(1) Âdi Tattva, the primordial universal Force, issuing at the beginning of manifestation, or of the “creative” period, from the eternal immutable Sat, the substratum of All. It corresponds with the Auric Envelope or Brahmâ's Egg, which surrounds every globe, as well as every man, animal and thing. It is the vehicle containing potentially everything—Spirit and Substance, Force and Matter. Âdi Tattva, in Esoteric Cosmogony, is the Force which we refer to as proceeding from the First or Unmanifested Logos.
(2) Anupâdaka Tattva,[832] the first differentiation on the plane of being—the first being an ideal one—or that which is born by transformation from something higher than itself. With the Occultists, this Force proceeds from the Second Logos.
(3) Âkâsha Tattva, this is the point from which all exoteric Philosophies and Religions start. Âkâsha Tattva is explained in them as Etheric Force, Ether. Hence Jupiter, the “highest” God, was named after Pater Æther; Indra, once the highest God in India, is the etheric or heavenly expanse, and so with Uranus, etc. The Christian biblical God, also, is spoken of as the Holy Ghost, Pneuma, rarefied wind or air. This the Occultists call the Force of the Third Logos, the Creative Force in the already Manifested Universe.
(4) Vâyu Tattva, the aërial plane where substance is gaseous.
(5) Taijas Tattva, the plane of our atmosphere, from tejas, luminous.
(6) Âpas Tattva, watery or liquid substance or force.
(7) Prithivî Tattva, solid earthly substance, the terrestrial spirit or force, the lowest of all.
All these correspond to our Principles, and to the seven senses and forces in man. According to the Tattva or Force generated or induced in us, so will our bodies act.
Now, what I have to say here is addressed especially to those members who are anxious to develop powers by “sitting for Yoga.” You have seen, from what has been already said, that in the development of Râja Yoga, no extant works made public are of the least good; they can at best give inklings of Hatha Yoga, something that may develop mediumship at best, and in the worst case—consumption. If those who practice “meditation,” and try to learn “the Science of Breath,” will read attentively Nature's Finer Forces, they will find that it is by utilizing the five Tattvas only that this dangerous science is acquired. For in the exoteric Yoga Philosophy, and the Hatha Yoga practice, Âkâsha Tattva is placed in the head (or physical brain) of man; Tejas Tattva in the shoulders; Vâyu Tattva in the navel (the seat of all the phallic Gods, “creators” of the universe and man); Âpas Tattva in the knees; and Prithivî Tattva in the feet. Hence the two higher Tattvas and their correspondences are ignored and excluded; and, as these are the chief factors in Râja Yoga, no spiritual or intellectual phenomena of a high nature can take place. The best results obtainable will be physical phenomena and no more. As the “Five Breaths,” or rather the five states of the human breath, in Hatha Yoga correspond to the above terrestrial planes and colours, what spiritual results can be obtained? On the contrary, they are the very reverse of the plane of Spirit, or the higher macrocosmic plane, reflected [pg 500] as they are upside down, in the Astral Light. This is proven in the Tântra work, Shivâgama, itself. Let us compare.
First of all, remember that the Septenary of visible and also invisible Nature is said in Occultism to consist of the three (and four) Fires, which grow into the forty-nine Fires. This shows that as the Macrocosm is divided into seven great planes of various differentiations of Substance—from the spiritual or subjective, to the fully objective or material, from Akâsha down to the sin-laden atmosphere of our earth—so, in its turn, each of these great planes has three aspects, based on four Principles, as already shown above. This seems to be quite natural, as even modern Science has her three states of matter and what are generally called the “critical” or intermediate states between the solid, the fluidic, and the gaseous.