The search within, is the ultimate goal of human life. Unfortunately the term has been complicated by various teachers. Often Vedas are cited. It is not necessary to make a reference to Vedas as Vedas only teach Self realization. Basically the self-realization concept is based on the five basic elements. These are akash, air, fire, water, and earth. . These five elements are embedded in the human body, in the form of indriyas. These indriyas are divided into five tanmatras, five jnanaenthriams, and five karmaenthriams. These make 20 tatwas. Five karmaenthriams are Mouth, Legs, Hands, Anus and Genital. Five jnanaethriams are Ears, Eyes, Nose, Mouth and Skin. Five thanmatras are Sound, Taste, Smell, Light, and Touch. Five elements we have already seen. Thus we have 20 tatwas. These tatwas are all interrelated to each other. You will also find that the mouth finds a place both in Karmaenthriams and jnanaenthriams. This underlines the importance of the mouth as it a giver and also a taker. Food is taken through the mouth and speech is coming out of the mouth.

All our physical activities are done by karmaenthriams, Eating, walking, writing etc, excretion and reproduction. We perform all our karmas through these. Jnanaenthriams perform hearing, seeing, smelling, speech and seeking comforts for the body. These five aid the karmaenthriams in doing karmas. The five tanmatras are nothing but the activities of other three. Thus, we have to basically understand that only the five basic elements do all the internal and external activities of a life through the karmaenthriams, jnanaenthriams, and tanmatras. All these make us to understand and realize the external world. After understanding and realizing an object, we get attached to that object and want to enjoy the finer aspects of it. At this point, all the 20 tatwas will be working for us. The focal point at that moment is only that object and nothing else, as all the 20 tatwas are centered on that object. But what makes these 20 tatwas work for us?

Anthakkaranam makes this work for us. Anthakkaranam is made up of four more tatwas. They are manas (mind), buddhi (intellect), Chitam (consciousness) and ahankaram (ego). The five basic elements which are called panchabhudas in the form 20 tatwas induce anthakkaranam. In other words, these four - mind, intellect, consciousness and ego cannot work without the 20 tatwas mentioned above. These make us to understand, realize, get attached and enjoy the finer aspects of the object mentioned above. But the anthakkaranam does not work directly and works only with the influence of the 20 tatwas. Now let us see how it works. The 20 tatwas first influence the mind which gets corrupted. The corrupted mind influences the intellect. Now your intellect gets corrupted. The corrupted intellect influences the consciousness. Consciousness is also called thought or perception. So it understands what the mind and intellect say.

This intellectual capacity then passed on to our ego to do the act. The ego is “I” concept. The ego makes us think that “I” did this or that which is not the fact. The act was originally initiated by the 20 tatwas and implemented by the anthakkaranam. So for the whole act, all these 24 tatwas are responsible and not our ego (one of the 24 tatwas) alone. But we unfortunately think that our ego or the “I” ness has done the act. So, we are not responsible for the act done by us. To put it in other way we have to realize that our “self” is not responsible. This is the beginning of “self realization”. The concept of maya and brahmam and how to realize our “self” will be done in Part II of this series which will be published shortly. Your suggestions and corrections will be of great help in making Part II more interesting.