Of late there seems to be a lot of interest generated in
the "Ayurvedic theory" of "Creation of the Universe". Maybe this is
because of the "Oops!, I was wrong about black holes" proclamation by
Stephen Hawking. I have tried to present the topic in a nutshell.

First of all there is no such thing as ayurvedic theory on the
subject of the creation of the universe. Creation of the universe is
a topic discussed threadbare by Indian philosophy. Those looking for
good books on this subject should therefore look in the "Indian
philosophy" section rather than "ayurveda" section in book shops.

There waere numerous schools of thought in Indian philosophy. The 9
prominent among them were Sankhya, Vaisheshik, Nyaya, Yog, Purva
Mimansa, Uttar Mimansa, Baudha, Jain and Charvak. Many other Indian
sciences have been influenced by one or more of these schools and
have often modified their concepts to suit their own needs.

Ayurveda is one such science. When ayurveda says it deals with the
maintainence of the well being of a healthy person and treatment of a
diseased person, it becomes neccesary to define this person. Ayurveda
has among its basic principles a priciple called as the "Pinda-
Brahmand theory", which states that "the human being (pinda) is a
minor manisfestation of the universe (brahmand) and similarly the
universe is amjor manisfestation of the universe"

So if we can define "the universe", everything applicable to it would
be applicable to the human being albiet in a smaller sense. The very
basic question was "how did the universe come into existence". Since
a lot of work was already done by the philosophy section, it would be
a lot easier for ayurveda to adapt their defination. The problem was
which one to adapt as there were many theories floating around. the
most sceintific among them were that of Sankhya and that of
Vaisheshik. So ayurveda decided to accept the "theory of creation"
from both these sources and make some adaption of its own. If
required this adapted version maybe refered to as "ayurvedic theory
of creation of universe"

As per Sankhya theory two basic tatvas (this concept has been
discussed previously) were responsible for the process. They were the
Purush and the Prakruti. These tatvas were always present. They do
not have a beginning. They have exactly opposing properties. Purusha
is the passive principle, is devoid of guna (properties) and aakar
(shape) and inspires prakriti to perform the process of creation,
while itself it only witnesses the act. Prakruti is the active
principle which has guna and aakar and performs the process of
creation after it has been initiated by Purusha.

Once the process has been initiated the first tatva to be created is
Mahat (intelligence). This gives rise to Ahankar (ego) which is of 3
types - Satvik, Rajasik and Tamasik.

Rajasik Ahankara aids Satvik ahankara to give rise to the eleven
indriyas - namely mana (mind), Karna-indriya (sense of sound is
received), Twak-indriya (sense of touch is received), Chakshu-indriya
(sense of sight is received), Rasa-indriya (sense of taste is
received), Ghrana-indriya (sense of smell is received), Hasta
(hands), Pada (feet), Mukha (mouth), Guda (Anal opening), Upastha
(Urinary opening).

Similarly Rajasik Ahankara aids Tamasik Ahankara to give rise to
pancha-tanmatras or the five subtle elements - namely Shabda (sound),
Sparsh (touch), Rupa (form), Rasa (taste), Gandha (scent).

The five subtle elements further give rise to the five basic elements
also known as pancha mahabhoota - namely Aakash (space), Vayu (air),
Teja (fire), Jala (water), Prithvi (earth).

From Prakruti-Purush the count is 25 if both are taken separately and
24 if both are considered as one. The theory further states that
everything in the universe is a combination of one or more of the
five basic elements i.e. they don't give rise to any new element. A
combination of only the five basic elements gives rise to the
inorganic world while alongwith the indriya it gives rise to the
organic world.

The Vaisheshik theory also stated that the entire universe is a
combination of five basic elements, namely the ones mentioned above.
But it stated that before the act of creation the atoms i.e anu of
these elements were in a free state. When the process of creation was
started (why it started you need to dive deep in Indian philosophy, I
am cutting that out for the moment), two anu of each elemnt came
toghether to form a dwyanuka, three dwyanukas came toghether to from
a trasarenu. Many trasarenus then combined to form each individual
elements. This did not apply to aakash which is all pervading.
Therefore before creation there was no sense of aakash, after
creation this sense arose. Thenofcourse the entire universe was
created by a combinatiom permutation of these elements.

From ayurvedic point of view in order to explain its defination
of "ayu" as a combination of sharir (body), indriya (senses), satva
(mind) and atma (soul) the Sankhya theory was perfect. But as far as
individual properties of medicinal substances was concerned the
Vaisheshik theory was more better suited. Therefore ayurveda accepted
both these theories as being the Theory of the creation of the
universe.

Coming back to Sankhya theory, whenever a tatva gives rise to another
tatva, the first one os called as prakriti while the second one is
called as vikruti.
Among the 25 tatvas,
1) Purush though being a tatva niether is created nor creates
anything, hence is called as na prakruti na vikruti (neither prakruti
nor vikruti)
2) Prakruti gives rise to Mahat but itself is not created by any
tatva, hence it is called as mula prakruti avikruti (basic prakruti
but not vikruti)
3) Mahat, Ahankar and the 5 tanmatras are themselves created by the
preceding tatva and themselves create the following tatvas, hence
they are referred to as prakruti-vikruti (both a prakruti and a
vikruti)
4) The eleven indriyas and the five basic elements are created by the
preceding tatvas but themselves do not give rise to any new tatva,
hence they are called as vikriti (only vikriti)
The last paragraph is the answer to Message 2328 by kris

Cybervaidya