Chapter 13 - Verse 5

The Great Elements (Mahabhutas) are so called because they pervade all vikaras, all modifications of matter. The elements here referred to are the subtle ones (sukshma), not the gross (sthula) elements, which latter will be spoken of as “the objects of the senses.”

Egoism (Ahaṃkāra): self-consciousness, consciousness of ego, the cause of ’the Great Elements’. Reason (Buddhi) is defined by determination and is the cause of Ahaṃkāra. The cause of Reason (Buddhi) is the Avyakta, the Unmanifested, the Avyākṛta or Undifferentiated, the Energy of the Lord (Īśvara-Śakti) spoken of in vii. 14. So much alone is Prakṛti, divided eightfold.* The ten senses are made up of the five “buddhi-indriyas”, senses of knowledge—such as hearing,—so called because they produce knowledge, and of the five “karma-indriyas,” senses of action such as speech and hand, so called because they bring about action. And the one: the manas, which is composed of thoughts and purposes (samkalpa) and so on, is the eleventh sense. The five objects of the senses are sound, etc. The Sāṅkhyas speak of these as the twenty-four principles (tattvas).

The Isvara-Sakti here referred to is the root of the insentient matter, spoken of as Maya in vii. 14, not the root of consciousness (chaitanya); i.e., the Mulaprakriti in its eight modifications.—(A).