Namaste Marga,
I didn't want to proceed on this thread but I would answer your questions :
See, the scriptures are not unanimous on this issue. So, the cause of this "creation" is not known. That is why Rig Veda says, "Perhaps He (God) knows, or perhaps He doesn't". So, Rig Veda makes it clear that no one knows the real cause of the creation.
However, there is one consistency in scriptures that Prakriti and Purusha have been considered as "AnAdi". If Prakriti is AnAdi i.e. beginningless then how can there be a cause of Prakriti and if there was Prakriti from the beginning, then there was no time when the creation occurred and it must be beginningless in whatever form it might be.
-The sun is the cause of the sunrays, and yet the rays have existed as long as the sun. Prakriti is manifested into the material universes (Creation)and annihilated again and again, forever, by the will of the Lord.
Prakriti or MAyA is the cause of three states of Brahman i.e. Ishvara, this gross world and the subtle world. The gross-world and the subtle world arise and end into Ishvara but there was never a time when this cycle started. That is why Lord Krishna says in Bhagwad Gita Chapter -2 that there was never a time when He (Lord Krishna) was not there or Arjuna was not there ... etc.
-Not according to Krishna: Krishna is the source of everything (Bg.10.8), and
he specifically refers to maya as
mama-maya - (bg. 7.14)
My energy.
This verse should be clear (Bg.9.10):
mayadhyaksena prakrtih
suyate sa-caracaram
hetunanena kaunteya
jagad viparivartate
SYNONYMS
maya--by Me;
adhyaksena--by superintendence;
prakrtih--material nature;
suyate--manifests;
sa--with;
cara-acaram--the moving and the nonmoving;
hetuna--for this reason;
anena--this;
kaunteya--O son of Kunti;
jagat--the cosmic manifestation;
viparivartate--is working.
TRANSLATION
This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kunti, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.
The VedAnta Gurus say that this question is absurd. There is no "why" for this creation and there is no need that there must be a "why" for everything. We have somehow got this idea that everything in this creation must have a "why" ... but that is not true. Why E= MC**2 and not E = MC ** 3 ? Why do we have only two eyes and not three ? Why father doesn't produce a child but mother does ? Why all rivers are of water and none of it is of cow's milk ? Why do we need Oxygen to live and not nitrogen ? Why must everyone die or take birth ? Why aren't we designed to take energy directly from the Sun ? etc. etc.
-All this questions I can answer. Do you want me to?
The question why the universe exists is no more absurd than to question why I exist (athato brahma jijnasa - vedanta sutra, first verse) The vedanta gurus may not be able to explain the cause of creation - unfortunately for them, they should have taken shelter of someone who knows. The cause of creation is no mystery to the Vaishnavas.
These questions have no answer. Because the things are as they are.
-No. Things are not just as they are. They are that way because God created them that way - with a purpose.
There is no "why" and there is no compulsion that there should be a "why" for everything.
-The Supreme is the cause of all causes, He is all-pervading and fully cognisant, and He does not act whimsically. Claims to the opposite are insults to Him.
OM
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