Creation of the Universe - Part 9

Dear All,

Now, about the sequence of creation!

Rig Veda 10.190.1

रतं च सत्यं चाभीद्धात तपसो.अध्यजायत |

ततोरात्र्यजायत ततः समुद्रो अर्णवः ||

ṛtaṃ ca satyaṃ cābhīddhāt tapaso.adhyajāyata | 

tatorātryajāyata tataḥ samudro arṇavaḥ ||

From the heart of AUM came Truth and from that Truth, the entire world emerged in its majestic glory

Rig Veda 10.190.2

समुद्रादर्णवादधि संवत्सरो अजायत | 

अहोरात्राणिविदधद विश्वस्य मिषतो वशी ||

samudrādarṇavādadhi saṃvatsaro ajāyata | 

ahorātrāṇividadhad viśvasya miṣato vaśī ||

From this universe of Ocean came Time, the Lord of every moment, ordaining nights and days.

Rig Veda 10.190.3

सूर्याचन्द्रमसौ धाता यथापूर्वमकल्पयत | 

दिवं चप्र्थिवीं चान्तरिक्षमथो सवः ||

sūryācandramasau dhātā yathāpūrvamakalpayat | 

divaṃ capṛthivīṃ cāntarikṣamatho svaḥ ||

Then, as before, the Creator fashioned the sun, the  moon, the heaven and the earth… Immediately mountains rose up, immediately rivers started running, earth below and sky over its head… ocean, seas, lands and water sheds… sun, moon and desert sands sprang up from nowhere…

Aitreya Upanishad 1.2

स इमाँ ल्लोकानसृजत । अम्भो मरीचीर्मापोऽदोऽम्भः परेण दिवं

द्यौः प्रतिष्ठाऽन्तरिक्षं मरीचयः ॥

पृथिवी मरो या अधस्तात्त आपः ॥ २॥

sa ima.n llokanasrijata . ambho marichirmapo.ado.ambhah parena diva.n

dyauh pratishtha.antariksham marichayah ..

prithivi maro ya adhastatta apah .. 2..

He created the sky and the heaven beyond, the earth and the water below.

Atharva Veda 12.1

सत्यं बृहदृतमुग्रं दीक्षा तपो ब्रह्म यज्ञः पृथिवीं धारयन्ति ।

सा नो भूतस्य भव्यस्य पत्न्युरुं लोकं पृथिवी नः कृणोतु ॥१॥

Satyam Brhad-Rtam-Ugram Diikssaa Tapo Brahma Yajnyah Prthiviim Dhaarayanti |

Saa No Bhuutasya Bhavayasya Patny[i]-Urum Lokam Prthivii Nah Krnnotu ||1||

High Truth, Unyielding order, consecration, order, prayer, and holy ritual upholding earth… May She the eternal Mother of what has been and what will come to be… for us… spread wide in limitless domain

To prove God’s existence came all forms, beasts and birds flying, human beings, mankind, speaking, hearing and all powers were bestowed upon them, as per God’s order.

Aitreya Upanishad 3.1.3

इमानि च क्षुद्रमिश्राणीव ।

बीजानीतराणि चेतराणि चाण्डजानि च जारुजानि च स्वेदजानि चोद्भिज्जानि

चाश्वा गावः पुरुषा हस्तिनो यत्किञ्चेदं प्राणि जङ्गमं च पतत्रि

च यच्च स्थावरं ।

ImAni cha kShudramishrANIva .

bIjAnItarANi chetarANi chANDajAni cha jArujAni cha svedajAni chodbhijjAni

chAshvA gAvaH puruShA hastino yatki~nchedaM prANi ja~Ngama.n cha patatri

cha yachcha sthAvara.n

God (Brahman), too, is all these creatures, that exist, move on this earth or fly above.

Aitreya Upanishad 3.1.3

सर्वं तत्प्रज्ञानेत्रं प्रज्ञाने प्रतिष्ठितं

प्रज्ञानेत्रो लोकः प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठा प्रज्ञानं ब्रह्म ॥

sarva.n tatpraj~nAnetraM praj~nAne pratiShThitaM praj~nAnetro lokaH praj~nA pratiShThA praj~nAnaM brahma

The essence of all beings is consciousness. Consciousness is Brahman. The first place was granted to Mankind. God planted His knowledge in the minds of Man.

Narsimha Purana

आहार निद्रा भयं मैथुन्ं च सामान्यमेतत् पशुभिर् नराणाम् |

ज्ञान्ं हि तेषामधिको विशेष: ज्ञानेन हीना: पशुभि: समाना: ||

aahaara nidraa bhaya.m maithun.m ca saamaanyametat pa"subhir naraa.naam |

j~naan.m hi te.saamadhiko vi"se.sa: j~naanena hiinaa: pa"subhi: samaanaa: ||

Man was an animal until divine knowledge was placed in his mind.

Shankaracharya

ज्ञानाद् एव तु कैवल्यम् ||

j~naanaad eva tu kaivalyam ||

It is only through knowledge of the divine that liberation can be attained.

Kena Upanishad

ॐ आप्यायन्तु ममाङ्गानि वाक्प्राणश्चक्षुः

श्रोत्रमथो बलमिन्द्रियाणि च सर्वाणि ।

सर्वं ब्रह्मौपनिषदं

माऽहं ब्रह्म निराकुर्यां मा मा ब्रह्म

निराकरोदनिराकरणमस्त्वनिराकरणं मेऽस्तु ।

तदात्मनि निरते य

उपनिषत्सु धर्मास्ते मयि सन्तु ते मयि सन्तु ।

OM ApyAyantu mamA~NgAni vAkprANashchakShuH

shrotramatho balamindriyANi cha sarvANi .

sarvaM brahmaupaniShadaM

mA.ahaM brahma nirAkuryAM mA mA brahma

nirAkarodanirAkaraNamastvanirAkaraNaM me.astu .

tadAtmani nirate ya

upaniShatsu dharmAste mayi santu te mayi santu.

May all the virtues cited in the Upanishads reside in me. Let me be perfect, may I never deny God (Brahman) and may He never deny me.

Come one, come all, let us not be called ungrateful. Let us faithfully serve Him.

And...... Love Him,  Love Him, Love Him!

Dear ones,

After going through the previous post and this post, how wonderful will it be to actually listen and also see and witness these posts?

Let us spend 11 minutes of our precious time, with a peaceful, quiet mind, fresh after the morning bath, seated before the Lord in our puja room at home and  watch  this unique video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXkD0k1ozRk

(This film was created by Gene Massey and currently plays daily to over three thousand people at the Chaitanya Jyoti Millennium Museum at Prasanthi Nilayam, Puttaparthi, India)

Love.

Chinmayananda Saraswati

Creation of the Universe - Part 8

Dear All,

We  shall take it forward from the previous post and  try and  understand the process of creation as per Vedas.

AUM

The first ever vibration from the source God who remained alone is described as cosmic vibration or AUM.

Om is Nada Brahman. Nada is sound. Sound is vibration. Om is the first vibration of sound. Sound is the first manifestation of the Absolute. 

We know nothing about the nature of the Absolute except that It is. 
The scriptures have tried to tell us all about creation, how it proceeded from the Absolute. They say: "Brahman was one and non-dual. It thought, 'Let me become many.' 

That caused a vibration, eventually bringing in sound, and that sound was Om, from whence arise all other manifestations."  Thus sound is virtually the comprehensible basis for all creation. 

Brahman is incomprehensible in Its transcendent aspect. The nearest approach to It is only sound.

When a close devotee asked Sai, “Swami, if we have to meditate ever on you/God without form then  what do we do?,  Swami replied, “KNOW ME AS SHABDA BRAHMAN, MEDITATE ON ME AS AUM”

तस्माद्वा एतस्मादात्मान आकाश: सम्भूत: 
TASMAAD VA ETASMADAATMANA AAKASHAH SAMBOOTAHA 

(From AUM, the five elements came, out of them, the first which came is SPACE.)

आकाशाद्वायु:
AKAASHAAT VAYUH 
(From space, came Air)

वायोरग्नि:
VAYOR AGNIHI 
(From Air, came fire)

अग्नेराप:
AGNIR APAHA 
(From Fire, came Water)

अद्द्य्: पृथिवि
ADYAH PRITHVI 
(From Water, came earth)

Earth is the most dense - the state of solidity – we can perceive with all five senses. We can see,touch, taste, smell and hear.

Water is less so the state of fluidity – we can perceive by four senses. We can see, touch, taste, hear but cannot smell water.

Fire is constant transformation, constant action. We can perceive by three senses  i.e. less considerable less dense (We can see, hear, smell but cannot taste, cannot  touch)

Air is movement, subtle transparent movement . we can perceive only with two senses (we can only touch and listen to the sound of air, cannot taste, cannot  smell and cannot see)

Space still subtler, nearly imperceptible; we perceive it through sound alone. Yet despite containing all others, it remains untouched by their movement, ever calm ever in balance.

So, the creation process starts from Space, which is the subtlest of the 5 elements. From the subtlest element, each subsequent  element gets created in the upward flow above, with Earth being the 5^th and the grossest element.

There is a deeper significance of the above sequence in the context of human evolution.

• We are born as divine and this divinity in us is the subtlest aspect. 

• Unfortunately, man grows and gets  grosser and grosser and goes on to exist as the most gross being, with gross ego, mind and vasanas.

• And, the purpose of human life is to retrace from his gross nature gradually to exist ultimately  in the way He emerged first (like space appeared first in creation and is the subtlest), the subtlest existence as divine.

The entire journey in the spiritual path is to retrace/ evolve from our gross nature (Ego/ Jealousy/ Hatred/ Attachment/Fear) to subtler impressions (vasanas) and then to transcend  Mine and Thine ness (Asmita) to ultimately transcend our most subtlest identity/ ignorance (Avidya) and shine as divine entity, as God man!!

We will learn in future posts in this theme on this retracing process from gross to subtler to subtlest, from the jiva hood at its grosses level to the God hood at its subtlest level, with more and more clarity.

Love.