1. Note from the Editor

Dear Bhagavatas,
We give below excerpts from Chapter 15 of "Hinduism Rediscovered" dealing with "Evolution and Dissolution of Matter- Space -Time Triad" This issue contains the various Creation theories within Hinduism itself. Hope you will find it interesting.

Dasoham
Anbil Ramaswamy

2. Excerpts from Chapter 21 of "Hinduism Rediscovered"
    Section 1 dealing with Evolution of matter

SECTION 1 : EVOLUTION OF MATTER
How the world came into being and whether and if so, when it will come to an end has been the subject of inquiry by both Religion and Science. As many theories have been advanced as there are religious thinkers and Scientific investigators. As we have pointed out in our Chapter on Religion vis- a- vis Science etc., the proverbial antagonists seem today as never before to converge on the origin of the world and the origin of the species. A casual reading of the scriptures would seem to suggest several creation myths even within Hinduism.

1.1. PURUSHA SUKTA NARRATION
The PURUSHA SUKTA describes how the Purusha was sacrificed and how from this sacrifice arose the water, the earth , the Vedas with various metres, spells and charms, the four castes from the various parts of his body, beasts wild and mild with single and dual rows of teeth like the horses, the cattle, the sheep, the goats, the horses etc. etc. " The Gods offered the sacrifice through the sacrifice ; the Purusha was sacrificed to the Purusha" 1
"Yajnena Yajnam Ayajanta Devah" says the hymn in Rig Veda The sacrifice was the great creative force. which is the central theme of Pancharatra system where Lord Vishnu, the Purusha is represented as the material cause (Upaadaana Kaarana) besides being the efficient cause ( Nimitta Kaarana) for the formation of everything in the Universe.

( My loosely versified translation of this Vedic hymn is given in Annexure 1 )

1.2. NASADIYA SUKTA NARRATION
The NASADIYA SUKTA also of Rig Veda gives another account which says " In the beginning there was neither existence nor non- existence, no realm, no sky, no air, no earth. There was neither mortality nor immortality, neither any form nor name, neither day nor night.; Darkness concealed darkness. There was, however, only one thing: 'Breath which breathed breathlessly.' This breath desired to create and there was creation. The Gods themselves were not there. How was it formed or was it not formed at all? God only knows; Maybe he knows; Maybe he knows not"2

Thus desire- Kama ( desire or lust ) is found to be the cause of creation. Whose desire was that? No one knows. From 'ASAT' -( Non-being) arose 'SAT'- (being). The opposites that are yet complementary entities whose interaction produced and maintained everything.
Does this not sound like the saying " The Lord said 'let there be light ' and there was light"?

1.3. BRIHADARANYAKA UPANISHAD NARRATION
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad states that in the beginning there was only Atman, the Self in the form of a male ( Purusha). He looked around and found none else besides himself. Being alone, he became afraid. He consoled himself with the thought that since there was none to feel afraid of, he had no need to fear any one. Then, he found no joy in loneliness. He longed for company. He divided himself into two parts: one male and the other female. From their union came into existence the human beings. She turned into a cow and he became a stud- bull; she turned into a mare, he a stallion; she a female ass, he a male ass; she an ewe, he a ram. Thus , various kinds of animals came into existence.

It is said that Prajapati moved by desire and fear of loneliness exerts ' heat' and duplicates himself. Thus, fear and primordial sexuality were the emotions at the bottom of creation. This theory was pursued by the Samkya school which explained creation through the interaction of the two principles they called the 'Purusha' and the 'Prakriti'- the uncreated principles.4

Does this not sound like the saying that 'Eve' was made out of the rib of 'Adam' and the two together created humankind?

1.4. BRAHMANDA NARRATION
Another favorite narration of the later Puranas depicts a 'World Egg' ( Brahmanda) or golden embryo (Hiranyagarbha) which was floating on the primordial waters for ages. And, at one stage the egg cracked and lo! and behold! There emerged forth from this egg- Viswakarman the Vedic God of creation or Prajapathi ( the Lord of progeny)
" The name of Brahma is not found in the Vedas and Brahmanas, where the active creator is merely known as the Golden embryo or the Lord of progeny. Mahabharata considers him as born from the embryo which took shape in Vishnu's mind when he began to think of creation"-5

The upper part of the egg became sky hovering over on the top as the celestial galaxy, the lower part became the bottom or the terrestrial earth and the intermediary void became the atmospheric space.

1.5. KSHEERA SAGARA MATHANAM NARRATION
Yet another story is found narrated in Srimad Ramayana also 6. This is connected with Kurma Avatara ( Tortoise incarnation ) of Lord Vishnu. Please see our Chapter on " The Descending God" for details. From the churning of the ocean of milk ( Ksheera Sagara), emerged the Halahala poison, the Surabhi, Varuni, Karpagam, Apsaras, the moon. the horse, the elephant and Mahalakshmi herself besides Dhanvantri with the pitcher of nectar of immortality. It may be questioned whether these were not existing prior to Kurma Avatar, say, during the earlier Matsya Avatar ( Fish incarnation) and why they are depicted as if they came into being only at the time of the churning of the ocean. We will address this question shortly.

1.6. VISWAMITRA SRISHTI NARRATION
There is also another story in Srimad Ramayana relating to one TRISANKU 7 This King wanted to ascend to the heavens with his gross human body. Vasishta refused to help him. He turned to Viswamitra who was only too eager to help especially because his arch rival, Vasishta had refused. With all the might of his penance, he sent up Trisanku but Indra, the Lord of Heavens hurled him down. Trisanku dangling in mid air upside down cried for help. Enraged, Viswamitra shone like another Brahma, used up all his power of penance stopped Trisanku midway, created a duplicate heaven (Trisanku Svarga) with all the appurtenances like the starry horizon, a duplicate Saptarishi Mandala (Realm of the seven sages) , galaxy et al. He is even credited with having created a copy- cat -wise - counterpart beings like the buffalo for the cow, donkey for the horse etc.

The bottomline of this story is to emphasize the importance of penance and how it could confer certain Siddhis like materialization of objects and things much alike the real ones already created. This story is not meant to supplant the creation narration contained elsewhere.

1.7. BHAGAVATA PURANA NARRATION
The account given in Bhagavata Purana 8 , Matsya Purana 9 and in Mahabharata Vana Parva 10 has been accepted on all hands as the most authoritative one. The world that we know of is full of sentient beings (Chetanas) and Non-sentient things (Achetanas). In the beginning they subsisted in a subtle state ( Sukshma dasa) without any name or form. At this time, they were so integrated that they could not be differentiated and they were all alike drawn to Bhagavan ( Sri Narayana ) while he went to sleep, very much like iron filings clinging to the magnet.

ALAN DANIELOU describes "After the universal destruction, Vishnu falls asleep, floating on the causal wasters. When creation again arises, Brahma appears on a lotus having the form of the earth, which springs from the navel of Vishnu"11

At one stage, when Bhagavan woke up from his sleep he decided purely as a matter of sport to transform himself into several manifestations with names and forms.

ALAIN DANIELOU explains how and when Bhagavan wakes up from his sleep: "Just as by the strength of a resolve to wake up at a certain time, taken before going to sleep, we can wake up at the exact time, the decision to wake up having remained outside the realm of the state of sleep; So, by the strength of the divine resolve taken when the Universe is dissolved, the state of equilibrium comes to an end at a given moment, the previous actions bear fruit and the state of non-existence prior to existence comes to an end"12

He said to himself " Let me become many". He thus created from out of his own being (Sat) by stirring Prakriti ( Primordial matter). Prakriti which was in a dormant state with Satva, Rajo and Tamo Gunas in equipoise got disturbed and issued forth in a gross form in the person of the four headed Brahma seated on the top of the bud emerging from out of the navel of Bhagavan Sri Narayana. For a thousand divine years before the bud could blossom, Brahma dwelt in the bud.

When it bloomed, Brahma emerged and looked around and saw none else than himself. He entered the stalk to find out the source of the bud but could not trace it. Suddenly, he heard an ethereal voice asking him to meditate-' Tapa! Tapa!'. He meditated for another thousand divine years (Devamana Varsha) when Bhagavan gave him a glimpse of his own world Vaikunta and bade Brahma to do further Tapas that would endow him with powers of creation. After doing Tapas as advised, Brahma acquired the powers of creation from Bhagavan. Brahma noticed that the three worlds called Bhuh, Buvah and Suvah were submerged under water. He drained the waters and the three worlds emerged.

We saw that the first entity to emerge was sound, the primeval voice or Sabda Tanmatra from which evolved ether. From ether arose Sparsa Tanmatra which yielded air; from air arose Rupa Tanmatra which in its turn gave rise to fire; from fire emanated Rasa Tanmatra which resulted in water; from water came out Gandha Tanmatra from which the earth ultimately became manifest. TANMATRA IS LIKE THE STAGE IN BETWEEN MILK AND CURDS WHEN MILK CONVERTS INTO CURDS.

What has been described so far is known as Gross creation (Samashti Srishti). Bhagavan then mixed them in different proportions by a process of quintuplication ( Pancheekaranam),. and created various beings and things. Hence, the world is called 'Prapancha'

First, came into being the vegetable kingdom ( Stavara) consisting of trees, creepers, bushes and grass.

Next, came the animal kingdom ( Tiryak ) including those that walk on land, fly in air, swim in water and sneak on the ground. Brahma found that while the former could not even move, the latter in spite of their mobility had only a little better cognitive capacity than the former due to the comparative preponderance of Tamas enveloping them both. Next, emerged human beings ( Nara) filled with more of Rajoguna which made for incessant activity with capacity to sense pleasure and pain but again limited in being, knowing and enjoying.

Finally, appeared divine beings ( Sura ) including his own Manasaputras ( born out of the mind of Brahma Viz. Sanaka, Sananda, Sanatana, and Sanatkumara as also Narada, Rudra, Prajapathi and other devas ( more detailed list can be seen in our Chapter on Sources of Knowledge )

AS ALSO a host of demoniac creatures called Asuras (Anti Gods who delight (Ra) in life (Asu) i.e. those who indulge in activities of life energies in fields of sensual gratification) , Bhairavas (Fearful spirits), Buthas ( Ghosts), Daityas ( Genii ), Danavas ( Giants), Dasyus (Barbarians), Dakinis ( female ghouls), Ganas (Hordes), Kalakanjas (Stellar spirits) , Khalins (Threshers), Nairrutas ( Elves), Nagas (Dragons and Serpents), Nisacharas ( Night wanderers), Nivatakavachas ( those who wear impenetrable armor), Pulomas (Smooth haired), Pisachas (Monsters eating raw flesh), Sakinis (Plant spirits), Vetalas ( Vampires), Yaksha (Speedy ones), Yatudanas (Sorcerers), Yoginis ( those with powers of realization), etc.

All living beings were endowed with powers of reproduction so that the souls bound in the cycle of births and deaths could be reborn assuming new bodies, forms and names according to their Karmas in their previous lives and thus life came to be perpetuated ad infinitum until all Jeevas again took refuge in Bhagavan at the time of the great final deluge ( Maha Pralaya).

Thus, primordial sacrifice, carnal lust, the breaking of the golden egg, warmth ( Tapas), churning of the milky ocean -have all been put forth as possible causes of creation of matter in the various mythological narrations. Also, several versions like Brahma being born out of the navel of Bhagavan, his being born out of Bhagavan's pleasure and Rudra being born out of Bhagavan's anger and again Rudra being born to Brahma thus representing a father- son - grandson genealogical tree; Sage Narada, Anjaneya, Jambavan and such others appearing in almost all the Puranic episodes; the inseparable Mahalakshmi emerging again from the milky ocean etc., may look confusing and appear conflicting..

BUT, A CLOSER STUDY WOULD REVEAL THAT THERE IS NEITHER CONFUSION NOR THE EVENTS CONFLICTING. IF WE UNDERSTAND THE BASIC BELIEF OF HINDUISM THAT THERE IS NEITHER CREATION NOR DESTRUCTION BUT ONLY MANIFESTATION AND DEMANIFESTATION OF MATTER FROM BEGINNINGLESS TIME THROUGH SUCCESSIVE KALPAS, THE VARIOUS CREATION THEORIES COULD BE FITTED IN ONE OR THE OTHER OF THE INTERMEDIARY KALPAS EMERGING AFTER THE SEVERAL MAHAPRALAYAS AND DEMANIFESTING AT THE TIME OF THE SUCCEEDING MAHAPRALAYAS.