A Primer into these enigmatic
evolutes of existence
The following is an abridged adaptation from
Dr. S. P. Sabharathnam Sivacharyar’s translation of the Mrigendra Agama’s Vidya Pada, Chapter 10.
Editor’s note: This is a condensed summary, not the literal translation. Certain technical details and philosophical nuances found in the original have been simplified or omitted here to offer a clear, accessible overview.
From the vast Being of Lord Siva (which comprises the first five causal tattvas) arises maya, the field of limitation and manifestation. Within it, the Lord, here called Ananteshvara, stirs the energies that form the world of experience. To give souls the instruments, bodies and settings through which they may learn, He unfolds a sequence of principles known as tattvas—the building blocks of consciousness and matter.
The first to emerge is Kaala tattva, or time. Time divides the endless Now into moments and seasons so that the soul can journey through cycles of birth, experience and liberation. From time arises Niyati tattva, the principle of order or necessity. Niyati ensures that every soul encounters the results of its past actions and that all events unfold according to divine law.
Next unfolds Kalaa tattva, the principle of limitation in doing—the channeling of the soul’s boundless power into specific capacities for limited creation and action. Through Kalaa, infinite potential becomes defined and limited, and the soul gains the ability to act within time and order.
Next comes Vidya tattva, the principle of knowing. The soul’s inner light is dimmed by the impurity called anava mala (ego), so Siva brings forth Vidya to restore a measure of awareness—the power to discern and learn. From this awakening springs Raga tattva, the power of desire. It gives the soul the urge to act, to seek joy, to move toward experience. Even desire, in this view, has a sacred purpose: it draws the soul into life, where it gains the wisdom that ultimately leads to freedom.
Working together, these four principles—Time, Order, Knowledge and Desire—awaken the sense of individuality called Purusha tattva, the feeling of “I am the experiencer.” From that, Awareness unfolds Prakriti tattva, the primal matter from which creation arises. Within Prakriti stir the three gunas, or qualities: sattva (clarity and light), rajas (activity and striving), and tamas (rest and inertia).
From the play of these three emerge the familiar faculties of mind:
• Buddhi, the intellect that decides
• Ahamkara, the “I” or ego that claims experiences as its own
• Manas, the coordinating mind that links thought and sensation
Then appear the ten organs—the five of knowledge (seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching) and the five of action (speaking, grasping, moving, reproducing, eliminating)—followed by the five subtle elements of sound, touch, form, taste and smell, and finally the five gross elements of space, air, fire, water and earth.
These twenty-four comprise the impure tattvas, the instruments of worldly life. They are called impure not because they are bad but because they operate under the veiling power of maya and hide the soul’s innate purity. Together with the higher, more subtle tattvas, they form the well-known list of thirty-six tattvas, extending from Siva at the summit of consciousness down to the Earth at its densest level.
Each tattva serves a purpose. Time gives order; Order ensures justice; Knowledge gives light; Desire gives movement; Individuation provides identity; Matter provides substance; the Gunas animate all things; Mind organizes; and the Elements shape the physical world. Through these layers the soul acts, experiences and evolves.
The Agama teaches that karma alone does not govern life—karma itself functions under Kaala and Niyati. These tattvas are the architecture of bondage but also the ladder of liberation. When, through Siva’s grace and spiritual discipline, the soul rises above identification with these layers, it sees them as expressions of its own divine source. Time becomes timelessness, order becomes perfect harmony, desire becomes pure will, and knowledge becomes omniscience.
Thus, the tattvas are far more than a list of philosophical categories. They are a sacred map of consciousness itself—showing how the Infinite appears as the finite and how the finite can find its way home to the Infinite again.
Dr. S. P Sabharathnam Sivacharyar, of the Adi Saiva priest lineage, is an expert in ancient Tamil and Sanskrit, specializing in the Vedas, Agamas and Shilpa Shastras. This adaptation is based on his translation of the Mrigendra Agama.