Tag: Cosmology

Word of Caution

This write up below is definitely not an exhaustive description of what our scriptures talk about Creation. It is my very limited understanding of the vast literature available in public domain.

The objective is to get a broad idea of the principles involved so that when we take up the study of our scriptures and Sanskrit Slokas, we will have a better comprehension of what they say.

Reader is strongly advised to strictly learn these under the guidance of a Guru if one wants a deep dive in this subject.

What is learnt so far

In Part 1, we learnt that our forefathers, the rishis and sages, through deep meditations, focused inward on the "causeless cause" that is responsible for creating this Universe and identified that as "Brahman", the only pure, omnipresent, indestructible eternal blissful ultimate reality with "existence & consciousness". (science calls these as matter and energy in a materialistic sense). We also learnt that Brahman determines itself and reveals itself to our conceptual cognition as the fundamental aspects in which we see and experience through the real and fundamental truths of its being  which are beyond the universe and yet in it and are the very foundation of its existence, like the waves of the sea, the heat of the fire, the fragrance of the flower, the smell of the earth etc.

In Part 2, we learnt that, to understand the Cosmic evolution (a cyclic process of manifestation, sustenance and destruction), we need to clearly understand and accept that the following:

1. Brahman is the intelligent cause for the cosmic evolution

2. Moolaprakrti (called by various names such as Avyakta, Maya, Gunasamya) which like Brahman is without a beginning and end yet completely dependent on Brahman, is the material cause

3. Eternal space and time are the common causes.

4. The cyclic process of evolution is synchronised with the life span of the God Brahma assigned with the responsibility of the process of creation.

Now in this third part we will see an overview of the processes of cosmic evolution.

Cosmic Evolution – Initial State – An apex level Perspective

At the beginning (in a cyclic process this could be the end too) is the Deep Sleep State. (Remember the Scientific Perspective of this state- all that was there was a single point with infinite density and infinite heat. This is that state we are talking about)

1. In this state, the omnipresent and eternal Brahman as pure existence is the only and ultimate reality.

2. The relation between Brahman and Mula Prakṛti is universal pervasion (vyāpti), as He, in very truth, is without beginning and without end.

3. Maya is Abhinna Shakti of Brahman. Abhinna means inseparable. Maya cannot be separated from Brahman. Just as heat is inseparable from fire, so also Maya is inseparable from Brahman.

4. The omnipresence of both Brahman and Maya means that in this state, there are no such thing as Time and Space.

5. The three modes of nature called “gunas” viz., Saatvic, Rajas and Tamas are in perfect equilibrium.

6. There is no such thing as creation, preservation and destruction.

This is the state of Bliss.

Cosmic Evolution – The five pronged iterations – Panchikarana

From this state of bliss, due to the creative will of the Supreme Being, cosmic evolution again begins. In the Big Bang theory, this is stated as “suddenly something happened”. Our saints, seers and sages compare this to the glance from the Brahman’s eyes.

According to Hindu cosmology as described in texts like the Vishnu Purana, Brahma creates the universe through a process involving various stages. Here's a simplified overview of how Brahma is said to create the universe:

1. **Sankalpa (Divine Will):** Before creation, there is a divine intention or will within the Supreme Being to bring forth the universe. This intention is known as "Sankalpa."

2. **Creation of Cosmic Egg:** From the divine intention, a cosmic egg or golden womb known as "Hiranyagarbha" is formed. This egg contains the potential for the entire universe.

3. **Division of Egg:** Brahma emerges from the cosmic egg and divides it into different parts. These divisions form the various planes of existence, including the physical world, the heavens, and the subtle realms.

4. **Creation of Elements:** Brahma then creates the fundamental elements (earth, water, fire, air, and ether) and assembles them to form the physical universe.

5. **Creation of Living Beings:** With the elements in place, Brahma proceeds to create different life forms, from the simplest organisms to more complex beings.

6. **Creation of Celestial Beings:** Brahma also creates celestial beings, including gods, demigods, and other divine entities, who play specific roles in maintaining the cosmic order.

7. **Creation of Time and Natural Laws:** Brahma establishes the laws of nature, the cycles of time (days, nights, seasons, yugas), and the cosmic order that governs the universe.

8. **Creation of Scriptures:** Finally, Brahma imparts knowledge and wisdom to sages and seers, who then record sacred scriptures to guide living beings on their spiritual paths.

It's important to note that these descriptions are symbolic and metaphorical, meant to convey profound spiritual concepts rather than literal scientific explanations. The creation process in Hindu cosmology emphasizes the divine nature of creation and the interconnectedness of all existence.

Our Scriptures say that due to this creative will, Nature called Maya gets activated and the equilibrium among the three gunas that are contained in the Maya gets disturbed. With the disturbed three gunas and aided by the common cause viz., eternal time, Nature then brings out concepts called Tattvas. These Tattvas vary from 24 to 36 as per the philosophies followed by the various sects of Sanatan Dharma (like Advaita, Dvaita, Kashmir Saivaites, Saiva Siddhanta of Southern India etc). While the number of Tattvas may vary, the process of bringing out these Tattvas are essentially the same and is called “Panchikarana”, the five pronged iterations. Thus, from the triadic manifestation if the gunas, gradual cosmic evolution proceeds. Here is an overview.

1. The first out of this process of creation is Mahat.When sattva is dominant, the Mahat (the Great One) is the first reality to arise from Prakriti. It has a global element as the world’s wellspring, as well as a corporeal aspect as living creatures’ intelligence or buddhi. It is in charge of reasoning and discerning awareness. Mahat is the germinating place of all creations. This manifestation is the supreme sum total of matter. The mahat-tattva is directly connected with the supreme consciousness of the Supreme Being, but still it appears as matter. The mahat-tattva is called the total (vyashti) consciousness because a portion of it is represented in everyone as the intellect (samashti).
Mahat, the Cosmic Intelligence may be said to be Hiranyagarbha, the all-knowing creative principle, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent consciousness. From the state where the cause and effect are not clearly manifested (avyakta), the Mahat Tattva comes out first, just as the sprout shoots out from the seed in the ground.

2. When Mahat, the all-knowing creative principle, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent consciousness becomes conscious of itself in other words if the Rajas Guna is the predominant guna in Mahat,– I-am, omnipresent – it becomes cosmic Ahamkara at the total (Samashti) level . This Ahamkara here is to be understood as Cosmic Self-awareness – the whole universe becoming conscious. This is ascribed to the predominance of Saatvic qualities of Mahat. When Tamas-dominates the Mahat, it generates a specific sense of Aham at the individual level (vyashti), which regards itself different from others. A sense of I am; "I" sense; I, My, Mine. I as different from you, them, it. This is generated in the Jiva the individual soul. Aham is of two kinds, viz., Samashti Aham or collective egoism and Vyashti Aham or individual egoism. The collective egoism is Ishvara and the individual egoism is the Jiva or the human being. The Jiva develops egoism first and begins to feel 'Aham Jiva - I am Jiva,' and then only he begins to cognise the world and the Ishvara. But for the Vyashti Aham, there cannot be any Samashti Aham or Ishvara and the world.

3. From this (māyā), ākāśa (space) was created, from ākāśa, vāyu (air) was created. From vāyu, teja (fire) was created. From teja, āpaḥ (water). From āpaḥ, pruthvi (earth) was created. Since all five elements, space, air, fire, water and earth are created from triguṇātimīkā māyā i.e. māyā containing 3 guṇa-s (satva, rajasa and tamasa), all five elements contain these three guṇas.

4. Next is the creation of indriyas. ‘Indriya’ means ‘organ’.We have five sense organs - ears, eyes, skin, tongue and nose known as Jñānendriyas. We have five karmendriyas which help us to act. They are speech (mouth), hands, legs, anus and reproductive organs. Each indriya has it’s controlling deity or devatā.

5. This creation process is called Panchikarana’. The process involves each of the five elements splitting into two halves and one half of each further spilling into four parts. Thus we have space splitting into two and one of the halves further splitting into four parts. Like that each of the elements undergoes divisions. The four of one-eighth parts are now distributed to other elements. Thus air, fire, water and earth each of them get one eighth of Aakasha. Similarly the other elements get distributed giving again one full for each of the units. Thus Akasha retains half of its own and one -eighth of other Elements. This process is called Panchikaranam or grossification of the five of the Elements in their subtle or fundamental nature. In other words, division of each of the Elements by two equal parts and futher into four equal sub parts with each of the other four elements and so on and such ‘quintiplication process’ is known as ‘Panchikarana’ or a systematic admixture of all the Pancha Bhutas into a warp-weft process of each formation of weaving a cloth!

6. As an example, from satva guṇa part of ākāśa tatva (space element), shrotreindriya (shrotra-indriya) meaning organ of hearing (ears) are created. ‘shrotra’ means sound. To hear sound, ears are created. Here sound is an subject (viṣaya) of sense organ (indriya) ears. The quality of ākāśa is śabda or sound. Space is the medium of transorpting sound. In order to hear sound, from the purest part i.e. sattva guṇa, ears were created.The controlling devatā of shrotra is dik or diśā or directions.

Here is a flow chart which gives an overview which takes into account the Indriya – sense organ, the Viśaya – Subject i.e. what the organ senses and the Adhiṣṭhātā deva or Devatā – controlling deity.

In the concluding part, we will see the end game of Brahman called “Pralaya” as part of the Cosmic Evolution.