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Preface
5 Planes of Existence
Introduction
Five Planes of Manifestation
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PRAKRITI, OR MULA-PRAKRITI, BEING THAT OUT OF WHICH EVERYTHING IN NATURE IS PRODUCED
A symbol of primordial Matter emanated from the
Absolute. This Divine essence differentiates into seven planes of
manifestation, two of which, the highest,—are potential, and five
are actual. Spirit working into and through Matter makes matter
fertile for the production of all forms and qualities on the four
lower planes.
"The source of all things is the power of the divine spirit (Māyā),
the power that is hidden beneath the things that emanate out of it.
It is the one deity that actuates and controls all those proposed
principles of emanation, including time and the personal soul." -
Svetas, Upanishad, § I. S. B. of E.
Maya, or Prakriti, a birthless beginning that gives birth to all
things. Prakriti is Māyā, and Mahesvara is the Mayin or
arch-illusionist. All this shifting world is filled with portions of
him." - Ibid.
"The root and substance of all things (except soul, Purusha) is
Prakriti. It is no production. Seven things produced by it are also
producers. Thence come sixteen productions. Soul, the twenty-fifth
essence, is neither a production nor producer. - MON. WILLIAMS,
Indian Wisdom, p. 92.
Much preparation is needed before the Self or Soul can enter the
World-process. States of being produce other states following, and
many states are begun and ended before the lower nature is in a
condition capable of bearing the Divine Child,—the God within. The
Self is not a product, but is the eternal Spirit, and comes to be
the ruler and organiser of the entire nature.
"By various means Prakriti endowed with qualities, acting as a
benefactress, accomplishes without profit to herself the purpose of
soul, who is devoid of qualities, and makes no return of benefit." -
San-khya-karika, 59, 60.
The soul being essentially Spirit,-eternal, unchangeable,-is
regarded as "witness, solitary, bystander, spectator, and passive"
(ibid., 19), before whom the qualities of matter (prakriti) are
displayed.
"Prakriti, the principle of emanation, unconscious as it is, acts
with a view to the liberation of Purushas or Selves. ... Prior to a
fresh creation, or palingenesia of the world, there is no misery, as
the migrating souls have neither bodies, senses, nor environments."
- A. E. GOUGH, Phil. of Upanishads, p. 205.
"The Samkhya philosopher makes Prakriti, under the eye of a Purusha
(Self), develop into Buddhi." - MAX MÜLLER, The Six Systems, p. 371.
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