Tattva Prabha

The Sevenfold World (सप्तलोकी)

जगतोऽपि त्रिरूपत्वं त्रिरूपत्वात्परेशितुः ।
व्यापारात्सिद्धमीशस्य तपश्चिच्छक्तिवाचिनः ॥ २१ ॥

21) Because of the triune aspect of the Supreme Lord, the World also is triple, a result of the activity of His Tapas that is Chit-Shakti, Consciousness-Force.

The triune aspect mentioned here is the Sat-Chit-Ananda spoken of in the previous section. The world is threefold being a product of that triune Oneness. We proceed on the assumption that this creation of the threefold world is a reproduction of the triplicity of the Supreme Lord. Enough has been said that Chit or Chit-Tapas is the dynamic element that effectuates Creation, and it works upon the Substance, the Prakriti or the Essential Being of the Infinite, and sections out this creation which is indeed a reproduction of the original triple Being. It is not and cannot be an exact reproduction, but one that is in-formed in its movement by and represents in a way the original threefold principle of Sat- Chit-Ananda. The Agency that starts and brings out such a Manifestation is the Principle of Chit-Shakti. What then is the triple world that we call this creation?

भूर्भुवः स्वरिति ख्याता त्रिलोकी सृष्टिरुच्यते ।
सेयं प्रकृतिरीशस्य क्लृप्ता शक्तिविलासतः ॥ २२ ॥

22) The well-known Bhuh, Bhuvah, Svah, are the terms that denote the triple world that is this creation; this is the Lord’s Prakriti, the Essential Nature so formed here by the play of Shakti, the Force.

The three terms are called Vyahritis; they refer to the Earth bhuh, the mid-region between the Earth and the Heaven bhuvah and Heaven svah. The exact character of these three worlds is stated in the next verse. It is sufficient to note here that Svar in the Veda very often refers to the World of Light above the triple world, though the term as the third Vyahriti is applied to the world of Heaven, called Dyauh in the Veda. This triple world constitutes the creation, which does not spring from nothing, but issues from the original Substance of Being as a result of the action of the Force upon it. Therefore it must be understood that whatever there is in the World-Creation is the original substance in Essence, whatever shape it may have taken, whatever form it may present to our sense and mind, whatever character it may have developed in the process of modification impressing itself upon our general feeling and stuff of experience. Hence it is stated that it is the Prakriti, the Essential Nature that is formed into this World-Creation by the action of the Force. What is the character of this triple world—not the essential Nature, for that is Sat-Chit-Ananda itself— but its nature in the Manifestation, this creation?

गुणत्रयविभागेन लोकत्रयविभागिनी ।
तमोरजस्सत्त्वमूर्तिरन्न-प्राण-मनोमयी ॥ २३ ॥

23) The creation of the three divisions of the world is based upon the division of the three qualities, tamas, rajas, sattva, Inertia, Activity and their balancing Calm. These again are the dominant principles of formation in Matter, Life and Mind.

It was stated previously that the triple world was a manifestation of the Primal Prakriti, which is Sat-Chit-Ananda, not the Prakriti, the Primordial Nature of the Sankhyas, which is by itself an insentient blind thing, jada. But in the Manifestation, there is modification of the original substance that brings about a triple form of the world characteristic of the three qualities or modes of Nature. Here we leave aside for the present the three Vedic terms Bhuh, Bhuvah, Svah, that are the names of the worlds already mentioned and use the language of the Sankhyas in regard to the characteristic qualities of the triple world. The Pure Mind is the principle of the third world Svar; it is dominated by the quality of Sattva, a calm that balances the two opposite qualities of inertia and activity, which are the distinctive features of Matter and Life respectively. For Matter, the indubitable field for activity, is by itself blind and inert, and it is life-force that acts upon it and vivifies it; therefore the quality of Tamas is its main property. Life, prana, is the active principle, the corrective of inertia that is opposed to it and is all action and above it. Matter is anna, Life is prana, Mind is manas; these three principles, the luminous, the active, and the inactive are the chief qualities that govern the triple creation here. What is the Agency that brings into play the forces of world-formation?

बृहस्तपसः पुंसो व्यापारो भावना ह्यसी।
अखण्डमण्डलाकारफललीला विनिर्मिता॥ २४॥

24) This (the creation) is the Purusha’s becoming, the Purusha’s Tapas that ever looms and is set in the Infinite (Indivisible) sphere of self-developing play.

The Agency is indeed Chit-tapas, as has been noted already. Here the idea is put in a different way in order to make it clear that the agency is the agency of the Agent who is the Spirit, Purusha and not an impersonal Force, not the neutral Brahman, the Sat- Chit-Ananda. It is the Purusha’s bhavana that is the act of becoming. For the Infinite there is no increase or decrease; but when by the act of Tapas the Purusha delimits himself, the tapas- force increases and grows as it were brimhatah in the confines of the delimited sphere, and that is the Purusha’s act of becoming. It takes place in the infinitude of being which is the field of play for the Force that develops the various forms of the informing Spirit. Having stated this much by way of reminding that it is not the Impersonal that is at the top and back of becoming or creation, but it is the Person who is the Agent, the text proceeds to say that the three qualities that describe the triple creation do not spring from somewhere capriciously, but have a basis in the ultimate truth of things.

सच्चिदानन्दरूपस्य त्रिरूपस्य परात्मनः ।
इदं विपर्ययेणेह बिम्बितं भुवनत्रयम् ॥ २५ ॥

25) This triple world is a reverse formulation of the triple term, Sat-Chit-Ananda, of the Supreme Self.

The reverse formulation consists in the fact that this world of Matter anna, Bhuh represents the Sat, the world of Life prana, Bhuvah is a distorted figure of the Chit-Shakti, the dynamic element in Chit, and the world of Mind manas, Svar, represents the Chit proper, and for the purpose of this classification carries with it in its essential and higher parts the Ananda. That is why the Upanishad says satyatma pranaramam, mana anandam. We will hear more of this before the section closes. Here it may be asked if it is our own classification or this idea had a fixed place in the ancient scheme in regard to the world systems. This our classification corresponds to and tallies with what is stated in the ancient scriptures, beginning with the Rig Veda. But it is more explicitly stated in the Puranic texts, a reference to which is made here.

पराशरेण मुनिना शमीकाय निबोधिते ।
लोकसंस्थानसङख्याने रहस्यं किञ्चिदीरितम् ॥ २६ ॥

26) In stating the position of the world systems Sage Parashara has spoken to Shamika of some secret.

This is a reference made to Vishnu Purana which is among the oldest extant Puranas. Though the author of the Purana is Vyasa, as indeed he is of all the Puranas, Parashara is the author here in the sense that he is the instructor who narrates and Shamika receives the instruction and listens to the narrative, just as in the case of Sri Bhagavata the dialogue is between Shuka and Parikshit, though the author of the Purana is another and different from Shuka. What is the secret that Parashara reveals to his listener and pupil?

भूरादिसप्तलोकानां संस्थानं वर्णयन्मुनिः ।
भूरादिलोकत्रितयमनित्यं कृतकं जगौ ॥ २७ ॥
जनस्तपस्था सत्यमिति चाकृतकत्रयम् ।
महार्लोकं तयोर्मध्ये कुताकृतकयोर्द्वयोः ॥ २८ ॥

27-28) Stating the order of the seven worlds beginning with Bhuh Earth, he proclaims that the triple world beginning with Bhuh, the Earth etc. is created, non-eternal. Jana, Tapas and Satya form the triple world that is not created, Eternal; between the two triple worlds, the created and the uncreated is the world Mahas.

The Vishnu Purana (II. 7-19, 20) makes mention of the seven worlds of which the first three beginning from the Earth are the created and are non-eternal though they are the triple derivation of the triple Eternal. The triple Eternal world, and its correspondence in the non-eternal and the link, the middle world between the two triples are explicitly stated in the Purana. And these statements remarkably fit in with the scheme of the Cosmic ladder i.e. of the system of seven worlds variously constituted, but governed by a co-ordinating principle ultimately as well as primarily by the Supreme Intelligence, which we call Consciousness chit. What is the triple world Eternal, and what also that world which lies between the Eternal and the non-eternal triple worlds?

The upper three worlds rising in order from Jana, through Tapas to Satya are the eternal three of which the lower three Bhuh, Bhuvah and Svah are the counter-parts in this created existence. Between the two triples is the world of Mahas. The following verses clearly state the character of these worlds and their corresponding principles in the cosmic constitution.

सप्तस्वेतेषु लोकेषु नित्यलोकास्त्रयः स्मृताः ।
आनन्दाज्जन्म भूतानां आनन्दो जन उच्यते ॥ २९ ॥

29) Of these seven worlds, there are three that are eternal. Of Delight ananda, all beings are born; hence Ananda is called Jana.

The verse does not require elucidation. The point to be noted is that the Ananda is the Soul-principle of Jana Loka. The latter is so called because all birth whether of beings or worlds is possible because of Delight, Ananda which by its very nature and substance is full and flows out as it were, in self-creation, the same as self-manifestation. Thus Jana is the first world in ascending order of the Eternal triple. The noteworthy fact here is the equation of the Jana Loka to the principle of Delight in the triple formula.

चितेश्च शक्तिरूपत्वाच्चिच्छक्तिस्तप इष्यते ।
सन्नेवात्मा सत्यलोक इति बोध्यं सतां मतम् ॥ ३० ॥

30) Consciousness having the aspect of Force, Consciousness-Force is called the Tapas, while Atman, the Sat, Existence, is the world of Satya in the view of the Wise.

Above the Jana Loka is the Tapoloka which constitutes the principle of Chit Tapas in the formula of the world-system. That Tapas is the same as Consciousness-Force, Chit-Shakti, has been already explained. Above this in the world-order is the Satyaloka, the Truth-world, of which the sole self-existent principle is Sat, that is the Truth, Satyam, the Self, Atman above all, at the summit of the series of the worlds and beyond them.

तमेकं सच्चिदानन्दं परतत्त्वविदो विदुः ।
जनस्तपस्सत्यमिति लोकसंस्थानवेदिनः ॥ ३१ ॥

31) Those who know the fundamental principles of the Supreme know that One to be Sat-Chit-Ananda. Those who know the position of the World-system (and its truth) know that One to be Jana, Tapas and Satya.

When we speak of the principles of the Supreme Existence, we mentally comprehend it as Sat-Chit-Ananda. But the same when approached for realisation through the Manifestation presents a larger and vaster view of itself, intense in the world of its self-delight, forceful and immensely exalted in the vistas of worlds in the Consciousness, and Ineffable and Supreme in the Sole Self-existent limitless world of Being. Thus the threefold principle is equated to the threefold Eternal world.

त्रैलोक्यस्येह भूरादेस्त्रैलोक्यस्य परस्य च ।
सन्धिलोको महर्लोकस्तुरीयः संस्मृतो बुधैः ॥ ३२ ॥

32) Between this trinity of Earth, bhuh, etc. and the higher triple world, is the Link-world, Mahas, called the fourth, turiya, by the Wise.

The Eternal and the created triple worlds have been stated. Between the two triples is the Mahas; it is here called the link-world. It is called the fourth world, the Mahas, because it is above the triple world of ours, bhuh, bhuvah, svah. It stands between the two—between the higher triple world of the plenary Sat-Chit-Ananda above on the one hand and the lower triple on the other. It carries within it, above it, and one with it in a sense the higher triple, and it also releases the lower triple world through various agencies for the formation and perfecion of the higher half what is called Parardha—in terms of the lower, the created triple. Radically it is this world of the Mahas that is responsible for the lower triple creation and it is from this world that forces of manifestation of the Many are released and set to play to work out certain possibilities of the Immense Intelligence and power of the Spirit in the finite formations of the world-being and Force-movement. Because its centre is charged with the infinitude of Sat-Chit-Ananda, it is one with it Above; because its face is turned towards Manifestation, it is one with the Many that represent the self-limiting and self-conditioning attitude and capacity of the Supreme Spirit. Therefore it is the World which is a status of the Purusha where the Many is realised as a harmonised unit. Rightly then, this is called the Link-world, for without it this triple creation is a truncated creature which could not hope to realise the Sat-Chit-Ananda in the Manifestation.

कृताकृतकयोर्मध्ये द्वयोश्चापि त्रिरूपयोः ।
अनेनैव त्रिलोकीयं कर्त्रा कार्यत्वमाश्रिता ॥ ३३ ॥

33) This triple world is an effect of the action, certainly, of this Agent—the Mahas (which stands) between the two triple worlds, the created and the uncreated.

The verse is clear; but it must be understood that by the Agent is meant, the original Being and the Creative poise and mood for Manifestation. It must not be supposed that Mahas, the Agent, or the Creative Godhead is the agency for bringing about the darkness and suffering and imperfections of various sorts that are characteristic of the lower creation. They are the results of the workings of forces on the way, of many agencies that are formed or deformed for working out through the vicissitudes of darkness the desired results in the limited and finite and conditioned fields of imperfect Nature.

नानात्वैकत्वयोः ख्याति भावयन्यो विराजते ।
नानात्वैकत्वसंवादोऽमुष्मिन् लोके प्रतिष्ठितः ॥ ३४ ॥

34) Which (the Mahas) shines manifesting the Glory of the One and the Many; it is here that the harmony of the One and the Many is established.

The Glory lies in the fact that the One in manifesting the Many is not lost in it, but retains in it the co-ordinating principle by which the Many and each of the Many are rooted in the core, in the Central Unity. While each of the All is one and identical with the rest at the Radical Centre it is still different in formation from the rest, for the working out of the possibilities and is free in the field, in the Spirit-conditioned body of world-extension. Thus one can say that the Many is at once free and conditioned, free in its source and support and self-subsistence, conditioned for the purpose of the play, for the definite formulation of the Eternal principles of the Spirit in terms of Space-Time existence. This is the glory of the One and the Many, self-established in the fourth world with its natural and spontaneous unity embracing in the self-same identity the Many of the creative urge.

तुरीयेऽसति लोकेऽस्मिन्मध्यमे महआह्वये ।
त्रिलोक्यत्यन्तभिन्ना स्यात्त्रिरूपात्परमेशितुः ।॥ ३५ ॥

35) In the absence of the fourth world, Mahas, this triple world would be absolutely cut off from the Supreme Lord who is triple in aspect.

The substance of the verse has been explained earlier while speaking of the Mahas as the Link-world. Here a reminder is made that the triple world of ours, whatever may be its form presented to us, whatever experience we may have of it, however imperfect and false and pervert and blind it may be in its construction and practical aspect, is still a derivation, a remote reflection, rather a refraction of the Supreme Lord denoted by the triple formula of Sat-Chit-Ananda.

परलोकत्त्रयं नित्यं परार्धमिति कीर्त्यते ।
अपरार्धमिदं लोकत्रयं कृतकमीशितुः ॥ ३६ ॥

36) The higher world eternal that is triune we call the Upper Half, parardha, and this created triple world of the Lord, the lower Half, aparardha.

So far the character of the Higher Triple world and with it the world of Mahas and its status in the hierarchy of the sevenfold world-system has been noted. The following four verses proceed to give an idea of the correspondences of the threefold principle in the Parardha and the Aparardha. And this correspondence is made possible, as we have seen, by the Mahas. It is not an abstract principle, but a world; not a world alone, but a world with its Lord; for it is He who is really the Sat-Chit-Ananda that is impregnated in the Mahas.

उभयोरर्धयोर्मध्ये राजन्तं पुरुषोत्तमम् ।
महार्लोकपति विज्ञा विज्ञानमयमूचिरे ॥ ३७ ॥

37) Between the two halves, there shines the Supreme Person, Purushottama, the Lord of the Mahas-world; Him the Wise call the Supramental Person, Vijnanamaya Purusha.

Vijnanamaya Purusha is a term taken from the Upanishads. It is used in a definite sense here to denote what is called in Sri Aurobindo's Teachings the Supermind, Vijnana. Even the latter English word does not merely mean the Mind par excellence, above the normal mind. It means all that has been spoken of the Mahas, the fourth term, Vyahriti, of the world-system, with its corresponding status in the hierarchy of Consciousness. Ordinarily in latter Sanskrit and especially in philosophical works Vijnana is used as a synonym of Buddhi, intellect, as in the Vijnana-skandha of the Buddhists. But in the earlier texts terms are used with precision to denote certain categories of knowledge and things, and their significances are lost to us and the same terms are used to connote things of knowledge which are different from those that were their original significances. Thus Ajnana, Sanjnana, Vijnana, Prajnana, Jnana are all terms of profound psychological significance based upon direct perception of spiritual truths. It is sufficient to note that Vijnana, the principle of the world of Mahas, is neither the intellect, buddhi, nor knowledge of the intellectual kind, the mind. It is Knowledge indeed, but Knowledge proper to a higher grade of the Spirit's Being in its Self-extension in the supernal altitudes of Self-projection, a Knowledge immense with Power, or it is something that is at once Knowledge and Power or Know-ledge that is Power. This is the Purusha, Vijnanamaya, the Supramental Person.

आनन्दः परमं ब्रह्म प्रजानमिति चक्षते ।
लोकचक्रपरार्धस्य यत्रान्तर्भाव इष्यते ॥ ३८ ॥

38) The Supreme Brahman is the Delight, it is called Prajnana, intense consciousness; it is the Ananda which includes the Upper Half of the Sphere of the worlds.

The worlds and the principles from Ananda downwards are now mentioned. This creation of our triple world is immediately concerned with the Mahas, the vaster world above that is next to it in this broad classification; the higher half parardha, (Jana, Tapas and Satya) is treated as one block, and for all practical purposes, it is included in one term, the Ananda which is next to the Mahas and with which the latter is charged through and through. The significance of the statement that Brahman is called prajnana is this that it is the intense, concentrated, and in a sense the apprehending, Consciousness as distinct from the vast and comprehending Consciousness turned to the Manifestation, designated by the term Vijnana—the Supermind of the Mahas world.

तुरीयं धाम विज्ञानं तैत्तिरीयैर्महः स्मृतम् ।
अपरार्धगतं ज्ञानं मनः शुद्ध स्वरात्मकम् ॥ ३९ ॥

39) The fourth status Vijnana, the supramental is called the Mahas by the Taittiriyas. The knowledge that pertains to the lower half of the world here is called the Pure Mind, Manah, of the nature of Svar.

The Vijnana principle that is proper to the world of Mahas is so termed by the sages of the Taittiriya school. For in that Upanishad a broad division of Brahman, the One, into several aspects is made, having in view its bearing on the practical side leading to the realisation of Brahman in those aspects. It will be more pertinent to state that the Upanishad begins with the statement that Matter is Brahman and ends with “Ananda, Delight is Brahman”. In this scheme there are only five divisions, five principles and not seven. But that is reconciled by what we have stated already to the effect that the higher half is included in the Ananda and the explanation is also given. Now the Taittiriya Upanishad starts with an eye to the realisation of all Matter, anna, and in its extended sense, the Physical Universe as Brahman. Then, when all Matter is resolved into Force the latter's special and radical form, Life, as Brahman is placed before the seeker as the next immediate goal for realisation. It is not sheer force and blind energy that is life, prana, which is realised as Brahman, but there is some intelligent principle in and behind Life called the Mind, manah, which is the driving power of Intelligence that is to be realised as Brahman. Beyond and above and further than the Mind is Vijnana, the Supermind and the Ananda is still above. Thus when the Upanishad teaches that Matter anna, Life prana which is subtler than Matter, Mind manah still subtler, and still further Vijnana and Ananda—each is Brahman, it proceeds on an all-inclusive basis and the principle is applicable to the universal as well as to the individual. Applying the same to the individual person, later Vedantins discovered the truth of the five sheaths Kosas, and went on with the classification of bodies and states of consciousness corresponding to them. It does not form part of our purpose to enter into a discussion of these classifications based on a different teaching for a definite purpose. Suffice it to say, that the Manas, the Mind-principle is the highest of the triple existence, Matter, Life and Mind, that is developed and organised in man, while the Vijnana as we have envisaged it is not.

Now the Mind, as a Universal principle is the Pure Mind, which partakes of the substance and nature of what is called Svar, the topmost of the triple world of this lower creation.

भुवर्लोकात्मकः प्राणस्त्वपरार्धपरा क्रिया ।
भूरित्यन्नमयो लोकस्त्वपरार्धावधिर्जडः ॥ ४० ॥

40) Prana, Life is of the nature of Bhuvar Loka. Its nature is activity that pertains to the lower half; Bhuh is the World of Matter, the Inconscient, the terminus of this lower half of the World-system.

If Mind, the pure and luminous mind, represents the Svar and partakes of the substance and character of the third world, Life, Prana, is derived from and partakes of the substance of the middle world, Bhuvah. Then, the World of Matter, annamaya loka, is called the Bhuh; it is blind, the Inconscient, the boundary, downward limit of the descending hierarchy of consciousness (where it lapses) and the corresponding layers and fields of its activity.

सङक्षिप्यैवं समाख्याता लोकसप्तकधोरणी ।
विचित्रबन्धरचना विनिष्पन्नेयमीशितुः ॥ ४१ ॥

41) Thus in sum is stated the course of the sevenfold world-system, a marvellous arrangement, variously constituted, that has issued from the Lord.

An elaborate discussion of the seven principles of existence is not what is attempted here. The line of thought that will be helpful for a proper understanding of the unitary Existence in its relation to its own colourful Manifestation as the Cosmic Existence is all that is briefly mentioned now. And this conception will go a long way in loosening the rigidity of the intellectual mind and widening it out of its habitual groove into large vistas in the Cosmic Manifestation. That is a gain contributed to mental development and knowledge that can make way for a deeper and higher living in response to the luminous ideas of the Mind in the Spirit. We will have occasion again to make mention of these fundamental principles and their bearing on the practical aspect of the Life that is the aim of Sri Aurobindo's Teachings.