Knowing Spirit and Matter

Self Inquiry—Find the Trap:

(a) Mark the 3-5 items below where you most typically get attached

or trapped.

(b) Make an escape plan!

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In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna teaches:

“The utmost highest knowledge is to discriminate between the worldly and the spiritual. This requires an understanding of both secular and sacred things.

Every element, particle, and sub-particle of the world originates in consciousness (which is a part of Pure Consciousness, Divinity)! In the world, Pure Consciousness separates into all the many physical and mental forces.

What follows are the 25 basic components of the worldly world of matter:

___ 1) The first component is Mahat (great cause) indicates the existence of a latent reasoning force, the first glimmering in nothingness of the capacity to differentiate (like a seed that drinks in moisture and is about to swell prior to sprouting). This Mahat gives rise to mind, matter, and energy.

___2) Next, Buddhi (intellect, higher mind) is the faculty of discrimination, ability to distinguish between Real and not-Real, Self and self, and so forth.

___ 3) Then, Ego (Ahamkara) comes. This is the principle of individuation which causes one to be aware of one’s self as an apparently separate entity.

___ 4) Next is Manas, produced from ego. Manas refers to the lower mind. Its job is to receive, process, and convey to the Intellect (Buddhi) the myriad messages coming from the world through the senses.

Emerging from Manas are the ten Sense Organs (the five ‘Organs of Perception,’ and the five ‘Organs of Action’). These are not physical ‘organs’ per se, but refer to ten demanding sensing mechanisms.

The five Organs of Perception are:

___ 5) hearing

___ 6) touch

___ 7) sight

___ 8) taste

___ 9) smell

The five Organs of Action are:

___10) vocal cords

___11) hands

___12) feet

___13) reproductive

___14) eliminative

From the ten sense organs above, develop the five ‘Objects of the Senses.’ Again, these are not objects per se, they are the five subtle essences in the world that attract your senses. These five Objects of the Senses are:

___15) sound

___16) feeling (physical, tactile feeling)

___17) taste (gustatory)

___18) smell (olfactory)

___19) aspect (shape, color, etc.)

Lastly produced are the five age-old Basic Elements into which the mind organizes all worldly matter:

___20) Earth

___21) Water

___22) Fire

___23) Air

___24) Space

And finally there is the mysterious twenty-fifth component:

___25) Atma, the vital force, the mysterious power that infuses life into all of the above.

Remember that everything known or knowable comes from Pure Consciousness, Spirit, Divinity.” – Krishna

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