The
five vayus or pranas of Hatha YogaAlthough attributed to Kapila, the legendary founder of the Samkhya philosophy, the Samkhya tattwa-school most clearly post-dates Ishwarakrishna's final codification of classical Samkhya, and probably dates to the 14th or 15th century. This includes all the twenty-four cosmological tattwas given in Classical Samkhya, plus the purusha making up the twenty-fifth. These are arranged in five sets of five, in which the universe is described as unfolding in five successive stages, i.e.:
The whole arrangement is as follows:
Akasha Vayu Tejas Apas Prithivi --------------------------------------------------------------- Akasha 1.Avyakta 2.Buddhi 3.Ahamkara 4.Manas 5.Purusha Unmanifest Intellect Ego Mind Animator --------------------------------------------------------------- Vayu 6.Shabda 7.Sparsha 8.Rupa 9.Rasa 10.Gandha Sound Touch Form Taste Smell --------------------------------------------------------------- Tejas 11.Akasha 12.Vayu 13.Tejas 14.Apas 15.Prithivi Space Air Fire Water Earth --------------------------------------------------------------- Apas 16.Shrotra 17.Twak 18.Akshu 19.Jihva 20.Ghrana Hearing Touching Seeing Tasting Smelling --------------------------------------------------------------- Prithivi 21.Vac 22.Pani 23.Padas 24.Upastha 25.Payus Speaking Grasping Walking Sex Excretion
So, according to this table, Avyakta would be Akasha of Akasha; Buddhi would be Vayu of Akasha, and so on [David Allen Hulse, The Key of it All, pp.288-9]. Such a fractal-like division of reality into self-similiar subdivisions is a common theme in much occult thought. To give just a few better-known examples: the ten sefirot of Jewish and Hermetic Kabbalah, each divided into a full series of ten sub-sefirot; the Planes, Cycles, and Root-races of Blavatskyian Theosophy (and subsequent cosmological systems), each divided into the same set of seven sub-planes, sub-cycles, or sub-races; and the Octaves of Gurdjieff, each divided into a full scale of sub-octaves.
Apart from a different order of tattwas relative to the cosmological scheme, it can be seen that the only novelty is the demotion of the purusha to the lowly place of prithivi of akasha, to make up the fifth element of consciousness/akasha. And since in this system prithivi is matched with the karmendriyas or organs of action, whilst the purusha is in both Patanjalian Yoga and classical Samkhya most specifically a non-active principle, the artificial nature of this arrangement is evident.
This series formed the foundation for the first proper or true tattva system, the five vayus or pranas of Hatha Yoga.
The
five vayus or pranas of Hatha Yoga
Here is a diagram of
the 36 Kashmir Shaivite tatwas with sanskrit letters (includes the
above 25 Samkhyan tattwas) - 
mirror
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