhūtaśuddhi is done in the yajña-maṇḍapa before the adhivāsana of a Śiva-liṅga (Chapter 96). When painted images are installed, the purification of the five bhūtas (pañca-bhūta-śuddhi) is done through dhāraṇā, and the bathing and the other rites are done in the mind, not with water (Chapter 97).

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 30, 74, 96, 97

The elements in the temple and its rites

Hayagrīva tells Brahmā that the five mahābhūtas, ākāśa, vāyu, tejas, jala and pṛthivī, are themselves the pañcarātras. Those that are without consciousness and covered by the darkness of ajñāna are “without pañcarātra” (Chapter 39).

The temple is made of the five elements. Its flag is prakṛti, its staff is the purusha, and the prāsāda (the temple) is the very form of Vāsudeva. Because the prāsāda bears Bhagavān Vāsudeva, that is its earth-tattva. The empty space within the temple is its ākāśa-tattva, the light within it is its agni-tattva, and the touch of air within it is its vāyu-tattva. The water within the stones is earthy water (pārthiva-jala), holding gandha, the quality of earth. The temple has the five qualities too: its śabda is the echo, its sparśa the hardness felt when it is touched, its rūpa the white and other colours, its rasa that which gives delight, and its gandha the smell of dhūpa (incense) (Chapter 61).

In the Bhadra maṇḍala, ākāśa, vāyu, tejas, jala and pṛthivī are worshipped on the petals of the sixteen-petalled lotus, after the Sāmaveda and the Atharvaveda and before manas and the senses; śabda, sparśa, rūpa, rasa and gandha are worshipped in the third enclosure. Their form is sound only: it is enough to say their names and bow (Chapter 30).

In the adhivāsana of a Śiva-liṅga the eight mūrtis are placed by nyāsa: Pṛthivī, Agni, the Yajamāna, Sūrya, Jala, Vāyu, Candra and Ākāśa. In a yāga of five kuṇḍas, the nyāsa of the five mūrtis, earth, water, fire, wind and ākāśa, is done instead; if the yajamāna seeks moksha, the five kalās beginning with Nivṛtti are placed in their stead (Chapter 96). Among the tattvas that are the seats of beings, the Sādhyas and other devatās, the rivers, the oshadhis, the kshetrapālas and the kinnaras rest on the pṛthivī-tattva, and Sarasvatī, Lakshmī and the rivers are said in some places to have their place in jala (Chapter 97). In the pratishṭhā of Sūrya, the five bhūtas beginning with ākāśa are placed by nyāsa together with the tattvas and Īśvara (Chapter 99). When the dhvaja is raised and the temple is contemplated as the body of Śiva, the pañcāshṭakas (five groups of eight), in the form of pṛthvī, jala, tejas, vāyu and ākāśa, are placed on the jaṅghā-vedi (Chapter 102).

In the Gaja-śānti that Śālihotra teaches, for the welfare of the elephants, the five great elements are worshipped in the north-east and the other corners, outside the eight-petalled lotus (Chapter 291).

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 30, 39, 61, 96, 97, 99, 102, 291

The elements in the teaching of Brahma-vijñāna

In the teaching on samādhi, Agni-deva says: as the one ākāśa appears different, and as the one Sūrya appears in many forms in many vessels of water, so the one ātmā appears as many. Ākāśa, vāyu, agni, jala and pṛthivī, the dhātus, all these lokas, the moving and unmoving world and the ātmā: all are Brahma-svarūpa. The five bhūtas, with the senses, manas, ahaṃkāra, buddhi and the unmanifest Prakṛti, are the kshetra (the field), and the one who knows them is the kshetrajña. Of the bhūtas, whatever rests upon another dissolves into that very one. Those who reach svarga by yajña, tapas and dāna return to Bhūloka by the path of ākāśa, vāyu and water (Chapter 376).

At the start of samādhi the yogī contemplates thus: from Brahman came ākāśa; from it vāyu; from it agni; from agni water; from water earth; and from these the subtle body. From the elements not yet compounded (apañcīkṛta) were born the compounded (pañcīkṛta) gross elements. Thinking that the gross body was born from them, he contemplates it as dissolved into that Brahman. The compounded elements and their effects together are named Virāṭ, and with the waking state and Viśva, the ātmā of the waking state, they are the letter A. The body made of the uncompounded elements and their effects, with seventeen tattvas, is named Hiraṇyagarbha, the subtle and the liṅga body; with the dream state and Taijasa it is the letter U (Chapter 377). In the contemplation that follows, the yogī says: “I am the Parabrahman, the form of the supreme light, different from earth, water and air; different from vāyu and ākāśa; different from the effects of agni and the rest; different from Virāṭ” (Chapter 378).

Bharata, carrying the palanquin of the king of Sauvīra, told him: “The five bhūtas carry you, me and everyone together. The five bhūtas are swept along, fallen into the current of the guṇas.” In the dialogue of Ṛtu and Nidāgha that Bharata then told, Ṛtu says: “The ātmā is all-pervading like ākāśa,” and “As a house built of earth becomes firm by being plastered with earth, so this earthly body is made firm by earthly particles.” And: “Just as one ākāśa appears different through distinctions such as yellow and blue, so to those whose sight is deluded the one ātmā appears as many” (Chapter 380). In the Gītā-sāra, Śrī Kṛshṇa names the mahābhūtas first in the kshetra, with ahaṃkāra, buddhi, the unmanifest, the eleven indriyas and the five objects of the senses (Chapter 381).

The kośa (lexicon) of the Agni Purāṇa gives the words for ākāśa, the sky: vyoman, abhra, pushkara, ambara, dyo, div, antariksha and kha (Chapter 360).

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 360, 376–378, 380, 381

Elements, Senses and Devatās in the Mahābhārata

The Aśvamedhika Parva of the Mahābhārata, in the teacher and student dialogue (the Brāhmaṇa-Gītā) of the Anugītā section, gives its own account of the pañcabhūtas. It agrees with the Agni Purāṇa‘s order: Mahat, then Ahaṃkāra, then the tanmātras, then the bhūtas. It adds a detailed table that links each element to its sense organ (adhyātma), its sense object (adhibhūta) and its presiding devatā (adhidaivata):

At mahāpralaya (the great dissolution of the universe), the elements dissolve in the reverse (pratiloma) order to the one in which they were made: earth into water, water into fire, fire into air, and air into space. Yet yogīs who, by the power of yoga (yoga-bala), have dissolved their sthūla (gross) bodies into bodies made of subtle essences (tanmātra-śarīras) are not touched by this great dissolution. This is taught in Chapter 42.

The Qualities of Each Element and Their Kinds (Chapter 50)

Continuing the same teaching, Brahmā gives the number of guṇas (qualities) that belong to each element, and their different kinds:

Brahmā ends with the final order of the tattvas (principles), from lower to higher. Ākāśa is the śreshṭha (highest) among the elements. Ahaṃkāra is greater than ākāśa. Buddhi (intellect) is greater than ahaṃkāra. The ātmā is greater than buddhi. Avyakta (Prakṛti, the unmanifest) is greater than the ātmā. And Purusha is greater than Prakṛti.

How This Fits the Larger Picture of Creation

The Agni Purāṇa‘s account of how the five elements are created follows the Sāṃkhya plan: Mahat, then ahaṃkāra, then the tanmātras, then the bhūtas. But it places this plan firmly within devotion to Vishṇu. The whole process is Vishṇu’s creative play (jagat-sṛshṭi-krīḍā). The Sāṃkhya categories, the twenty-five tattvas (Prakṛti, Mahat, ahaṃkāra, the five tanmātras, the ten indriyas or senses, manas, the five bhūtas and Purusha), are all treated as real principles within Vishṇu’s cosmic body.

This account links with the Nava-Sarga (the nine kinds of creation) described in other Purāṇas, and with the system of Manvantaras (the long cycles of the Manus). Both build on this basic teaching of the five elements.

Per Vāmana Purāṇa

The elements are Bhagavān Vishṇu

When Brahmahatyā had entered Bhagavān Śiva and no tīrtha could free him, he came to Kurujāṅgala and praised Bhagavān Vishṇu with a stotra. In it he declared: “O Jagannātha! This earth, water, sky, fire, wind, buddhi (intellect), manas (mind), day and night: all are you. I fall before you in sāshṭāṅga.”

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 3

The elements in Brahmā’s sabhā

When Kaśyapa led the devas to Brahmaloka, they saw Brahmā, the Lokapitāmaha, in the middle of his sabhā, which resounds with the Sāma chant. Serving him were the Prajāpatis, Daksha, the Pracetases, Pulaha, Marīci, Bhṛgu, Atri, Vasishṭha, Gautama and Nārada, and with them the vidyās; antariksha (the mid-space), vāyu, tejas, water and earth; sound, touch, form, taste and smell; prakṛti and its changes, mahat and the cause; the four Vedas with their limbs; and naya, kratu, saṅkalpa and prāṇa. All these, taking bodily form, worship Brahmā.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 3

The elements within the infant Vāmana

When the daityas lost their tejas, Bali asked his grandfather Prahlāda the cause, and Prahlāda sought Śrī Hari in dhyāna. There appeared to him the child in the form of Vāmana in Aditi‘s womb, and within that small infant Prahlāda saw the Vasus, Rudras, Aśvins, Maruts, Sādhyas, Viśvedevas and Ādityas; the gandharvas, serpents and rākshasas; Virocana and Bali, Jambha, Kujambha, Naraka and Bāṇa, and himself; the five elements; the earth with its oceans, rivers, dvīpas and lakes and all its creatures; Brahmā and Bhava; the grahas and nakshatras; the Prajāpatis beginning with Daksha: the whole universe.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 8

Sources

• Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 17, 30, 39, 59, 61, 74, 96, 97, 99, 102, 291, 360, 376–378, 380, 381
• Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapters 42 and 50
• Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 3
• Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 3, 8