Related to the Five Elements we have a precise and beautiful description at the beginning of the Book of Fate of Savitri. The heavenly sage Narad is on his way from Paradise to Aswaptai’s palace at Madra on the banks of the ancient Alacananda in the lower Himalayas. His mission is, on the face it, to deliver the Word of Fate to Savitri, Aswapati’s daughter, who has chosen Satyavan as her life’s partner; he is to tell her that he is destined to die exactly one year after their marriage. This is a great undertaking in the context of the avataric work the incarnate Power has come here to do. The work is related to the conquest of Death on Earth and for that the incarnate Savitri has to yogically prepare herself by gathering the divine Force in her soul and in her spirit. Narad’s disclosing the inevitable death of Satyavan sets Savitri on the Path of Yoga: he initiates her into Yoga. But, in order to carry out this responsible and praiseworthy mission, the heavenly sage must first undergo a difficult transformation, of changing his spiritual body into a gross physical body; he must assume the earthly body. Narad is one of those very few who have the knowledge of this process, a secret and painful, an arduous process, and he is willing to accept the affliction that goes along with it. Thus he is actually serving a noble Cause. Here is the passage: (p. 415)

Below him circling burned the myriad suns: He bore the ripples of the etheric sea; A primal Air brought the first joy of touch; A secret Spirit drew its mighty breath, Contracting and expanding this huge world In its formidable circuit through the Void; The secret might of the creative fire Displayed its triple power to build and form, Its infinitesimal wave-sparks’ weaving dance, Its nebulous units grounding shape and mass, Magic foundation and pattern of a world, Its radiance bursting into the light of stars; He felt a sap of life, a sap of death; Into solid Matter's dense communion Plunging and its obscure oneness of forms He shared with a dumb Spirit identity.

Here we have the Five Elements in the language of the Poet: etheric sea, primal Air, creative fire with its triple power, sap of life and death, and solid Matter, corresponding to Akash, Vayu, Agni, Ap and Pithvi. It is by picking them up Narad appears in the palace in his physical body. There are several aspects related to the theme and we could possibly discuss these in more detail subsequently. ~ RYD