by Sri Bimal Mohanty
VOL No. 38
Apri;. 2004

ATTEMPTS TO DESCRIBE BRAMHAN - Part 12

"Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty"

When we say all the ingredients of this creation are indeed nothing but Bramhan, here we see a unique view of creation which is different from the views held by most other philosophies.

What is the common concept with most of us as regards the creation of this universe? People say that God created this creation. With a statement like that, it is implied that it is like something which God brought into being and which was not there earlier. We understand when we say 'the potter created the pot'. Likewise people say God created the creation. The pot was not there before the potter brought the pot into existence. Similarly people say, that God brought this creation into existence.

Is this true? The logic and the concept in our Upanishads, the sanatan philosophy says 'not quite so'.

On the face of it this contradiction to the commonly held belief, sounds blasphemous and ridiculous. But if we care to analyse the logic, we arrive at the root of this very interesting truth.

The idea expounded by the upanishads is -and this is a very crucial idea- that God, did not create the creation but He verily became the creation.

When the potter creates a pot, we have a potter on one hand and the pot on the other. There is an obvious duality in existence. If that simile is applied to God and His creation, then we will have to accept the creation to be one and the creator to be another. That is absurd. From various arguments from different scriptures, we have arrived at the truth that everything is indeed Bramhan. There is nothing else anywhere excepting Bramhan and Bramhan alone. It is one Bramhan who so desired and manifested Himself into this myriad objects of phenomenal universe. Eko bahusvam- one became many.

So, Sarvam khalvidham Bramham- everything without exception is Bramhan.

Isaavaasyam idam sarvam yat kincaa jagatyaam jagat.- whatever we know as the universe, is entirely pervaded by the Lord.

One can quote hundreds of such observations from the Upanishads to establish this point. Therefore imagining a creation which is separate from the creator, is a contradiction.

This concept indeed solves many unsolved questions that come to mind.

People wonder, is there a beginning to this universe? Is there a point in time and space which can be fixed as the origin of the universe? The upanishadic logic also makes this question absurd and irrelevant. If Bramhan himself is this manifested universe, then asking if there is a beginning of this universe is tantamount to asking if there is a beginning of Bramhan. This is again absurd because Bramhan by definition is anadi, without a beginning.

Further, when we are searching for the starting point of the creation or the universe, which state of the universe we should take as our universe? The universe that we have around us, can we say that this is the real state of universe that we are talking of? We can not say so, because from moment to moment, from a fraction of a second to another fraction of a second, the universe is changing its shape and form. The heavenly bodies that we see at this very moment, at the wink of the eye have vanished or changed. Some of them that we see are not even existing. Only their light which started when they were existing is reaching us now. So the 'creation' of the universe is a ceaseless continuous process- never stopping and never constant. There was never a zero state as far as the creation of this universe is concerned.

This means that the creation was always there. It had only a different form, different arrangement and shape. Before our solar system came into being, something else in another shape was existing in its place. That was one state of creation. When our solar system, our galaxy or any other galaxy will cease to exist, the creation will be another state in another form. There is no beginning and there is no end to this ever dynamic manifestation of Bramhan. At the start of the vedic concept of Bramha day, when the visible creation unfolds out of Bramhan, this creation is in one form. At the end of Bramha day, when the Bramha night begins, when the phenomenal creation collapses into the Bramhan, it is again the creation in another form in the cycle of events. Which point in this is the beginning? Which is the end? All these are ever existing Bramhan in its ever dynamic aspect.

Then there is a lot of talk about some kind of a big bang which supposed to have triggered the creation of this universe. Which is this big bang? What is this explosion? We all know that in this universe explosions are taking place every moment of time. Some heavenly system is blowing up right now, some new systems, galaxies, stars are forming and some collapsing. There are bangs everywhere and every moment. Srusti, Sthiti and Pralay, coming into being, existing for a fleeting moment and passing on to another state is the non-stop game being played around. So which bang is big and which bang is small? Do we know? Do we know which portion of the universe we are talking about? Do we know the boundaries of the universe? Do we know what is the total content of this limitless universe? Do we know in which part of the universe, what is happening at this very moment? The vedic concept here is one of anantakoti bramhanda, a countless systems and objects within this limitless space. Barring that much, we know no more. Our limited mind and intellect are incapable of comprehending the picture or knowledge of the universe in its totality. In the absence of all these knowledge to talk of a specific event as the trigger point for creation can only be termed very amusing.

But when we talk of the limitless aspect of Bramhan and ascribe everything to be Bramhan, it begins to make some sense.

Further, people ask: what is that basic ingredient which became this material universe? Where from it came? Is it Bramhan? Is Bramhan material?

This is what the second part of the sloka from Mundaka answers. All matters are combination of five basic elements that we call pancabhutas.

Kham vaayurjyotiraapah prthivi visvasya dhaarini

Space, air, energy, water and earth, these five are the material constituents of the universe. They come from where? Who created them? Is there someone beside Bramhan who is the instrumental cause of this creation? 'No' say our scriptures. They are all manifestations of Bramhan again. More about it in our next issue.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

" FOR QUESTION AND ANSWERS PLEASE SEE NEXT PAGE "