Panchadasi Chapter 2 - Differentiation of Five Elements  (Paperback, Dr. Gumma Gouri Shankar)

In this text, Poojya Swami Vidyaranya takes up the Chandogya Upanishad-vakya “Sad eva saumya idam agra aasit - ekam eva advitayam” for analysis of the Sat aspect of Brahman. It is one of the rare texts where Sat is analyzed as the ultimate truth. Existence is normally taken for granted and even when viewed is taken as a property of the object. This is same as consciousness that is linked to Jiva, which is widely analysed by other Vedanta texts. Here Existence is proved as an independent entity not belonging to any object, nor its property. It is the all-pervading power that enlivens all the objects in the creation. It erroneously appears to be limited to the objects, due to the ignorance of the Jivas. The text also deals with the enigmatic topic of Maya and explains the intricacies and complexity of the same. The truth that the existence instead of being a substance is reduced to the status of a property is arrived at through the analysis of elements, Pancha Bhuta viveka vis-à-vis Existence. A corollary of this conclusion is the establishment of illusive (Mithya) nature of the creation, that makes Sat the One truth that existed alone, without a second, before the creation.