Panch Mahabhuta Tatwa and Sharira: Five Gross Elements and Living Beings (According To The Indian Philosophy)

All forms of the life comprise the five Natural Elements(Panch Mahabhuta Tatwa), namely, Air, water, Soil, Space and fire. These five elements combine together to create a balance in Nature, Which ultimately helps in the creation and sustenance of life.Any kind of disharmony may lead to a catastrophe. However, the modern man with his increasing interference in the natural mechanism, is incessantly polluting the Elements and as such casting a doom on himself.

PanchMahabhuta tatwa and Sharira offers a scientific study of the Elements and the body, and their-interrelationship. It is an effort to introduce ourselves to our selfish face and the impact it is having on the environment and life on earth.

The book, basically, aims at making us realize the need to change our ways, close the entrance to the path of destruction and extinction, and move on the constructive path, keeping the elements clean for growth, health and happiness. Not only will it be a victory of man, but also Elements, body, divinity and humanity!

Prof.Shrikant Prasoon is a reader, teacher, thinker, writer, poet and above all,a humanist. The more he reads and thinks, the more he writes on varied topics, but with one aim – ‘to show man the need of Nature and Natural life’. He believes that all religions are integral and inseparable, living and developing parts of one basic Religion called Humanism; and all the systems are an outcome of the greatest celestial system, which is devised and regulated by the unseen and and unknown creator.

A retired Professor of English, he writes in Hindi with equal ease. His recent books Knowing Buddha, Knowing guru Nanak and Indian Scriptures have been widely acclaimed

Panch Mahabhuta Tatwa and Sharira should have been purely a book of science but I have ‘deliberately and diligently’ changed it into a general book. It is now for everyone to read, understand , enjoy and perform ‘pious duties toward Elements, Body, Creator and Nature to ensure continuity of life.

Life is not what we live and then die. It is not what ends with us. Life is a sublime term and a divine gift. It must continue. We are here on this Earth, because it has continued, it will continue and the the posterity will live ,play and give way to their posterity. It is the supreme arrangement, which should not be disturbed.Hance, we must control ourselves and lead a balanced life to shun away human interference and excesses towards Nature and Naturals Elements. That is our first and foremost duty to ‘live under limitations’. The eternal fact that will never change is that ‘our freedom ends at the end of the tip of our nose and at the fingers of stretched hands’. We are free only to a limited extent.

We can go for a rich diet and luxurious living occasionally. It should not be a regular affairs. If it becomes regular, then the Elements in our body will lose balance, the body will become imbalanced and will no longer remain healthy. Thus happiness will vanish from life. The people with abnormal body and nature are alive just in literal terms, but they are not living.

Life should never be lived as a burden. Live it wisely, live it fully and be healthy and happy. Life will become bliss. Inner strength and growth of body is as important as the outer growth and strength.

This book deals with the five Naturals Elements, Panch Mahabhuta Tatwa.The translation of Mahabhuta Tawta into ‘Elements’ is not satisfactory enough, for it does not carry the weight and significance, it does not express the divinity and sublimity.Nither does it show the extreme need and latent qualities of the Mahabhuta Tawata.In comparisons to Mahabhuta Tawata, ‘Element is a very ordinary and superfluous term.

The characteristics cited above are not true about the Elements. However, Elements are still recognized as essential things for life, especially the five Natural Elements. In the absence of any one from them, life is not possible, life cannot sustain itself. So, these Elements are freely available and in abundance.

Man is making them scarce and charging a price for each of them. He has become the most degenerated businessman. He is selling Air,Soil,Water,Fire and Space. Others are paying for them. It seems that he has completely lost contact with God, has polluted and is still polluting the Elements. He has already made all the preparations for the extinction of life from the Mother Earth. And yet, he dreams to survive to rule over the world. However, soon there will be ‘absolutely no world’ or life to rule over.

Panch Mahabhuta Tawata and sharira is a scientific study of the Element and the body, and their inter-relationship. Both the concrete form and the abstract reality are analised,explained and synthesized in achieving the target of understanding the Elements and showing the need of their balanced presence in the body, which we can achieve by absorbing them. There is an effort to show the intricate and essential relationship between the Creator and the body, which was never possible without him.

In this book, I have not made use of scriptural transliteration to enable the general people to read it easily. Only a has been used, for long ‘a’ sound is otherwise impossible to write in the Roman script. Rest of everything is as written in government papers, magazines, newspapers and general books. It will help the readers to read the few mantras and shlokas quoted in it and also the names of persons and books.

It is Lord Shiva’s grace that I was to write this book. I felt the elements at their best in me while completing the task.

It will be a victory of the elements and the body, of divinity and humanity, if man changes his ways, closes the entrance to the path of destruction and extinction, and moves on the constructive path, keeping the Elements clean for growth, health and happiness.