a Kha and Other Words Denoting “Zero,” in Connection with the Indian Metaphysics of Space Kha, cf. Greek xaos, is generally “cavity"s and in the Rg Veda, particu. larly “the hole in the nave of a wheel through which the axle runs” (Monier-Williams). A. N. Singh has shown conclusively that in Indian ‘mathematical usage, current during the earlier centuries of the Christian cera, kha means “zero”! Saryadeva, commenting on Aryabhata, says that “the has refer to voids (Kini nya upa laksitimi) ... thus Rhadvinake ‘means the eighteen places denoted by zeros.” Among other words denot- ing zero ate Junya, akdla, eyoma, untaritsa, nabha, ananta, and piirna* We are immediately struck by the fact that che words éanya, “void,” and piirma, “plenum,” should have 2 common references the im being, that all numbers ate virtually or potentially present in that which is with- out number; expressing this as an equation, © = x —~ x it is apparent chat zero is wo number as possibilty is to actuality. Again, employment of the term ananta with the same refecence implies an identification of zero with infinity; the beginning of all series being thus the same as their end. This (hia eay was at pushed in the Balto of the Scho! of Ort Sear (London), VE (1934)—n.) " “owns of the United Provinces Mire Soiey Wh ts 6 te wl pine sinh he oe mn mt ve bee i cnc and in common we rong he muhcnabe eng toe the idea of applying the plecevalue prigle tera sjston of wend hanes coal have bee ented (dy p By aN aiiagh« dima hats een found at Mahenjo Daro (£,H. Mackay, “Further Excavations at Mahenjodaro,” Ineo he Rt Sey dr THXRI, rng) by mo ee Intend othe pent arte pct an mp 4 Re Dobe Re sf ier he dca stm ote Cnc “Set ch Ove pone mete IE. TN he coh an ong patos o he my whi wet eran sculy ued by Ansa and hiss, ce, Ww dogmas "ase oe and some higher numbers. oe verve 220 RA last idea, we may observe, is met with already in the earlier metaphysical literature, for example RV wast, where Agni is described as “hiding both his ends (guhamdno anti)"; AB mz, “the Agnistoma is like a chariot wheel, endless (ananta)"; JUB 1.35, “the Year is endless (anansa), its ewo ends (aned) are Winter and Spring .. . so is the endless chant (enantars séman).” These citations suggest that it may be possible to ac- count for the later mathematicians’ selection of technical terms by refer- ence ro an earlier usage of the same or like terms in 2 purely metaphysical context. ‘Our intention being to demonstrate the native connection of the mathe- matical terms hha, ete, with che same terms as employed in purely meta- physical contests it will be necessary to prepare the diagram of a circle or cosmic wheel (cakra, mandala) and to point out the significance of the relationships of the parts of such a diagram according to universal tradition and more particularly in accordance with the formulation of the Rg Veda. Take 2 pices of blank paper of any dimensions, mark a point anywhere upon it, aad with this point as center draw two concentric circles of any radii, but one much less than the others draw any radius from the ceater to the outer circumference. With exception of the center, ‘wintch as a point is necessarily wichour dimension, note that every part of our diagram is merely representative; that is, the number of circles may be indefinitely increased, and the mumber of radii likewise, each circle thus filled up becoming at last a plane continuum, the extended round of any given world or state of being: for our purpose we are con- sidering onfy two such worlds—mythologically speaking, Heaven and Earth, or psychologically, the worlds of subject and object—as forming together the world or casmos, typical of any particolarized world which may be thought of as partial within it. Finally, cur diagram may be thought of either as consisting of two concentric circles with their com- ‘mon radii and one common center, or as the diagram of a wheel, with its felly, nave, spokes, and axle-point. ‘Now in the first place, as a geometrical symbol, that is to say with re- spect to measure or numeration, our diagram represents the logical reli tionships of the concepts naught or zero, inconnumerable unity, and in- definite muliplicity; the blank (Saya) surface having no numerical sig- nificance; the central point (indu, bindu) being an inconmumesable unity (inconnumerable, advaita, because there cannot be corceived a second cen- ter); and either circumference an endless (ananta) series of points, which may be thought of as numbers; the totality (sarvare) of the mumbered, miMAIOR Essays, that isto say individual, points cepresenting the sum of a mathematically infinite series extending from one to “infinity,” and conceivable as plus or ‘minus according to the direction of procedure. The whole area (Sarira) delimited corresponds 10 place (désa), a revolution of the circles about their center corresponds to time (Kala). It will be observed further that any radius connects analogous or corresponding points or numbers on the two cixcumferencesi? i now, we suppose the radius of one or both circles indefinitely reduced, which brings us to the centzal point as limiting con- cept (that is also “as it was in the beginning”), itis evident that even this point can be thought of only as a plenum of all uhe numbers represented ‘on cither circurafercnce* On the other hand, this point at the same time thac it represents an inconnomerable unity and, as we have seen, a plenum, ‘must also be thought of as representing, thar is, as the symbol of, zero, for two reasons: (1) inasmuch as the concept to which it refers is by defini- tion without place and without dimensions, and therefore nonexistent, and (2) the mathematically infinite series, chought of as both plus and ‘minus according to direction, cancel out where all directions meet in com- ‘mon focus. So far as I know, Indian literature does not provide a specifically geo suctrical exegesis exacily corresponding, co what is given in the preceding paragraph. What we do find in the metaphysical and religious traditions is a corresponding usage of the symbol of the Wheel (primarily the solar chariot, or a wheel thereof), and it is in this connection that we first mect with some of the most significant of those terms which ace later on employed by the mathematicians, In RV 11556 and 13642, 11, 13, 14 48 AV x84-7; KB xx; JUB 135; BU 15.15; Svee. Up. 14, Prafna Up. v15-6, and like texts, the Year as an everlasting sequence is thought of 2s an unwasting wheel of life, a revolving wheel of the Angels, in which all things have their being and are manifested in succession; “aone ofits spokes is last in order” (RV 855). The parts of the wheel are named as follows: dni, the axle-poine within the nave (note that the ale causes revolution, but does not itself revolve); kia, ndbhi, the nave (usually as space within the hub, occasionally as the hub itself); ara, spoke, connecting hub and felly; nemi, pavi, the felly. It should be ob- served that nabhi, from \/nabh, 10 expand, is also “navel”; similarly jn anchropomorphic formulation, “navel” corresponds to “space” (MU The famitiar principle “as above, 20 below” i illostrated here. 4 The notion of exemplars is expresed here, with resect to number o¢ mathe- ‘matical individuality. ve i me KRA 116); in the Rg Veda, the cosmos is constantly thought of as “expanded” (V pin) from this chthonic center. Certain passages indicating the metaphysical significance of the serms dni, kha, and ndbhi in the Re Veda may now be cited. Te should be premised that we find here in connection with the constant use of the ‘wheel symbol, and absence of a purcly geometrical formulation, the term ni employed to express ideas later on referted to by the words indu o bindu! Vedie dni, being the axle-point within the nave of the wheel, and on which the wheel revolves, corresponds exactly to Dante's “il punta dello stelo af cui la prima rota va dintorno” (Paradiso xmuti-12). The metaphysical significance of the dai is fully brought out in RV 1.35.6, nim na rathyam amrta adhi tasthuh, “as on the axlepoint of the chariot wheel are actually existent the undying [Angels or intellectual prin- ciples},” which also supplies the answer to the wellknown problem “How many Angels can stand on the point of a necile?” More often the rave of the wheel, rather chan the axle-point specifically, is treated as its center; nor need this confuse us if we reflect that just as under limiting conditions (indefinite reduction of the radius, or when the central point hhas been identified but the circle not yet drawn) -he center represents the citcle, so under similar conulitious (uictaphysicaly, ia principio) the axlepoint implies the nave or even the whole whee—the point without dimension, and a prineipial space not yet expanded (or as the Ry Veda ‘would express it, “closed”) being the same in reference. The nave then, ‘kha or ndbhi, of the world wheel is regarded as the receptacle and foun tain ofall order, formative ideas, and goods: for example, 1.285, rdhyama te varuna khim rtasya, “may we, O Varuna, win thy nave of Law"; ‘waigt6, where in Trita Aptya “all oracles (Ady) are set as is the nave ‘within the wheel (cakre ndbhir iva)”; rv28, where Indra opens the closed. of hidden aves or xocks (apihité ... Rani in verse 1, apihitani ata in verse 5) and-thos releases the Seven Rivers of Life.’ In vz, where Indu accuts in the Re Ved 2s "dcop" in connection with Soma: in AV vn.ten6 ax "point on a die’: and geammatically = che designation cf Anusvirg. PB vig19- 120 is of interest: indava ine hi pitarah, mana iv, i "the Pattatchs are as it were drops (indu in pl.) af it were the intlleeral principle” tn RV v.4422, Indu is evidently Soma; in v.54, Visospat. "The Hives, of course, represene ensembles af possibile (hence they ere often spoken of as "maternal") with respect to a like number of “worlds” oF planes of being, 25 ia 1236, prthivya sopta dhamebhib. Our terms ke, aino, ec, are neces sarily employed in the plaral when the “creation” is envisaged with respect to the ‘cosmos not as 2 single “world,” but as camposed of ceo, Wee, o ‘uamanifested bur now wo be concepwually disinguithed “word 23MATOR ESSAYS Indra breaks open the Fountsin of Life (utsam), this is again an empty- ing out of the hollows (khdni), whereby the fettered floods are released According to an akternative formulation, all chings ace chought of as ante principium shut up within, and in principio as proceeding from, a common ground, rock, or mountain (budhna, adri, parvata, ete): this ground, thought of as resting island-like within the undifferentiated sea of universal possibility (x.89.4, where the waters pour sdgarasye Sudhnat), is merely another aspect of our axle-point (ani), regarded as the primary assumption toward which the whole potentiality of existence is focused by the primary acts of intellection and will. This means that 4@ priori undimensioned space (kha, ahaa, etc.) underlies and is the ‘mother of the point, rather than that the later has an independent origins and this accords with the logical order of thought, which proceeds from potentiality to actuality, nonbeing to being. This grouad or point is, in fact, the “rock of ages” (aimany anante, 1130.35 adie . . . aeyutare, i175). Here ante principium Agni lies oceukeed (guhd santam, 1.1413, etc.) as Abi Budhya, “in the ground of space, concealing both his ends” (budhne rajaso . . . guhumano anta, v1.11, where it may be noted that fthamano anta is tantamount 10 ananta literally “end-less.” “infinite” eternsl"), hence he is called “chubuuic™ (nddher agni prebtoya, 1592, ‘etc.), and is born in this ground (jdyata prathamah .. . budhne, w.1.11) and stands erect, Januslike, at the parting of the ways (ayar ha skambha + Pathim visarge, x56); hence he gets his chthonic stecds and other treasures (afvabudhng, x8.3; Budhnyd vasini, v6.7). It is only when this sock is cleft chat the hidden kine are freed, the waters flow (162-3, where Brhaspati bhinad adrim and cidadgahs v.i.r2, frmvanty apah . .. adreh). This is, moreover, a center without place, and hence when the ‘Waters have come forth (that is, when the cosmos has come to be) one asks, as in 2.1118, “where is their beginning (agram), where their ground (budnab), where now, ye Waters, your innermost center (madhyam ++ = antab) ? having one, owo, hres, or seven whecls, accordingly, Ic is perhaps bocae the chariot of the Year is more often than not though: of as (wosheeed (Heaven snd Ese), and therefore provided with two analogous axleoint, that df was ‘or late employed as a verbal spmbol of “one.” Madiya is “middle” in all senses, ad also algebraically “mean.” For the mets physical valucs, ef RV madhye samudre, and wtaya madiye = sindhinam ‘upodaye, 38 the place of Agni or Varuna, and in CU nit3t, ekata madhye st “single in the midmmost tation.” ne Kila “Thus metaphysically, in the symbolism of the Whed, the surface—blanke (Ganya) in the initial nonbeing (asat) of any formulation (samkalpa)— represents the truly infinite (adiri) and maternal possibility of being; the ‘axle point or nave, exemplary being (eteant ekam, RV 21548 = integral omnipresence); the actual construction, a mentally accomplished parti- tion of being into existences; each spoke, the integration of an individual ‘as ndma-rifpa, that is, as archetypal inwardly and phenomenal oucwardly; the felly, the principle of mukiplicity (visamsatva). Or, employing a more theologicat terminology: the undetermined sutface represents the Godhead (adisi, parabrahrnen, tamas, apah); the axle-point or immovable rock, God (éditya, eparabrakman, tivare jyoti); the circle of the nave, Heaven. (Gvarga)s any point on the circumfeience of the nave, an intellectual prin- ple (ndma, deva); the felly, Earth with its analogous (anuripa) phe- nomena (viévd ripdni); the construction of the wheel, the sacrificial act of creation (Aarma siti), its abstraction, the act of dissolution (Jaya). Furthermore, the course (gati) of any individual upon the pathway of a spoke isin the beginning centrifugal (pravrtta) and then again centripetal (niersta), until the center (madhya) is founds and when the cxater of individual being coincides with the center of the whee!, he is emancipated (mukia), se catensias of the wheel no longer involving him ia local motion, at the sume cime that its entire cireuit now becomes for him fone picture (jagaccitra)* seen in simuitaneity, who as “round-about-sccr,” paridrastr, now “overlooks everything,” viva . . . abhicas, 1364.44. anta- In order to understand the use of terms for “space” (kha, dk rikza, nya, et.) as verbal symbols of zero (which represents privation cof number, and is yet a matrix of number in the sersc o = x — x),7™it ‘must be realized that dkdia, cte, represent primarily 2 concept not of physical space, but of 2 purely principial space without dimension, though the matrix of dimension."* For example, “all these beings arise out of the For the constuction of the wheel, e& RV vin.y7.3, akhidat Khe aris ies Acton Suouion in Coonan), "haga id Tin: Av Fay Vedic Ontology,” 1935 *Sankaricitya, Seutmanirapona 95. . 1 Sanya does not appeat in RV, though simem occurs in the sense of “priva Observe that the duel series of plus and minus numbers cepresenss “pairs of opposites," deandvan, TEC. A Scharbrau, “Transzendenter Raum der Ewigkeit st der Akisa vor allem auch da, wo cr als Ausgangspunke, as Schopfomgygrund und als Ziel, als A und © 2sMAJOR ESSAYS. space (aééid samapadyanta) and return into the space (dkdéam praty- astam yanti), For the space is older than they, prior to them, and is their last resort (perdyanam),” CU ros "space is the name of the permis: sive cause of individual-incegration (hao vai nama némarkpayor nirva- Arita), CU vars; and just 2s Tndra “opens the closed spaces (apihita ‘Rhdni),” RV wat, s0 the Self “awakens this rational [cosmos] from that space (akasds esa Rhalu idam cexamatram dobhayati),” MU v1.17, in other words, ex nihilo fit. Furthermore, the locus of this “space” is “within you": “what is the intrinsic aspect of expansion is the supernal fiery energy in the vacance of the inner man (tat seeripam nabhasah he antarbhitasya yat param tejah),” MU wnucy;* and this same “space in the heart” (antarkydaya akééa) is the locus (éyatona, veima, nida, oka, etc.) where are deposited in secret (guhi mhitam) all that is oure already or may be ours on any plane (loka) of experience (CU vin.t.1-3). ‘At the same time, in BU vat, this “ancient space” (fa) is identified with Brahman and with the Spirit (them brahma, khan purdnans, edyuram Rham iti), and this Brahman is at the same time a plenum of pleroma (parna) such that “when plenum is taken from plenum, plenum yet re- Here we ger precisely that equivalence of AAs and paras, void and plenum, which was remarked upon as noteworthy in the verbal notation of the mathematicians. The thought, moreover, is almost literally repeated when Bhaskara in the Bijaganita’® defines the term ananta thus: ayan ananto risih Khahara ity ucyate. Asmin vikérah Khakare na rétivapi Pravistesvapi nihsrtesu bahusvapi syd) layasrstikile ‘nante ‘eyute bhit- saganesu yaduat, that is, “This fraction of which the denominator is zero, is called an infinite quantity. In this quantity consisting of that which has cipher for its divisor, there is no alteration, though many be added or subtracted; just as there is no alteration in the Infinite Immovable (anante ‘acyuie)'* at the time of the emanation or resolution of worlds, though hosts of beings are emanated or withdrawn, der Welt angeschaut wird," Die Idee der Schipjung iz der vediechen Literatur Seortgart, 1532), p. 56: "sie which has no size, though the principle of size" Meister Bekhart, Eran ed, 1, 114. 8 Nabha, from \/ nablhy 10 “expand” etc, as also in abhi, “navel” and “nave.” A secondary sense of aebh is "1a destto, This tert oecurs in almost che same form in AV xf. 38 Calcuta, 1017, pp. 17-18 Ci. aimany anaate and adrim acyatam cited above, with the meaning “rock of Ages” 26 KHA I may be observed further that while in the Ry Veda we “do not find she use of names of things to denoce numbers, we do find instances of numbers denoting things." Ta vit.103., for example, che number “twelve” denotes the “year”; in x.71.3, “seven” stands for “rivers of life” or “states cof being.” Tt is thus merely a converse usage of words when the mathe- saticians make use of the names of things to denote numbers; to take the most obvious examples, it is just what should be expected, when we find that 1 is expressed by such words 2s adi, indus, abja, prthvi 2 by such as yama, afvind; 3 by such as agni, vailvdnara, haranctra, bhuvana; 4 by veda, dif, yuga, samudra, ese; 5 by prina; 6 by rc, and so forth, It is not to be understood, of course, that the number-wards are all of Vedic ‘many suggest rather an Epic vocabulary, eg, prindava for 5, while others, such as netra for 2, have an obvious and secular source. In certain cases an ambiguity arises, for cxample, joke as representing cither 3 or 14, dif as representing 4 oF 10, but this can be readily under- stood; in the last-mentioned case, for example, the quarters have been thought of in one and the same cosmology as cither four, or if we count up eight quarters and half-quarters, adding the zenith and nadir, as ten. Taken in its entirety as cited by Singh, the numeral vocabulary can hardly antedate the beginning of the Christian era (we find that 10 is represented, among other words, by avutira; and 6 by rdga).. If we attempt to account for the forms of the ideograms of numbers in a similar fashion, we shall be on much Jess certain ground. A few suggestions may nevertheless be made. For example, a picture-writing of the notion “axle-point” could only have been a “point,” and of the con- cept “nave” could only have been 2 “round ©," and both of these signs are employed at the present day to indicate “zero.” ‘The upright line that represents “one” may be regarded as a pictogram of the axis that pene- trates the naves of the duat wheels, and thus at once unites and separates Heaven and Earth. The Devanagari and Arabic signs for “thee” cor- respond 1 the trident (srifida), which is known to have been from very ancient times a sysnbol of Agni or Siva. 4 prior’ t might be expected that a sign for “four” should be cruciform, following the notion of ex- tension in the directions of the four airts (dif); an¢ in fact we find in Saka script that “four” is represented by a sign X, and that the Devani- sari may well be thought of as a cursive form derived from a like proto- ‘ype. Even if there be sufficient foundation for such suggestions, it is hardly Tikely that a detailed interpretation of ideograms of numbers * Singh, p. 56, (38 cited in n.2) 2MAJOR ESSAYS, above four could now be deduced. We can oaly say chat the foregoing suggestions as to the natuce of numerical ideograms cather support than counter the views of those who seek to derive the origins of symbotism, seript, and speech from the concept of the circuit of the year. It is, however, beyond question that many of che verbal symbols—the case of kha for “zero” is conspicuous—used by Indian mathematicians had an earlier currency, that is to say before a development of mathematical science as such, in a more universal, metaphysical context. That a scien tific terminoiogy should thus have been formulated on the basis of a metaphysical terminology, and by no means without 2 full consciousness of what was being done (as the citation from Bhiskara clearly shows), is not oaly in accordance with all that we know of the natural course of Indian thought, which takes the universal for granted and proceeds to the particular, but also admirably illustrates what from a traditionally orthodox point of view would be regarded as constituting a natural and right relationship of any special science to the metaphysical background of all sciences. One is reminded of words in the Encyclical of Pope Leo XIU, dated. 1879, on the “Restoration of Christian Philosophy”: Hlence, also, the physical sciences, which now are held in so much repure, and everywhere draw w uheuselves a singular adiuinatiow, be- cause of the wonderful discoveries made in them, would not only take no harm from 2 restoration of the philosophy of the ancients, but would derive great protection from it. For the fruitful exercise and increase of these sciences it is not enough that we consider facts and contemplate Nature, When the facts are well known we must rise higher, and give four thoughts with great care to understanding the nature of corporeal things, as well as co the investigation of the laws which they obey, and of the principles from which spring their order, their unity in variety, and their common likeness in diversity. It is marvelous what power and Tight and help are given to these investigations by Scholastic philosophy, if it be wisely used . . . there is no contradiction, truly so called, between the certain and proved conclusions of recent physics, and the philosophical principles of the Schools.” These words by no means represent a merely Christian apologetic, but rather enunciate a generally valid procedure, in which the theory of the universal acts at the same time with sug: gestive force and normatively with respect to more specific applications, ‘We may reflect, on the one hand, that the decimal system, with which the concept “zero” is inseparably connected, was developed by Indian schol- 228 kita ars! who were very surely, as their own words prove, deeply versed in and dependent upon an older and traditional metaphysical interpretar tion of the meaning of the world; and on the other, that had ic not been for its boasted and long-meintained independence of traditional mete- physics (ia which the principles, if not the facts, of relativity are ex: plici).” modern scientific thought might have reiched much sooner than has actoally been the case a scientifically valid formulation and proof of such chacacteristic notions as those of an expanding, universe ‘and the finity of physical space, What has been outlined above with respect to the special science of mathematics represents a principle no less valid in the case of the arts, as could easily be demonstrated at very great length. For example, what is implied by the statement in AB v1.27, that “it is in imitation of the angelic works of art that any work of art such as « garment or chatiot is made here,"* is actually to be seen in the hicratic arts of every traditional culture, and in the characteristic motifs of the surviving folk arts everywhere. Or in the cass of literature: epic (Volsunga Saga, Beowulf, the Cuchullain and Arthurian cycles, Ma- habharata, Buddhacarits, etc.) and fairy tale (notably, for example, Jack and the Beanstall) repeat with infinitely varied local coloring the one story of jatavidya, Genesis. The whole point of view can, indeed, be recognized in the Indian classification of traditional literature, in which the treatises (44vtras) on auxiliary science such as grammar, astronomy, law, medicine, architecture, ctc, are classed as Vedinga, “limbs or pow- ‘rs of the Veda,” or as Upaveda, “accessory with respect to the Vedas as 8 -The place system of the Babylonisns .-. fell on fertile soil only among. the Hinds,» Algebra, which is disinedy Hindu . - uss the principle of local alue” (ME J. Tay in JAOS, Li, 1931, 52). Thot the “Anbie™ marnerals are ult imately of ladian arigin i now geacrlly adnited; whae their adoption meeanc for the development of European science need not be emphasized. " Argabhats, Anjebhesiya wv, "As 4 man in a boat gcing forward sces a stax ‘onary object moving backwat jut so at Lani. roan sees the sstionary asterisns moving. backward.” See Coomaraswamy, The Transformation of Nature im Art, 13 p Band 0. 8, SCE Emest Sieche, Die Lieberseschichte des Himmels ‘Sicasurg, 1892); and Alfred Jetemias, Handbuch der altorientalirchen Geinetkaliar (Berlin, 1920), P- Xx: "Die Mensehheitshildung ist ein cinheitiches Ganzes, und in den verschiedenen Kulearen Findet man die Dialekte der cinen Getstessprache” “Even the “Machiavellian” Artheldra (13) proceeds from he principle sre dharmah wargiyasnantyiya ra tanga atikrane foksh sonkanad acchidyete, “soeation leads to heaven and scviternitys in case of a digression fom this norm, the world ¥ beought to ruin by confusion.” 29MAJOR ESSAYS Guénon expresses it, “toue science apparaissait ainsi comme un prolonge- ment de la doctrine ttaditionelle elle méme, comme une de ses applica tions . . . une connaissance inférieure si Von veut, mais pourtant encore tune véritable connaissance,” while, per contra, “Les fausses synthéses, qui sefforcent de tirer le supérieur de Vinférieur . .. ne peuvent jamais étre qu‘bypothétiques, . .. En somme, la science, en méconnaissant les prin- cipes et en refusant de sy rattacher, se prive 2 la fois de la plus haute garantie qu’elle puisse recevoir et de la plus sire direction qui, puisse Ini étre donnée . . elle devient douteuse et chancelante . . . ce sont 12 des caractéres généraux de la pensée proprement moderne; voild A quel degré dabaissement intellectue] en est acrivé TOccident, depuis qu'il est sorti des voies qui sont normales au reste de humanité.”* 2 René Guénon, Orient ot Oceident (Paris, 1930), exracs from ch, =. 230 A ‘The Tantric Doctrine of Divine Biunity “You say, then, Trismegistus, that God is ol both sexes?” Hennes, Asclepias 11.28 All tradition speaks in the last analysis of God as an inconnumerable and perfectly simple Identity, but also of this Supreme Identity as an identity of two contrasted principles, distinguishable in all composite things, but coincident without composition in the One who is no thing. ‘The Identity is of Essence and Nature, Being and Nonbeing, God and Godhead—as it were, masculine and feminine. Natura naturuns, Creairix universalis ert Deus On the other hand, a division of Essence from Nature, Heaven from Earth, subject from object, isa sine qua non of the existence of composite things, all of which are, but in different and par- ticular ways, Nature then “recedes from likeness to God, yet even inso- far as it has being in this wise it retains a certain likeness to the divine being” (Sune. Theol. 1.14.11 ad 3). Henceforth Esence is the Creator and Active power, Nature the means of creation and passive recipient of form —"Nature as being that by which the generator generates” (Damascene, De fide orthodosa 1.18). OF which the relation of man to woman is a likeness: the relation of marriage is a sacrament and site because an ade- ‘quate symbol and reflection of the identification of Essence and Nature in divinie. The notion of a bisexual polarity in Deity suggested above has some- times been regarded as a peculiarity of the mediaeval Hindu and Buddhist [irse published in French in Etudes sraditioneller, XLM (1937), this caay Inter speared in is original English version in the Annale of the Bandarker Oriental Reseerch Insitus, KIX (1938) —0.] * Sum, Theol, Torin edition, 1932 ("lif obtat"), Lexiton by J. M. Mellinio, aat: ef, references to the text, J M. Mellinio, Index Rerem, sv. Natura, item. 7, natura dicter dupliciter, ete. Throughout the peesent artele, “Nature” stands for Natura moturans. 231