If you are a person who regularly or occasionally listens to or attends lectures related to exploration of Vedic knowledge, you may have heard the term ‘Pancha Maha-Bhoota' also known as 'the five great elements'. These five great elements constitute our body.

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In vedic as well as modern texts, Pancha Maha-Bhoota are given as:

1. Akasha (Ether, space)
2. Vayu (Air)
3. Tejas or Agni (Fire)
4. Apas (Water)
5. Prthivi (Earth)

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The 5 elements and their associated organs and Chakras

• Ether (ears, hearing) (throat)
• Air (skin, touch) (heart)
• Fire (eyes, seeing) (navel)
• Water (tongue, taste buds, taste) (sacral)
• Earth (nose, smell) (root)

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Usually, when a skeptic/atheist listens to the concept of Pancha Maha-Bhoota, they often raise many questions of which two are worthy to be answered as clarifying such questions helps us to lay strong foundation for this classic vedic concept by interpreting the exact meaning.

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First question

Our body is made of flesh, bones and blood. How is it constituted by Pancha Maha-Bhoota, exactly?

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Second question

Do you mean, the elements?

1. Earth element as the place where plant and animal kingdom exist
2. Water element as the substance that we drink
3. Fire as the one which burns
4. Air as the one which creates wind
5. Ether as the blue sky

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To answer with clarity

Start with the statement made by the Great Albert Einstein ‘Everything in life is vibration’.

And with pride, reveal the fact that much before the origin of the branch of physics , Sri Sankaracharya in his classical text ‘Sri Saudharyalahari’ revealed this with a Sanskrit adage:

(vs.1) that without Shakti (vibrational energy), Shiva (consciousness) cannot even move. It has to be understood that Shakti exists as different forms or in other words, as different vibrational levels in the universe and the same is experienced in the human body too. These varying vibrational levels (Pranic frequency) of Shakti are collectively called as ‘Pancha Maha-Bhoota’ by ancient seers to denote five levels of vibrational energies. The Pancha Maha-Bhoota do not exist in our body as any chemical element. The five great elements represent five different levels of vibrations of Shakti. The order of manifestation of Pancha Maha-Bhoota in the universe is as follows;

Ether – Air – Fire – Water – Earth

“All elements originate from ether. Ether moves to become air, air causes friction to become fire, fire becomes water as it becomes denser, water becomes earth as it coagulates. And all five elements are contained in the Earth.” - Dr David Fawley

‍(Ether has the highest rate of vibration and towards right, rate of vibration decreases. Earth has the lowest rate of vibration among Pancha Maha-bhoota)

Interestingly, at any given point of time, only one element will be active in the human body, ie., only one kind of vibrational energy will be active at any given point of time. By knowing the active element at any given point of time, one can decide what to do/what not to at that particular time in order to maintain complete health, wellness and material prosperity.

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How can you tell which element is active?

Take a mirror and exhale the full breath through nose towards the mirror in such a way that vapour in breath should touch the surface of mirror

Observe the shape which is formed on the surface of mirror

• If the vapour forms a quadrangle, earth element is rising‍
• If the vapour forms a half-moon, water element is rising‍
• If the vapour forms a triangle, fire element is rising‍
• If the vapour forms a circle, air element is rising‍
• If the vapour forms only spots, ether element is rising

Remember that it takes practice to get full mastery over identification of elements using this method.

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