Mr. Colebrooke on the Philosophy of the Hindtis. 37 



The notion of ether and wind as distinct elements, an opinion which this 

 lias in common with most of the other schools of Indian philosophy, seems 

 to originate in the assumption of mobility for the essential character of the 

 one. Hence air in motion has been distinguished from the aerial fluid at 

 rest, which is dcds'a, supposed to penetrate and pervade all worldly space ; 

 and, by an easy transition, vdi/ic (wind) and motion, come to be identified, as 

 dcds'a (ether) and space likewise are confounded. 



An organized body, in its most subtile state of tenuity, comprises sixteen 

 members (avyaija) or corporeal parts, viz. five organs of sense, as many 

 instruments of action, and the same number of vital faculties ; to which 

 are added mind (including intelligence, consciousness, and sensation) ; or, 

 distinguishing mind and intellect {huddhi') as separate parts, the number is 

 seventeen. 



The vital faculties, termed vdyu, are not properly air or wind, but vital 

 functions or actions. Considered, howev'er, with a reference to the proper 

 meaning of that term, they are by some explained to be, 1st respiration, 

 which is ascending, and of which the seat is the nostril ; 2d, inspiration 

 (or otherwise explained, flatus), which is descending, and which issues 

 from the lower extremity of the intestine ; 3d, flatuousness, which is dif- 

 fused tluough the body, passing by all the veins and arteries ; 4th, expira- 

 tion, ascending from the throat ; 5th, digestion, or abdominal air, of wliich 

 the seat is the middle of the body. 



According to a different explanation, the first is respiration ; the second, 

 inspiration ; tiie third, a mean between the two, pulsation, palpitation, and 

 other vital movements ; the fourth is expiration ; and the fiftii is digestion. 



Three states of the soul in respect of the body are i-ecognized ; to which 

 must be added a fourth, and even a fifth, viz. waking, dreaming, profoundly 

 sleeping, iialf-dead, and dead. While awake, the soul, associated with body, 

 is active under the guidance of providence, and has to do with a real (pdra- 

 mdrfhici) and practical (tyavahdiici) creation. In a dream there is an illu- 

 sory {rndydmctyi) and unreal creation : nevertheless, dreams prognosticate 

 events. Dreaming is the mean {sandhya) between sleeping and waking. In 

 profound sleep the soul is absent, having retired by the channel of the 

 arteries, and being as it were enfolded in the supreme deity. It is not, 

 however, blended with the divine essence, as a drop of water fallen into a 

 lake, where it becomes undistinguishable ; but, on the contrary, the soul 

 continues discriminate, and returns unchanged to the body which it ani- 



