Chapter 5 - Creation of the Universe (Dialogue between Nārada and Brahmadeva)

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Nārada said:

1. Oh God of gods! Oh Creator of all creatures! Oh the ancestor of all beings [one who is born before all]! I bow to you. Please explain to me in detail the knowledge which leads to the thorough realization of the true nature of the Soul (ātman).

2. Oh Lord! Please tell me factually what it is that manifests itself in this form of the world. What is the support of it all? From what is it created? Into what is it merged or withdrawn? In whose power does it lie? Of what does it consist (whether of itself or as an effect of some cause)?

3. Verily Your Honour knows everything about this, as you are the master (lord) of the past, the present and the future). The whole universe is definitely and correctly known to you like the āmalaka (Emblic myrobalan) fruit on the palm of your hand.

4. What is the source of your special knowledge? What is your support (who supports you)? In whose power are you? What is your real nature? I think you alone create all these beings, with the elements, by your divine power (māyā).

5. You protect those (beings) depending on you, and there is no transformation in you, even though, without any fatigue you create (these beings) by your power, like a spider producing the fibre.

6. Oh Lord! I do now know anything else, whether it is of superior, equal or inferior status which is created with names (such as men etc.), with form (such as bipeds etc.), or with attributes (such as whiteness etc.), or whether it is gross or subtle—which has a source in anybody else but you.

7. But you (as described above) performed austere penance with perfect concentration. You, thereby, create a suspicion in us if there is any God superior to you.

9. Oh Omniscient Master of all! Please explain to me who am asking you this, so that I may understand the truth as explained by you.

Brahmā said:

9. Oh child! Your query is really praiseworthy. You are compassionate (to all beings). Oh gentle child! You have therefore made me describe in detail the glory of the Lord.

10. Oh child! What you (think and) say about me is not untrue as you do not know the Power higher than I, from which (I receive) this much power (as described by you).

11. I shed light on (i.e. manifest) the universe which has already been lightened by him by his lustre, just as the Sun, the fire, the Moon, constellations, planets and stars shine due to his splendour.

12. Salutations to the venerable Vāsudeva. Wc meditate on him deluded by whose invincible power—Māyā—people call me the cause of the universe.

13. Persons being beguiled by her (Māyā) who fights shy of standing in the range of his sight, get their knowledge covered by Nescience, and boast that “this is mine and I” (i.e. I am an independent agent).

14. Oh Brahman, whether it is substance (e.g. five elements, the material cause of this world,) deed or karman (the cause of saṃsāra), Time, Nature, or individual Soul—there is nothing distinct and apart from Vāsudeva.

15. All the Vedas ultimately speak of Nārāyaṇa^[1] (implying the omniscience etc. mentioned in Śāstrayonitva of the Brahma-sūtra). Gods are born out of Nārāyaṇa’s body (and hence inferior to him). The words such as heaven or svarga are Nārāyaṇa (or all beings regard Nārāyaṇa as supreme). All sacrificial acts are for the propitiation of Nārāyaṇa.

16.^[2] Yoga (breath control, contemplation etc.) is meant for the realization of Nārāyaṇa. All penance is for the attainment of Nārāyaṇa. Nārāyaṇa is the highest object of knowledge. The final beatitude depends on Nārāyaṇa. (Or Nārāyaṇa is the highest goal).

17. Being directed by the glance of the Almighty who is the soul of all, (who is the Antaryāmin), the Seer, the Controller, the Changeless one, I who am created by him, create this universe which is his creative activity or creation.

18. Though he is attributeless, he, through his Māyā, has assumed the three attributes, namely, sattva, rajas and tamas, for the maintenance, creation and dissolution (of the universe).

19. These attributes which are at the basis of the five elements (i.e. mahābhūtas), knowledge (i.e. the gods) and activity (the senses and organs) always bind the individual Soul in effects, cause and agency (known as adhibhūta, adhyātma, adhidaivata respectively. Though he is really free, he is enveloped by Māyā.^[3]

20. Oh Brahman! This is the glorious Lord Viṣṇu (aḍhoksaja) whose movements are incomprehensible^[4] through these three attributes (viz. sattva, rajas and tamas). He is my lord as well as that of all others.

21. The lord of Māyā desiring to be many (i.e. assuming different forms) accepted as cause, time, action (the fate of jīva) and the innate disposition which accidentally (through his will) appeared in him through his Māyā.

22. It is due to the presence or direction of God that Time became the cause of the imbalance in the three attributes (guṇas), innate nature the cause of modifications or transformations, and karma as the cause of mahat.^[5]

23. Mahat which is magnified by or charged with rajas and sattva, undergoes modifications and evolves a thing in which tamas is dominant, and the thing is constituted of substance or gross elements, organs of senses and deities presiding over the organs.

24. That evolute is known as ahaṃkāra (I-ness), which undergoing modifications, becomes of three kinds—(1) vaikārika (sāttvika), (2) taijasa (rājasa), (3) tāmasa. It constitutes the power in substance or gross elements, power in activity, i.e. organs of senses and power in the presiding deities of the senses.

25. From the tāmasa ahaṃkāra, known as the source of elements (Bhūtādi) which underwent modifications, was evolved the ether (the sky). Its subtle form and special characteristic is sound (śabda) which leads to the knowledge of the seer and the seen.

26. Out of the ether undergoing transformation emerged Vāyu (air), the characteristic quality of which was Touch. Being an evolute of the other, i.e. the sky, it possesses the quality Sound, and it is the cause of life, vigorousness of senses, mind and the body.^[6]

27. Due to (the pressure or force of) Time, Karma (the unseen i.e. adṛṣṭa) and innate disposition, Vāyu, i.e. air, underwent modifications, and tejas (fire or heat), possessing colour and form (and inheriting the characteristics of the previous elements, viz.) touch and sound, was evolved.

28. From tejas undergoing change, was produced water with taste as its special characteristic. Through inheritance from the previous elements, water possessed the characteristics viz., form, colour, touch and sound.

29. Out of water undergoing transformation came forth the earth or the viśeṣa, with smell as its special attribute, and inheriting from its previous causes, the attributes of taste, touch, sound and form or colour.

30. From the vaikārika or sāttvic ahaṃkāra (sāttvic ego) were born the Mind (and its presiding deity the Moon) and the ten gods, five presiding over the five sense organs, viz. Diś (deity of cardinal points), Vāyu, Sūrya, Varuṇa and Aśvins (presiding over the sense organs—ears, skin, eyes, tongue, nose) and the other five, viz. Vahni (fire-god), Indra, Upenḍra, Mitra (the sun) and Ka (i.e. Prajāpati) presiding over the conative organs (viz. speech, hands, feet, the anus and the organ of generation).

31. From the taijasa (rājasa) ahaṃkāra, undergoing change, were evolved the ten organs (five cognitive and five conative sense organs detailed above) viz. the ear (audition), the skin (touch), the nose (smell), the eye (seeing), the tongue (taste), speech, hands, feet, penis and anus. Intelligence or the power of cognition or knowledge and Prāṇa, the power of conation, were evolved out of the taijasa ahaṃkāra.

32. Oh knower of Brahman or Vedas! So long as these, viz. bhūtas (the elements), indriyas (sense-organs), the mind and the guṇas were unamalgamated, they were not able to create the body.

33. Then directed by the will of God, they came together and were assimilated with one another as the main and the subsidiary (or the manifest and the unmanifested) constituents, and brought forth this(body of gross and subtle constituents or collective and distributive aggregates).

34. At the end of thousands of years (during the Deluge), with the help of kāla (time), karma (action and destiny) and svabhāva (innate disposition) the Supreme Soul (who enlivened these and hence was called jīva) brought life into the egg (of the universe) of unmanifested life.

35. This very Supreme Man possessing thousands of thighs, feet, arms, eyes and thousands of mouths and heads^[7] came out bursting open the egg (brahmāṇḍa).

36. The wise locate the different worlds in the body of the Supreme Man, as seven worlds below his loins and seven worlds above, commencing from his hip upwards.^[8]

37. The Brāhmaṇa class is the mouth of this Man. Kṣatriyas are his arms. From the thighs of the lord was created the Vaiśya class and the Śūdra came forth from his feet.^[9]

38. The Bhūr-loka was created from his feet, the Bhuvar- loka from his navel. From the heart of the Great Being was produced the Svar-loka, and from his chest, the Mahar-loka.

39. On his neck is based the Jana-loka, and the Tapo-loka^[10] came from his lips. The Satya-loka is created from the heads. Brahma-loka is eternal (and therefore not created).

40. The nether region Atala is located in his loins. Vitala^[10] depends on the thighs of the lord. On his knees rests the holy Sutala (holy due to the residence of the devotees of the Lord) and Talātala is based on his shanks.

41. His ankles support Mahātala, and the forepart of his feet, the Rasātala. The Pātāla is created from the soles. In this way the body of the Supreme Man consists of all the worlds.

42. Or this arrangement of worlds (is differently given): the Bhūr-loka has been created from his feet and the Bhuvar-loka from his navel and the Svar-loka from his head.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Nārāyaṇa-para—Nārāyaṇa is the ultimate cause of the Vedas—Bhāgavata Candrikā (ii) Vedas propound or declare that Nārāyaṇa is the Supreme Being—Bhāgavata Candrikā (iii) Vedas say that out of the topics described by them, Nārāyaṇa is the highest and the best—Padaratnāvalī

[2]:

Cf. Bhāgavata Purāṇa I.2.28-29, where Vāsudeva is used for Nārāyaṇa.

[3]:

Padaratnāvalī explains: Dravya (matter) is the body produced by tāmasa ahaṃkāra. jñāna (knowledge) is the mind and other organs of senses created by Vaikārika ahaṃkāra. Kriyā (activity) is the speech and other functions of senses. These are produced by taijasa ahaṃkāra.

[4]:

sva-lakṣita-gati [gatiḥ]—(i) Whose cause is comprehensible to his devotees only—Bhāvāratha Dīpikā, Padaratnāvalī

(ii) Whose cause is perceptible to the liberated ones.—Siddhāntapradīpa

[5]:

According to Padaratnāvalī this describes the creation of mahat from the primeval Prakṛti. When Viṣṇu desired to create the universe, at that time the balance of the guṇas became disturbed, and by the favourable condition of the adṛṣṭa (karma) of Hiraṇyagarbha, and by the transformable nature of mūla prakṛti, and being presided over by Viṣṇu, the principle mahat was produced.

[6]:

Prāṇa etc.—vitality of which energy, speed and capacity to hold or strength, are the characteristics—Bhāgavata Candrikā

[7]:

Cf. Ṛg Veda Saṃhitā. X. 90. i.

[8]:

The ‘creation’ or rather evolution of the universe may be briefly represented as follows:

God’s will to be many—Influence on kāla, karma and svabhāva by God’s Power Māyā—

The Lord, by his Power, assimilated them into the cosmic egg (brahmāṇḍa) and later infused life into it. The virāṭ puruṣa with thousands of heads, feet etc. and with seven upper and seven lower regions located in his body came out and the creation, preservation and destruction of the universe followed.

[9]:

Cf. Ṛg Veda Saṃhitā. X. 90.12.

[10]:

Bhāvāratha Dīpikā alternatively interprets: Tapo-loka was created from his breasts. He adds that for contemplation there is no difficulty if the breasts which are downwards in position from the neck, are taken as. the source of the Tapo-loka).