PDA

View Full Version : Spiritual Inquiries: 3. Creation Hierarchy in Sanatana Dharma (Part 2 of 3)



saidevo
10 September 2006, 01:00 AM
Brahma's Creations

In the first part of this compilation, we discussed the 27 elements that were evolved for the creation of forms in the universe. We arranged these elements into two hierarchies: the material hierarchy that started with Mahat and the spiritual hierarchy that originated from Brahman and proceeded to manifest the Saguna Brahman and the Trimurti.

In this part we discuss Brahma's creation of the material and spiritual entities. Our main source for this knowledge is Srimad Bhagavatam, the most famous among the scriptures that talk about evolution of the universe.

According to Srimad Bhagavatam, Sri Krishna is the Brahman who manifests as Vishnu and the other Gods. It speaks of a Trinity in Vishnu who are responsible for three kinds of creation:

Karanodakasayi Vishnu or Maha-Visnu - He creates the total material energy (mahat-tattva) of the entire Cosmos and then emanates all the universes from himself.

Garbhodakasayi Visnu - He pervades all the universes and creates diversities in them.

Ksirodakasayi Visnu - as the Paramatma, He ensouls all the universes. This third role is assigned to Lord Shiva in Saivite skriptures.

Vishnu's Material and Spiritual Creations
Creations by Maha Vishnu

Maha Vishnu or Karanodakasayi Vishnu is the first purusha to be manifested from Brahman (Krishna according to Bhagavatam). He creates the mahat-tattva and emanates the universes from the pores of his skin. Then Time is manifested.

Time is considered to be the 25th element; it is the mixing and agitating element. The Supreme Personality of Godhead can be perceived as time (SB 3.26.11-18).

The mahat-tattva is the breeding source of all varieties and brings forth all the different material bodies and material objects; it contains all the universes and is the root of all cosmic manifestations. The mahat-tattva is annihilated at the time of the annihilation, the end of Brahma's life.

Next, the Supreme Personality of Godhead impregnates the mahat-tattva with His internal potency which are the living entities. Agitated by the destinations of the contitioned souls the material nature, or mahat-tattva, delivers the cosmic intelligence (Hiranyamaya). The mahat-tattva is thus "lit up" by the sum total of the consciousness of all the conditioned souls (SB 3.26.19-20).

The souls dormant in the Supreme Personality from the previous mahapralaya are in different stages of spiritual development, and thus the internal potency of the Lord is heterogeneous. Therefore, the interaction, releases the false ego or ahamkara in due course, after the cosmic intelligence is delivered.

From ahamkara, Maha Vishnu creates the sixteen elements: The five gross elements (air, water, fire, air, ether), the five senses (nose, tongue, eyes, skin, ear), the five sense objects (smell, taste, sight, touch, sound) and the mind.

This first stage of creation is called Mahakalpa.

Creations by Garbhodakasayi Vishnu (Narayana)

After Mahakalpa, Maha Vishnu expands as Garbhodakasayi Vishnu and enters into each and every universe which is half filled with water. He takes this water as his abode and hence is popularly known by the name Narayana. While lying on his bed of mystic slumber, the Lord desired to manifest varieties of living entities from Himself alone.

The Lord divides His potency into three divisions:

1) Adhidaiva - controlling entities
2) Adhiyatma - controlled entities
3) Adhibhuta - material bodies or forms of matter

The various entities manifested by Lord Narayana are:

01. Mental force and bodily strength, well as the sum total of the fountainhead of the total living force.

02. Tounge, the different tastes and their controlling deity Varuna.
03. Voice, Speech and their controlling deity Agni.
04. Nose, smell and their controlling deity the Asvini Kumaras.
05. Eyes, sight and its objects, and their controlling deity Sun.
06. Ears, hearing and its controlling deities of directions.
07. Skin, touch and the controlling deity of air, Vayu.
08. Hands and their controlling deity Indra.
09. Legs and their controlling deity Vishnu.
10. Genitals and their controlling deity Brahma (Prajapati).
11. Anus and their controlling deity Mitra.

The other controlling deities manifested are:
01. Anila - air in the body and touch
02. Osadhya - hairs and itching
03. Aniruddha - mind - Moon god
04. Pradyumna - intelligence - Brahma
05. Sankarsana - false ego - (worshipped through) Siva

This second stage of creation is called Vikalpa.

The third stage, Kalpa is the creation by Brahma in each day of his life after waking from his sleep.

The Nine Kinds of Creations

The Supreme Lord emanated the universes from him and pervaded them, using his maya shakti. Srimad Bhagavatam sums up creation into nine kinds, of which the first six are done by Lord Vishnu to provide the ingredients for the remaining three done by Brahma.

The nine creations delineated in SB 3.10.15-29 are:

Vishnu's Part

1) The first creation is of the Mahat-tattva (by Mahavisnu). In the first creation the modes of nature mix and give rise to false ego.

2) False ego or identification of the body, along with the material ingredients, material knowledge and material activities arise (working senses and knowledge acquiring senses).

3) The sense perceptions are created and from these the material elements are generated.

i) sound - sky
ii) touch - air
iii) sight - fire
iv) taste - water
v) smell - earth

4) The creation of knowledge and working capacity.

5) The controlling deities become manifest by the interaction of the mode of goodness.

6) The sixth creation is the ignorant darkness of the living entity, by which the master acts as a fool.

The Mineral Kingdom, the first and grossest of the Seven Kingdoms, evolved from the first six kinds of creations by Lord Vishnu and provided the gross materials for Brahma to work with the spiritual forms he proceeded to evolve.

Brahma's Part

7) The seventh creation is that of immovable living beings - plants and trees.

8) The eight creation brings into existence animal species comprising twenty-eight groups.

9) The ninth creation gives rise to the human beings which belong to only one species. They are predominantly under the influence of passion. These last three creations as well as the tenth creation are called vaikrta creations and they are different from the previous creations called prakrta. Creation of Kumaras belongs to both.

10) There is also tenth creation, of demigods, who comprise eight species.

Birth of Brahma

In the vikalpa stage of creation, Garbhodakasayi Vishnu brings forth Brahma from within himself. Hindu puranas speak of Brahma of this universe as born from the nabhi (navel) of Vishnu, placed on a lotus that sprouted from Vishnu's nabhi.

In each Mahakalpa, Brahma is born from a particular limb of Lord Vishnu. The Mahabharata states that Brahma was born on the first Mahakalpa from the mind of the Supreme. In the second Mahakalpa, he was born from the eye, in the third from the words, in the fourth from the ear, in the fifth from the nose, in the sixth from the scrotum and in the present seventh from the navel.

Soon after he was born, Brahma started exploring the lotus on which he was placed. He came to the conclusion that his origin and mission could not be found physically, so he began to meditate on the Supreme Lord for a hundred divine years. The tapas awakened in him the required siddhis or powers of creation.

More than humans, Hindu Gods, specially the Trimurti, constantly do meditation and tapas on the higher principle that is immanent in them. All Hindu works begin with an invocation to the Supreme Lord. Brahma's tapas indicates that he is probably the origin of this great tradition.

Brahma's tapas gave him the darshan of his Creator and Father, Lord Vishnu, and his Vaikunta, with all their resplendent glory. This darshan provided Brahma with the archetypes upon which he would base his creations.

Brahma's Day

A Day of Brahma, a cosmic manvantara or out-breathing of Brahma, represents a period where worlds are evolved and pass through their allotted ages of manvantaric existence. Each Day of Brahma consists of 1,000 aggregates of four yugas or 1,000 mahayugas. A mahayuga equals 4,320,000 terrestrial years.

A Night of Brahma, a cosmic pralaya or in-breathing of Brahma, is of equal length. When Brahma sleeps, the universe involutes into him, so all forms are dissolved in a pralaya known as naimittika pralaya.

One Year of Brahma consists of 360 Divine Days and Nights.

Brahma's Month (Kalpas)

Each day of Brahma is called a kalpa. There are 30 kalpas that repeat in a cycle. In the Skanda Purana, Brahma's thirty days (kalpa's) are mentioned:

01. Sveta Varaha Kalpa
02. Nilalohita Kalpa
03. Vamadeva Kalpa
04. Gathantara Kalpa
05. Raurava Kalpa
06. Prana Kalpa
07. Brhat Kalpa
08. Kandarpa Kalpa
09. Sadyata Kalpa
10. Isana Kalpa
11. Dhyana Kalpa
12. Sarasvata Kalpa
13. Udana Kalpa
14. Garuda Kalpa
15. Kaurma Kalpa
16. Narasimha Kalpa
17. Samadhi Kalpa
18. Agneya Kalpa
19. Visnuja Kalpa
20. Saura Kalpa
21. Soma Kalpa
22. Bhavana Kalpa
23. Supuma Kalpa
24. Vaikuntha Kalpa
25. Arcisa Kalpa
26. Vali Kalpa
27. Vairaja Kalpa
28. Gauri Kalpa
29. Mahesvara Kalpa
30. Paitr Kalpa

Brahma's Lifetime

The Life of Brahma or of the solar system consists of 100 Divine Years (311,040,000,000,000 terrestrial years). Brahma of this universe has just entered the first day of his 51st year. (dwiteeye parardhey, prathame varshe, prathame ayane, prathamarithau, prathame mase, prathame pakshe, ahani, dwiteeye yame, thrithiye muhoorthe---Saptame Vaivaswata manvantare Ashtavimsati tame Kaliyuge--Narayaneeyam).

A mahapralaya happens when Brahma's life ends and the universe, with all its forms and beings including Brahma involutes into the Supreme Lord and lie dormant within him until next cycle of creation.

Hindu Invocation of Time

Hindu rituals invoke time from the current year of Brahma:

adhya brahmaNa divtIya parArdhe
svetha varAha kalpe
vaivasvta manvantare
aShTavimshati tame
kaliyuge prathame pAde...

In the second half of the currently reigning Brahma, on the first day of his current year, in the Svetha Varaaha kalpa, in the manvantara of the Vaivasvata manu, in the first part of the Kali yuga that is repeated for the twenty-eightth time (in the manvantara)...

And the desciption zeores in on the current moment of time and space, through a seires of references from their higher levels.

Kali yuga started at 3102 BCE, and will last for 432,000 years. The other yugas are: Dvapara Yuga - 864,000 years, Treta Yuga - 1,296,000 years and Satya Yuga - 1,728,000 years. Since Kali Yuga is the last, Satya yuga will follow at the end of the current Kali yuga.

Brahma's Material Creations

If we understand that Brahma is the Cosmic Mind, and that as the Creator he needed to create a world of duality, much of the apparent improprieties in his methods of creation (as to why he created some entities from the higher parts and some others from the lower parts of his body, etc.) would be resolved.

The story that Brahma looked around, sitting on top of the lotus, and this action gave him four faces, is symbolic of the origin of the concept of four directions.

To start with, Brahma had to create the material worlds that would be the habitat of the souls who were lying dormant in the Supreme Lord after the previous mahapralaya. So he divided the hiranya garbha into three lokas (worlds) called bhuh, bhuvah, suvah that represented the earth, the sky and the heavens. These were then extended into fourteen worlds: seven lokas and seven talas.

Lokas and Talas

The Sanskrit term loka stands for place, locality (does this English term have its root in loka?), world, sphere, heavens. The term tala denotes a floor, plane, chasm, abyss. A loka represents the spiritual aspects and a tala the material aspects. Like the two poles of a magnet, each loka has its corresponding tala. "They are the two sides of being, the two contrasting forces of nature, the light-side and the night-side." (ETG)

"The lokas and talas are not placed in nature's structure above each other like steps of a stair, but are within each other, interblending and continually interacting. Each inner one is finer and more ethereal than the next outer one; the inmost of either series is the most ethereal and spiritual of all. The more spiritual the center, the wider is its outflow of radiation and influence, and it therefore reaches far beyond the more material ones." (ETG).

The seven loka-tala pairs are:

Satya-loka : Atala,
Tapar-loka : Vitala,
Janar-loka : Sutala,
Mahar-loka : Rasatala,
Svar-loka : Talatala,
Bhuvar-loka : Mahatala,
Bhur-loka : Patala.

This hierarchy is represented in the following figure:
(e:\00saidevo\media\fso6ba.gif)

"The dual septenary of interacting and interblending lokas and talas may be looked upon, at least from one viewpoint, as the spiritual and the vehicular poles of a universe." (FSO)

Brahma's Spiritual Creations

Brahma's task after creating the lokas and talas was to populate them with the souls dormant inside the Lord, giving them life and form that were a continuation from their states before mahapralaya. Brahma's spiritual creations started with the Vegetable Kingdom, the Second of the Seven Kingdoms.

The Vegetable Kingdom

This (seventh) creation involves the immovable entities, which are of six kinds:

vanaspati - the fruit trees without flowers,
Oshadi - trees and plants which exist until the fruit is ripe,
latA - creepers,
tvaksArA - pipe plants,
vIrudho - creepers which have no support, and
drumAh - trees with flowers and fruits.

All the immovable trees and plants seek their subsistence upwards. They are almost unconscious but have feelings of pain within. They are manifested in variegatedness.

The Animal Kingdom

Brahma's next (eighth) creation is the Animal Kingdom, the Third of the Seven Kingdoms. To this kingdom belong the lower species of life, which are of different varieties, numbering twenty-eight. They are all extensively foolish and ignorant. They know their desirables by smell, but are unable to remember anything within the heart. Their main activities are eating and sleeping.

The lower animals the cow, goat, buffalo, krishna (black) stag, hog, gavaya animal, deer, lamb and camel all have two hooves.

The horse, mule, kharah or ass, gaura (white deer), sharabha and wild cow all have only one hoof.

The dog, jackal, tiger, fox, cat, rabbit, sajaaru (porcupine variety), lion, monkey, elephant, tortoise, alligator, gosaapa (iguana), etc., all have five nails in their claws. They are known as panca-nakhas, or animals having five nails.

The heron, vulture, crane, hawk, bhaasa (a kind of vulture), bhallooka, peacock, swan, saarasa (Indian crane), cakravaaka, crow, owl and others are the birds.

The Human Kingdom

Having created the animals, Brahma proceeded with his (ninth) creation, that of Human Kingdom, the Fourth of the Seven Kingdoms. The creation of the human beings, who are of one species only and who stock their eatables in the belly, is the ninth in the rotation. In the human race, the mode of passion is very prominent. Humans are always busy in the midst of miserable life, but they think themselves happy in all respects.

Species of Life

Padma Purana mentions the huge number of species of different kinds in this verse:

jalaja nava laksani
sthavara laksha-vimsati
krimayo rudra sankhyakat
prkshinam dasa-laksanam
trimsal-laksani paravah
catur laksani manusah

"There are 900,000 species living in the water. There are also 2,000,000 nonmoving entities such as trees and plants. There are 1.100,000 species of insects and reptiles and there are 1,000,000 species of birds. As far as animals are concerned there are 3,000,000 varieties and there are 400,000 human species."

Brahma's creation of the seven Sanat Kumaras and the others in the spiritual hierarchy is discussed in Part 3 of this compilation.

Sources:
1. Srimad Bhagavatam, hosted at http://www.srimadbhagavatam.org/
2. Narayaneeyam, hosted at http://www.geocities.com/tvnswamy/narayaneeyam.html
3. ETG: Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary, hosted at http://www.theosociety.org/
4. FSO: Fountain-Source of Occultism by G. de Purucker, hosted at http://www.theosociety.org/

sarabhanga
10 September 2006, 04:52 AM
Namaste Saidevo,

So, in the first stage of creation, Vishnu creates 16 elements out of his “false ego”.

But you say that mahat is first created, and then the “modes of nature” mix to give the “false ego” (which then goes on to create 16 elements).

What are the modes of nature, and when were they created?

And sharabha may indicate a deer, or an elephant, or a camel, or a locust, or a monkey ~ but NOT a bison!

sarabhanga
10 September 2006, 05:53 AM
N.B. When this Kaliyuga finally ends, the dawning age (after a twilight period of virtual dissolution) will be a Satyuga that lasts for as long as four Kaliyugas, followed by a Tretayuga of three Kaliyuga extent, followed by a Dvaparayuga of two Kaliyugas, and finally one more Kaliyuga.

saidevo
10 September 2006, 10:31 AM
Namaste Sarabhanga,



So, in the first stage of creation, Vishnu creates 16 elements out of his “false ego”.

But you say that mahat is first created, and then the “modes of nature” mix to give the “false ego” (which then goes on to create 16 elements).

What are the modes of nature, and when were they created?


The 'three stages' and 'nine kinds' of creation is an extract from the article Creation and Annihilation of the Universe, hosted at http://veda.harekrsna.cz/encyclopedia/creation.htm. In this article, the word 'kinds' is used for the three and the nine. I changed it to 'stages' to avoid confusion.



The nine kinds of creation

SB 3.10.15-29:
1) The first creation is of the Mahat-tattva (by Mahavisnu)
In the first creation the modes of nature mix and give rise to false ego.


The 'modes of nature' referred to here are obviously the three gunas, aren't they?

From your question I understand that the order of creation (whoever does it) should be as detailed in the Sankhya philosophy: pradhana->mahat->ahamkara. To start with, pradhana already has the three gunas satva, rajas and tamas, which are kept in equilibrium. Purusha's glance at pradhana agitates the matter, and this gives raise to mahat and the other material creations.

I searched the texts of Srimad Bhagavatam (at http://www.srimadbhagavatam.org/ and http://www.krishna.com) for this exact sequence of creation, but could not trace it. Only in Canto 11, Chapter 24, Bhagavatam speaks about the Sankhya philosophy, where this order is found.

However, to the extent I understand, Bhagavatam mentions this sequence for the origin of ahamkara: (Source: The article Creation According to Hinduism, hosted at http://www.indiadivine.org/hinduism/articles/56/1/Creation-According-to-Hinduism/Page1.html). (I was not aware of this article when I did my compilation. Only now, upon searching for the Bhagavatam version of the origin of Ahamkara, I chanced on it.)



Time is considered to be the 25th element; it is the mixing and agitating element. The Supreme Personality of Godhead can be perceived as time (SB 3.26.11-18).

The pradhana or saguna-Brahman becomes then agitated by the time factor which represents the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus and by the influence of the three modes of material nature the creation comes to the level of mahat-tattva, or prakrti, where the elements actually can manifest themselves. The mahat-tattva is the breeding source of all varieties and brings forth all the different material bodies and material objects; it contains all the universes and is the root of all cosmic manifestations. The mahat-tattva is annihilated at the time of the annihilation, the end of Brahma's life.

Next the Supreme Personality of Godhead impregnates the mahat-tattva with His internal potency which are the living entities. Agitated by the destinations of the contitioned souls the material nature, or mahat-tattva, delivers the cosmic intelligence (Hiranyamaya). The mahat-tattva is thus "lit up" by the sum total of the consciousness of all the conditioned souls (SB 3.26.19-20).

The Caturvyuha expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, namely Sri Vasudeva, Sri Aniruddha, Sri Pradyumna and Sri Sankarshana occur and take charge of various aspects of the material creation.

In the beginning pure goodness, the vasudeva stage of consciousness, prevails within the mahat-tattva. This point of creation is controlled by Sri Vasudeva, the Superknower. Due to the pure goodness the consciousness has the qualities of complete serenity, clarity and freedom from any distraction; one is free from the infringement by material desires. Therefore one can see a reflection of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and if one worships Sri Vasudeva one can come to the platform of pure goodness (suddha-sattva), thus understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead (SB 3.26.21).

Through the desire to enjoy and control seperately from Krishna, the misuse of independence by the living entities which are impregnated into the material nature, material ego or false ego is caused to spring up from the mahat-tattva in pure goodness. This false ego is endowed with active power of three kind - good (serene), passionate (active), ignorant (dull). From the false ego in different modes of material nature mind, senses, elements as well as all the other ingredients and objects of the material nature are produced. Therefore every object within the material creation is seen as identical with false ego since it has the false ego as its source. Sri Sankarshana controls that false ego and in order to become free from it one is adviced to worship Sri Sankarsana. He is worshipped through Lord Siva; the snakes which cover the body of Lord Shiva are representations of Sri Sankarsna, and Lord Shiva is always absorbed in meditation upon Sri Sankarshana (SB 3.26.23-24).


I think the point from the above quote is this: When the Supreme Lord enters pradhana that was earlier in equilibrium, the dormant souls within him, with their different states of spiritual development, agitate the pradhana by their potencies of guna, and this causes a mixing and a disturbance in equilibrium, and gives rise to mahat and ahamkara.

We may perhaps synthesize the views of Sankhya, Vedanta and Bhagavatam thus:

The souls that are dormat after a mahapralaya are individual purushas in Sankhya, but they are inside Brahman as per Vedanta and inside Lord Krishna in Bhagavatam. Ultimately, it is the souls that agitate and disturb the pradhanic equilibrium and start the creation process. The Lord's will schedules this event using his aspect of time.

Please enlighten me about any other explanations you could offer. Do you suggest any change in my compilation?



N.B. When this Kaliyuga finally ends, the dawning age (after a twilight period of virtual dissolution) will be a Satyuga that lasts for as long as four Kaliyugas, followed by a Tretayuga of three Kaliyuga extent, followed by a Dvaparayuga of two Kaliyugas, and finally one more Kaliyuga.


I have edited my compilation to incorporate this fact in the appropriate place. Thanks for the correction.

saidevo
11 September 2006, 12:15 PM
Namaste Sarabhanga,

I have since edited and rearranged this compilation to remove the anamoly you have pointed out, including in the process, the creation of demigods by Vishnu. Kindly give me your feedback on the revised edition.

Thank you for your encouragement and enlightenment.

sarabhanga
11 September 2006, 10:29 PM
Namaste Saidevo,

The explanation is now more clear, but one thing is very important to remember.

"Time" only appears as the 25th element, and the whole process (without time) to the point of time's first manifestation is purely conceptual, so that any normal idea of "this follows that and then this follows that" cannot truly apply.

And beyond all of this, Mahakala (i.e. Mahan-Kala) was always there, unchanged from the beginning! ;)

saidevo
12 September 2006, 08:27 AM
Namaste Sarabhanga.

Srimad Bhagavatam repeatedly states that Brahma after a phase of creations wasn't happy with his work, so he threw down his body, did tapas to create the higher entities and then acquired a body that parted into two enabling progenitive sexual union.

Before I publish my next compilation, I would like your opinion on the following:

1. When Brahma created the nescient engagements, he was frustrated with the work. He was also angry when his Kumaras didn't want to adapt the normal life. Does this mean that Brahma's lowest kosha was astral at that time, since emotions manifest only on the astral and physical bodies?

2. When Brahma created Svayambhu and Satarupa, did he have a sthula sarira? Aren't they the first humans of the planet earth?

3. Were the Sanat Kumaras ever in their sthula sarira? Aren't they among the chiranjivis? I know of two other chiranjivis: Hanuman and Markandeya. Any others?

4. Theosophy refers to Sanat Kumaras as the Lords of the Flame, who are in the planet Venus, supervising evolution of humanity, descending to earth when necessary. What is this Venus connection? Any parallel truth in Sanatana Dharma?

Feedback from other members is also welcome.