Ritual

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units of energy called tanmatras which cannot be seen or measured.
The tanmatras result from the action of energy on subtle matter,
bhutadi, which is absolutely homogeneous and inert when the
original equilibrium comes to an end. The infra-atomic potential
units of energy possess something more than mass, energy or
quantum, and they are characterized by powers of pressure,
radiant heat, cohesive attraction. They are also charged with
specific energies represented by sound potential - the energy of
vibration; touch potential - energy of impact on mechanical
pressures; colour potential - energy of radiant heat and light; taste
potential - energy of viscous attraction; smell potential - energy of
cohesive attraction. These subsequently give rise, by a process of
'condensation and collocation' from the corresponding tanmatras,
to the five grosser atoms: space (vyoman), air (marut), fire (tejas),
water (ap), and earth (kshiti).
The cornerstone of this view is that the universe does not evolve
out of atoms but the atoms are the tertiary state in the formation of
the universe. Each kind of infra-atomic potential becomes charged
with the grosser element which together with the original action
of energy over bhutadi in turn generates the next infra-atomic
potential. For example, the first to emanate is the sound potential,
which generates the proto-atom of space; then the atom of space
together with the original action of energy generates the tanmatra
of touch potential and the atom of air; the atom of air together
with the original action then generates colour potential, and so on.
The grosser elements should not be confused with elementary
substances; they represent abstract principles on the basis of their
properties.
A bird's-eye view of the successive stages of cosmogenesis has
been provided by Dr B. N. Seal:
Out of the all-pervasive rudiment-matter (Bhutadi) appeared Akasa
(ether), first as a Tanmatra (subtle matter) charged with the potential
energy of sound (vibration potential), and then as an atomic integration
of mono-Tanmatric structure (the Akasa-atom) also ubiquitous and allenveloping.
In the next stage we find a new kind of Tanmatras, systems of
the infra-atomic vibratory particles, so arranged as to manifest a new
form of Energy, that of impact or mechanical pressure, and these
Tanmatras combining with the vibration potentials (Akasa-Tanmatra)
produced a new kind of atom, the di-Tanmatric Vayu-atom, which by
aggregation formed a gaseous envelope composed of impinging
(driving) vibratory particles (Vayu). Next appeared the third class of
Tanmatras, infra-atomic systems of the impinging vibratory particles,
which by their collocation developed a new form of Energy - the energy
of radiant heat-and-light. These Tanmatras, combining with the
potentials (Tanmatras) of vibration and impact, produced a new kind of