॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
Sunday, 2 October 2022 - Brahma undertakes the process of creation.
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Vidura said, “Oh, Great Sage! How did Brahma perform the act of creation after the disappearance of Lord Narayana? How many beings and things did he create, out of his body and mind? Kindly answer my questions.”
Maitreya replied: “I am happy to tell you all this, Oh, Vidura! First of all, Brahma engaged himself in Tapas for another hundred divine years. When he completed it, he looked around and saw a violent stormy wind agitating everything. Using the spiritual power he had acquired through Tapas, he simply drank up all that water and wind in an instant.”
“Thereafter, he proceeded to utilise the divine lotus out of which he was born, which was full of the Lord’s potential, to create things and beings.” (We begin to see why the lotus is such a big part of Sanatana Dharma.)
“Entering into the lotus, he proceeded as follows. First, he created all the fourteen planetary divisions for inhabitation by the different types of living entities.”
At this point, Vidura had a question. “What is Eternal Time? It is also a form of the Lord, I think. What are its features, Oh, Sage?”
“Oh, Vidura, Eternal Time is the primaeval source of the interactions of the three Gunas. It is unchangeable and limitless and works as the Lord's instrument for His pastimes in this creation. The cosmic manifestation is separated from the Lord only by Time. It originates from the same energy of the Lord Maha Vishnu. This cosmic manifestation is as it is now, it was the same in the past, and it will continue in the same way in the future.”
So the cosmic manifestation is what the Lord allows the highest seeker to experience.
“There are nine creations emerging out of Time. Mahattatva, or the sum total of all material ingredients. It is activated through the Gunas by the will of the Lord. Then comes the false ego, the sense of “I” and “Mine”. That leads to the experience of the Gunas - Tamas (matter), Sattva ( identity) and Rajas (activity).”
“Then come the subtle elements and then the gross elements - Ether, Water, Fire, Air and Earth.”
“Mind, then the various elements, external awareness, and then the functionality of beings.”
“Then out of Sattva, the presiding deities of the senses emerge.”
षष्ठस्तु तमसः सर्गो यस्त्वबुद्धिकृतः प्रभो। षडिमे प्राकृताः सर्गा वैकृतानपि मे शृणु॥
रजोभाजो भगवतो लीलेयं हरिमेधसः। सप्तमो मुख्यसर्गस्तु षड्विधस्तस्थिषां च यः॥
T: “Next, as the sixth is created Avidya, the multifaceted ignorance, that creates bondage through deluding beings by hiding the Reality and distorting perception. These six are called Praakrita creations. Next comes the Vaikrita creation which I shall now describe. By the way, the Lord through Rajas assumes the form of Brahma and undertakes this sport of creation.”
“The Vaikrita begins with the non-moving beings.”
“The plants, trees, herbs, creepers, bamboos, all of many varieties are created. They all absorb nourishment from below, their roots. They have only the sensation of touch, and keep their reactions within.”
‘Then come the non-human living beings, of a wide range.”
Maitreya lists a huge list of animals, birds and so on.
He mentions that there are twenty-eight life forms who do not know the difference between night and day! All these beings engage only in eating, sleeping, and procreation.
These animals have the added faculty of smell. They have neither mind nor distance vision.
Then come animals like cows, goats, deer, pigs and so on with hooves. Then come horses and so on. Then the dogs, foxes, wolves, tigers, lions, cats, rabbits, monkeys, elephants, tortoises, iguanas, snakes, crocodiles and so on.
Then come birds of many kinds, many being listed by Maitreya.
Then comes our hero, man. Maitreya says that the distinguishing feature of man is his Rajasic tendency of activity and possessiveness, with distress mistaken for pleasure sometimes. Man is the first creature who eats the food (from the mouth) at the top and it travels downwards. All other beings have a horizontal digestive canal or take their food from their roots.
Even the gods, pitris, demons, gandharvas, apsaras, yaksha-rakshasas, siddhas, charanas, vidyadhayas, ghosts, kinnaras, kimpurushas, and creatures with human-animal combinations are created. They also are a part of the Vaikrita creation (more sophisticated compared to the basic elements).
“Now, oh, Vidura, I shall begin to explain the lineages of the humans, Manus.”
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॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
