Creation by Brahma

There has always been an argument in the Scientific world - Whether an Intelligence created this World or, the World led to the creation of Intelligence. Sounds like a Chicken & Egg situation there! However in Hindu Cosmology, the process of creation is more purposeful than a random explosion in nothingness.

In the current post, I'm gonna share the Creation Phenomenon as per Hindu Scriptures and will take you through the Theological as well as Evolutionary details hidden in them. Swami Vivekananda, one of the most intellectual proponents of Hinduism says - Indian philosophy goes beyond both Intelligence as well as Matter and describes a Purush, or Self, of whom Intelligence is but the borrowed light - This Adi-Purush or Original Being is the Supreme Lord Vishnu.

Adi Purush, Shri Hari Vishnu

We saw in the first post {A for Astronomy} that there exist two different Realms in this Creation - Spiritual and Material. While Spiritual Realm is the abode of pure souls living on the Vaikunth Planets, the materialistic souls (like You & Me) take birth on different planets in different galaxies of different Universes of the Material Realm.

There is one important concept that we need to understand here - According to the Satvata Tantra,  there exist, not One, not Two, but THREE different forms of Lord Vishnu in the Material Realm.

The Three Forms of Lord Vishnu

The first and foremost form of Lord Vishnu in the Material Realm, is that of Shri Karanodak-shayi Maha Vishnu or Narayan (One-who-lies-on-Water). The Lord reclines on Cosmic waters of  the Causal Ocean (That-Causes-Everything) known as Karan-Odak that emanates from His own body and fills the lower half of the Material Realm.

 Shri Maha Vishnu, lying on the Causal Ocean generated from His own Self

(Images courtesy Sri Madhav Priya Dasi)

Shri Maha Vishnu is the ONLY Living entity present in the Material Creation right now and this form of the Lord has been called Kaal-Swabhavah or the foundation of the Space-Time Continuum. He forms the basis of Quantum Physics that runs this Universe at Sub-Atomic as well as Super-Galactic levels.

The as yet unmanifest stage of material nature is called Pradhan or Prakriti - till this stage, there is no Words or Expression, no Mind or Elements, and the three modes of Goodness, Passion and Ignorance are in an equilibrium. There is no Life or Intelligence, no Pleasures or Pains and no Demons or Gods. There is no Ether, Water, Earth, Air, fire or Sun nor the different stages of Consciousness - sleep, wakefulness and deep sleep. Yet, this Pradhan is the original substance of Material Nature and the basis of all further Creation.

Creation Begins in the Material Realm

1. The First Step in Creation is called the FIRST Sarga:

Because of the Wish of Maha Vishnu, there arises a disturbance in equilibrium of the 3 qualities of Satva, Rajas and Tamas which results in the formation of subtle imperceptible matter called the Mahat Tattva. This subtle matter can not be perceived by our material senses yet it forms the basis of all that follows - It is from this that Intelligence or ‘Buddhi’ arises further giving rise to ‘Aham’ or Ego that further gives rise to ‘Manas’ or Mind. 

Mahat Tattva created by Shri Maha Vishnu's glance

2. In the SECOND Sarga, the Mind gives rise to the Dash-Indriyan which include 5 Sensory Perceptions - Ears, Skin, Eyes, Tongue and Nose as well as 5 Organs of Action - Mouth, Arms, Legs, Excretory and Reproductory. 

3. The THIRD Sarga shows the formation of the FIVE Tanmatras or subtle elements of Sound, Touch, Taste, Form & Smell followed by the Basic Elements, the Panch-Mahabhoot which, like the three Primary colors, give rise to Matter in its various forms through their permutations and combinations. These Famous Five are - Space, Air, Water, Fire & Earth.

The Panch Mahabhoot manifest

These THREE Phases of Creation are collectively are known as PRAKRITIK Sarga as they are NOT a creation of Brahma and come into being from the Natural Energy of the Lord, known as Prakriti. After these basic building blocks, the stage was now set for the creation of our Universe (and indeed other Universes too!). Before we move ahead just a quick tabular shot of what we have learnt above:

All this detail may be too much to handle in the first instance but if you have managed to grasp the above, feel relieved for the difficult conceptual portion is out of the way :o)

Creation of OUR Universe

As we learnt in the previous post, Multiple Universes emerge from the Infinite pores of Shri Maha Vishnu's cosmic body each time He exhales. The Lord again enters EACH of these egg-shaped Universes in His SECOND form of Shri Garbhodak-shayi Vishnu.

Each Universe emerging from Maha-Vishnu contains a Garbhodak-shayi Vishnu

This second form of the Lord reclines on the Great Serpent Anant (Without-an-End) and is the Maintainer for His respective Universe. To use an analogy, consider Him sort of a Governor for His Province while Maha-Vishnu is like the Head of the Nation!

Shri Garbhodakshayi Vishnu, First LIVING Being in EACH Universe

 

After a period of 1000 Maha-Yugas, a lotus bud emerges from the navel of the Lord, inside which is Brahma or Ka, the First MORTAL Being in each Universe. The stem of this cosmic lotus connecting Brahma to the Navel of the Lord, signifies the Umbilical Cord that binds a baby to its mother. In a sense, Lord Garbhodak-shayi Vishnu is the Father as well as Mother of ALL creation beginning first and foremost with Lord Brahma.

Lord Brahma, First MORTAL Living Being in EACH Universe

Imagine the plight of the Creator-god when he would have opened his eyes for the first time.. He must have been as lost and clueless as a new born baby coming into this world! Lord Brahma did not know the purpose of his being. Trying to look all around him simultaneously, he sprouted 5 heads to enable him to spot even a hint of an activity in any direction yet could not see anything except darkness all around him.

To clear his confusion, he then decided to explore the stem of the Lotus from which he had emerged but came to a dead-end. Thereafter, he went into meditation for a 100 Maha-Yugas and to clear his confusion and provide him guidance, Lord Garbhodak-shayi Vishnu made Himself VISIBLE to Brahma.

Shri Garbhodakshayi Vishnu becomes visible to Lord Brahma 

Lord Brahma was transfixed with the divine spectacle of the Supreme Lord resplendent in Blue and Gold, lying on the Great serpent with a thousand hoods on the mighty waters of the Garbh-Ocean! Shri Hari Vishnu, then told Brahma his purpose of existence and realizing the magnitude of work that lay ahead of him, Brahma was (quite understandably) left speechless! It's sort of like being asked by the Boss to create a new Business Model when you dont even know which industry you are working in :o)

Fortunately, the BIG-BOSS here was Lord Vishnu, the Adi-Purush who in the noblest of sacrifices asked Brahma to use portions of Lord's own body for beginning the process! It is from here that actual Creation by Lord Brahma begins.

Creation within EACH Universe

We FINALLY begin with the Creation of our Universe. To give it some perspective, I should inform you that my calculations give the staggering number of 155.524752 Trillion Solar Years ago as the time of occurrence of this event!

Another point to be noted here, is that EACH Universe has a personal form of Lord Vishnu AND an Individual Brahma as well. Ergo, there are billions and billions of Brahmas in the Material Realm each taking care of Creation in his OWN Universe!!

Lord Brahma begins Creation

4. Brahma first creates the Immovable objects such as Planets, Land, Mountains, etc. which do not have any inherent power of Motion (Remember that Planets also move due to Gravity and do not have an intrinsic motion of their own). This is the FOURTH phase of Creation known as the Mukhya Sarga.

5. In the next phase called the Tiryak Sarga, Brahma creates 6 different types of Vegetation covering trees/herbs/creepers etc., 12 different varieties of Birds and 28 different broad classifications of Animals which I'm not detailing here to prevent a system overload and subsequent crash ;o)

6. The SIXTH Phase saw Creation of Demigods and other Advanced Species of life and is therefore known as the Deva Sarga. Most important Divinities were created in this Phase of Brahma's Creation.

• First come the 4 Eternal Kumars, the First Incarnations of Lord Vishnu. These cherubic kids remain the same in appearance throughout their lifetime which is as long as that of Brahma himself! But all of them chose to follow the path of Spirituality instead of following Brahma's command for beginning procreation.

• This frustrated Brahma so much that from his forehead, (the region of the third eye) emerged a dark red and blue child bawling at the top of his voice! This crying baby was named Rudra (The Howler)!

Rudra born from Brahma's Forehead

• However, Rudra too decided to follow the path of Tapas or Penance and Brahma was sorely disappointed. After a lot of cajoling by Brahma, Rudra agreed to help and manifested 10 more beings with the same appearance as him (Binary Fission?!?). These are known as the 11 Rudras, ONE of whom is Lord Shiva. 

• On Brahma's request again, Rudra appeared as Ardhanarishwar and generated a female principle (Asexual Reproduction??) which was the Rudrani.

• Each of the 11 Rudras similarly obtained a consort thus providing Brahma some satisfaction of seeing his creations multiply. However, the Rudras were all fierce since they represented the Supreme Lord's power of Destruction!

The 11 Rudras

• Realizing that the progeny of Rudra was not what he really wanted to populate the world with, Brahma then created 10 Manas Putras by just visualizing them in his mind! Neat, eh? I wish I could finish all my work by just thinking about it!! These Mind-born sons of Brahma are - Atri, Angiras, Atharva, Bhrigu, Daksh, Marichi, Pulah, Pulatsya, Vasishtha and the youngest one Narad.

The First Rishis - Brahma's Manasputras

Images courtesy Grant Morrison's 18 Days

{Artist - Mukesh Singh}

• When all these sons preferred to follow footsteps of the Kumars, by refusing to get entangled in the process of procreation, Brahma again filled up with Negative energy - this resulted in the creation of Asurs, who in common parlance are known as Demons. When Brahma let go of this Tamsik Dark aspect of his being, it resulted in the creation of Night-time.

Asuras or Demons

• Focusing his positive energy again, Brahma took a Satvik form and created the Deities or Devas. These are the illumined effulgent demi-gods who became the care-takers of different aspects of the Material Creation. This Bright aspect of Brahma's personality also led to the creation of Day-time. 

Devas or Demigods

• The next creation of Brahma was the Pitras or Manes. It may be worthwhile to mention that the planet of the Pitras has one day and night equal to a fortnight each of the humans. (In a later post I'll discuss how this relates to Einstein's Theory of Relativity)

Pitras or Manes

• Brahma now manifested other divinities such as the Goddesses Saraswati and Gayatri; the Four Vedas; the goddess of deliveries Prasuti; elements such as Emotions, Music and Rishi Kardama (Ka's Shadow).

• Prasuti became the consort of the eldest Mana-putra Daksh, and this is where Copulative creation began! It is interesting to note that the Sanskrit word for parturient labour is also Prasuti, probably a recognition of her being the FIRST woman to give birth to a child by normal delivery!!

Thus, Daksha became the Second Prajapati after Brahma; the Guardian and Custodian of All Creation. With this, the Deva Sarga came to a close and Lord Brahma, who must have been completely exhausted by now, decided to take a break. The point to be remembered here is that like the Greek Titans, the Asuras are older than the Devas who correspond quite well to the Olympians.


7. At the end of all this, Lord Brahma sat ruminating about the direction his work had taken till now, and took a body which was Rajsik or in the Mode-of-Passion. Thus from his right hand emerged a creature a lot like him - this was the First Man, Swayambhu Manu (Born-on-his-Own) who was born with the Kaya of his father Brahma (Ka-Brahma, ya-form). Interestingly, the same incident is noted in Bible as well - 'Man was created in the Image of His Maker'.

 

 Swayambhu Manu, the First Man

Along with Manu, emerged the female Shatrupa and Brahma assigned for them the planet Earth. Thus, Human-beings, the progeny of Manu and Shatrupa were given the sanction for populating the globe and till date we show ABSOLUTELY no sign of stopping! ;o)

Manu and Shatrupa - Hindu Adam and Eve

In this context, I wanna mention the beautiful similarity drawn by the character called Agent Smith in the super-hit movie Matrix, where he tells Neo - Humans are like viruses.. multiplying till they exhaust all resources of a particular place and then moving on to greener pastures.. Guess we and viruses have the same level of Evolution then!

It is also interesting to note that the Germanic tribes call their ancestor Mannus which is also the root of the English word - Man just as Manu is the root of the Hindi word Manushya. Since the SEVENTH Phase saw the creation of Human-beings, it is known as the Manushya Sarga. 

8. In the EIGHTH Phase called the Anugrah Sarga, other species with magical powers were created such as the Yakshas, Gandharvs, Sarpas, Apsaras etc. Some of these species are in the mode of goodness while others in the mode of darkness.

9. The NINTH and FINAL Phase of Brahma's Creation is called the Kaumar Sarga wherein the four Eternal Kumars considered re-appeared in this day of Brahma. With this ends the exhausting process of Creation. If you as a reader and me as a chronicler are both boggled by the details and technicalities of this, imagine the condition of Lord Brahma!

 Brahma looks at His creation with relief

 

Yet, in my personal opinion, it would be a golden opportunity for any artist to get the freedom to express his creativity without any restraints, utilizing no less than the sublime form of Adi-Purush Himself!! How noble the Sacrifice and how Liberating the experience!

It would be worthwhile to note that the 4 Kumars as well as the 10 Manas Putras are older than the Devas and Asurs both, therefore, they are held in deep respect by both the clans. Also, I can't help but notice that Brahma's Creation closely follows actual appearance of elements in our Universe -

First to appear are the intangible elements like the protons, neutrons etc. followed by  matter in gaseous form; followed by the immovable planets and landmasses; then the vegetation; birds, aquatics and animals; and finally the Higher species.

Also, the Mode of reproduction is clearly ASEXUAL in the beginning (as seen with the generation of Rudras and Rudranis) and becomes COPULATIVE only after the germination of Daksha and his consort Prasuti!

Before winding up, let me just mention the Third and the Final form of Lord Vishnu in the Material Realm. This is Shri Kshirodak-shayi Vishnu present in each atom of the creation as 'Parmatma' or the Super-soul. His vehicle is the Golden-eagle Garuda and it is from Him that all the Avatars take origin! The Lord resides on planet Shvet-dvip in the Dhruv-Loka, reclining on the Sheshnaag (One-that-remains) with His consort Lakshmi and supervises this ENTIRE Creation that we discussed above!

Shri Kshirodakshayi Vishnu, the benefactor of all devotees

There are many more complexities involved in the Creation Process but I hope I was able to make it simple enough for your understanding! I'm gonna conclude this post with the verses of Purush Sukta, that extoll the Supreme Sacrifice of the Adi-Purush that resulted in the commencement of Creation:

A Thousand heads has Purush, 

A thousand eyes, A thousand feet,

Manifesting Earth and the World, 

He extends beyond countability.

Purusha is all that Exists,

What Was and What shall Be,

He Consumes and is Consumed,

The Hidden Lord of Immortality.

What's visible is but One-quarter; 

Beyond destruction lies a Quarter and Three!

From Purusha was born the Universe; 

Even the Creater was born of Thee!

In this Srishti-Yagnya performed, 

Purusha Himself became the Havis,

Summer lent the fire-wood, And 

Spring became the pouring Ghee.

Birds that travel in the air, 
Beasts of forest were thus born,

Village dwellers, Humans came forth; 

Hymns of Vedas came from Thee.

From His face the Brahmins rose, 

Men-of-arms from His arms,

His thighs became the Trader creed, 
Shudras rose from His Holy feet,

From His Navel spread the Sky; 

From the Head, Heavens sprung,

From His feet Earth was born; 

From the Ears, directions decree.

From the Waters and the Earth,

He forged Creation, the Divine smith,

Lord of Universe; Unborn; Omnipresent; 

Lives within; Yet only the Wise can see.

Request we Lord, Greenery for Earth, 

Request we the good of Community,

Request we the good of ALL living beings, 

May Peace Envelop our Destiny.

 

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Aum Shanti: Shanti: Shanti:

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Black Holes and Bhagavatam

Time for new Gyaan people!!

In the last post, I had shared the description of our Universe and the TWO different types of Creations. For easy understanding of the descriptions from our Scriptures, we'll now take each topic individually beginning with our Galaxy, the Milky Way. As you are perhaps aware, ours is a Spiral Galaxy containing a Galactic Center, and various arms radiating outwards from it, in a spiral fashion.

Our Spiral Galaxy

As mentioned earlier, Puranic literature is full of Astronomical details and our Galaxy is quite vividly detailed in {Chapter 23, Canto 5 of the Bhagvat Puraan}.

When I went through the descriptions, I was pleasantly surprised to know that the Rishis of yore have described our galaxy EXACTLY the way it is described now by modern Astronomers!! Bhagavatam compares it with the Kundalini Chakra, the energy source seated at the base of Human Spine like a coiled serpent. As a person's Yogic Powers advance, the Kundalini Energy moves upwards from one Chakra to another ultimately leading the Yogi to complete Enlightenment just as was achieved by Gautam Buddha.

Kundalini rising through the Chakras

This celestial creature forming our Galaxy, is called Shishumar and is supposed to rest with its body wound around itself in a right-handed coil with the center formed by its tail end.

To the students of Science, this shape may be familiar as that of the Benzene Ring, which resembles a Snake biting its own tail!! Incidentally the symbol is also known by the Greeks as Ouroboros and by Chinese as the Dragon representing the never-ending cycle of Life and Death, the different Seasons, Time etc.

Shishumar/Ouroboros/Dragon

Scriptural description of the Galaxy

The Bhagvatam gives complete details of the various Lokas of the galaxy giving precise LOCATIONS of the various divine and semi-divine denizens of our Galaxy! Let us see what these locations are and try to find out a useful address or two from the descriptions ;o)

The Galactic Center, is the tail-end of the coiled serpent and is supposed to be a seat of Immense Power and Energy. According to the Bhagavatam, this Galactic Center is formed by the Dhruva Loka.

It is important to note that according to modern Astronomy, Galactic Center is made up of very large mass and density which scientists believe to be a Supermassive Black Hole. Black Holes are the evolutionary end-point of MASSIVE stars and pack within themselves the power of thousands of Nuclear bombs combined!

Supermassive Black Hole at the Galactic Center

Now,  Dhruva as we know is the Pole Star and according to Bhagavatam, it is supposed to be situated right at the CENTER of our Galaxy. At present, the Northern pole star is Polaris, which lies close to the Celestial North Pole, and is visible at the end of the constellation Ursa Minor (Little Dipper). However, after researching its location, I found that this particular Star does not lie as far as the Center of the Galaxy and it dampened my excitement a bit :o(

Present Pole Star Polaris

But, as I kept trying to find out more, I came across a phenomenon known as the Precession of Equinoxes. Simply put, it states that the role of the North Star PASSES from one star to another. This means that Other stars have occupied the position of the Pole Star before now!

Precession of the Equinoxes is slow, taking about 25,770 years to complete a cycle,  hence a single star typically holds that title for many CENTURIES, and since Hindu history measures time in billions of years, One of these stars could have been located in the vicinity of the Galactic Center at some point in our Ancient History!!

Pole Stars of Past and Future

Identifying that Star is beyond my current research capacity, but I believe if we can find  it, it would help us date our Scriptures in a more authentic fashion as well as give us a proof that our civilization is INDEED very ancient.

The scripture further states that Dhruv-loka is supposed to be the Supreme Seat of Lord Vishnu in the Mortal Realm where He reclines on the Divine Serpent Sheshnaag accompanied by Goddess Lakshmi in the Ocean-of-Milk called Ksheer-Sagar.

Demigods praying to Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi seated on Sheshnaag

Now, Black Holes have always been conjectured to be portals between different Universes, sort of like Gateways to different dimensions. This makes me believe that our Supermassive-Galactic-Center-Black-Hole can fit the precondition of being the Abode of Lord Vishnu amazingly well, as it would connect Him with the Spiritual Realm outside as well as the Material realm contained within this Universe! 

Moving on from the Galactic Center

Near the central abode of Dhruva resides Prajâpati, worshiped  by the demigods Agni, Indra and Dharma near the tail and the Holy Saptarishi Mandal at its waist.

On the right side of the Celestial Wheel are stationed the fourteen Uttarayan Nakshatras (Northern Zodiacs) from Abhijit to Punarvasu, and on its left side are found fourteen Dakshinayan Nakshatras (Southern Zodiacs) starting from Pushya and ending with Uttar-Aashadh.

The back of Shishumar is formed by stars collectively called Ajavithi and its belly is formed by the Sacred Ganges reverently known as the Akash Ganga.

If you look at the clear night sky, you'll observe a faint band of light stretching across the darkness, either through the middle or near the horizon which is considered it the symbolic representation of the Descent of Heavenly Ganges to the Mortal Realm of Earth.

Akash Ganga, the Milky Way

The stars called Punarvasu and Pushya form the right and left loins of the Shishumar; Ardra and Ashlesha form the right and left feet while Abhijit and Uttar-Aashadh form the right and left nostrils.  

Shravana and Purv-Aashadh form the right and left eyes respectively; while Mula and Dhanishtha form the two ears; Magha, the group of Eight Stars form its ribs on the left side while the Eight stars of  Mrigashirsha, form the ribs on its right. The stars Shatabhish and Jyeshtha form the right and left shoulders, Agasti forms the upper jaw and Yama, the lower one.

The planet Mars forms its face; Saturn forms its organ of generation; Brihaspati forms the hump on the shoulders while Surya - The Lord of the planets, (which I have taken as the reference point for the Labelled image of Shishumar below) forms its breast.

The Supreme Lord Narayan remains seated in its heart and the Moon is situated in its mind. The two Ashvins form either sides of its chest; Ushana or Venus forms its navel; Mercury is its Prana; Rahu is the neck and Ketu is all over its body in the form of different Comets.

The innumerable other stars we see are the numerous pores of its body. I have tried to label the image of our Galaxy according to the descriptions I have shared in this post. Please find below the Image that has resulted from this exercise.

Our Galaxy Shishumar

What is astonishing for me is that without access to any form of modern technology like the Hubble Space Telescope and its like, the Rishis of Yore could still fathom the extent and shape of our Galaxy in such a detailed fashion!

It was only in 1610, that Galileo used the first telescope and determined that Milky Way is formed of billions of dim stars that surround us. Before that, for centuries the astronomers had struggled with the basic questions about this band of light in the sky which were difficult to answer because of several reasons.

• One, as we live within the Milky Way, trying to fathom its dimensions is like living in one tiny corner of a gigantic box and analyzing its composition and shape!
• Second, the early telescopes weren't large enough and hence did not have sufficient range to clearly view the galaxy around us.
• Finally, the Milky Way contains large amounts of cosmic dust that obscures distant stars when we're using regular telescopes.

However, the 20th century brought great advancement in telescope technology and large Optical, Radio, Infrared, and X-ray telescopes allowed Astronomers to peer through the cosmic dust and look further into space. With these tools, they could piece together the puzzle of our Galaxy's shape but the point to be emphasized here is that all this became apparent only after the 20th Century!

Eye-of-God Nebula caught by Hubble Space Telescope

Yet, surprisingly, ancient Vedic rishis had not only described the shape of the Galaxy, they had also identified a huge POWER SOURCE at its Center; given descriptions of most of its major STAR SYSTEMS; as well as defined the relative positions of different Lokas in our  ever-expanding Universe!!

Whether it was due to their Superhuman Yogic Powers, or a result of direct observation (Space Travel?!?), I do not know. But, I hope this post opens the eyes of  my readers to a brand new perception of these religious texts and would encourage them to analyze our traditional culture and beliefs with a more open and scientific approach.

I will describe the various Lokas mentioned above in more detail in subsequent postsand will try to guide you through the structure of the Universe as per ancient Hindu Science. May Lord Vishnu guide me through this journey that I have embarked upon and help me bring hidden truths from our ancient scriptures to fore.

Shri Hari Vishnu, help me cross this Cosmic Ocean

It is only fitting that I end the post with the traditional prayer to Supreme Lord Vishnu residing in this Coiled Galaxy Shishumar and also pay my obeisance to the Ancients who were able to decipher its structure on the basis of their Yogic powers..

 

Thou art the Substratum of all Luminaries, 

Thou Createst and Destroyest all,

The Lord of all Celestials,

We meditate fully on Thee,

Planets, Galaxies and Stars are Thy body, 

Divinity is established in Thee alone,

Thou art Âdipurush, the Foremost of all Beings,

All sins are destroyed by remembering Thee.

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 Aum Shanti: Shanti: Shanti:

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Astronomy in Hinduism

Namaste and Welcome to the First Post of this Blog!

Have been racking my brains about the right topic to start with, and I thought it would probably be good to begin at the beginning - implying the Beginning of our Universe.

There is a wealth of Astronomical data available in ancient Hindu scriptures. I’ll first share our current knowledge about Astronomy and then we can compare it with the details provided in our ancient texts to get a clear picture about where we stand. 

Modern Astronomy talks about a Single Universe comprising of Dark Matter and brighter Heavenly bodies like the Galaxies, Stars, Planets, Asteroids, Satellites etc. This entire matter (and anti-matter) is believed to have emerged about 14 Billion Years ago in time, from a momentous explosion called the Big Bang.  

Zoom out from Earth to the Universe

Many of us may have encountered the number 108 in various ancient cultures.. There are 108 gopis of Vrindavan, Mukhya Shivaganas are 108 in number, Zen priests wear 108 bead rosaries, Chinese and South-Indian martial arts describe 108 pressure points on the body, Stonehenge is 108 feet in Diameter..

Did you know the astronomical significance of this number???
- The distance between EARTH and SUN = 108 times sun-diameter!
- The distance between EARTH and MOON = 108 times Moon-diameter!

Coincidence?? Or scientific facts that we tend to overlook? Turning to the scriptures one can find descriptions of  the different planets from our Solar System and beyond; our Galaxy; different Planetary systems; as well as our ENTIRE Universe! Let's see what they have to offer to an interested reader in terms of Astronomy.

Universe according to Srimad Bhagvatam

Hindu Mythology talks about TWO separate Realms in this Creation - the SPIRITUAL and the MATERIAL.

The Spiritual Realm is full of the Effulgence of Supreme Lord that spreads throughout and banishes darkness from each and every corner of this Realm. Religions that envision God as a Being of Bright Light worship the same Brahmajyoti.

The Spiritual Realm

This Supreme Heaven is believed to be the abode of Supreme Brahman in Vedas, Allah in Koran, Jehovah in Jewish texts, Param Purakh in Sikhism and the King-of-Kings in Bible. This is the Supreme Abode that all souls in the material realm strive for, and reach after attaining Nirvana. Srimad Bhagvatam, calls this the dwelling place of Lord Krishna who resides in His Spiritual abode of Golok Vrindavan.

Around this central world, there exist other Spiritual planets that revolve around it like the planets in Solar System revolve around the Sun. These are collectively known as the Vaikunth planets and each of these is the Divine residence of a Vishnu form.

The Spiritual Realm of Bhagvat Puraan

On these planets reside Lord Vishnu's different incarnations alongwith Goddess Lakshmi and the Pure souls who have been able to transcend the bonds of Material Nature.

In one corner of this huge bright realm, like a ‘Dark cloud in a clear bright sky’, lies the Material Creation, where Individual Souls like YOU and ME take birth, evolve, exist, eat, earn, reproduce and ultimately die. This realm takes up about 1/4th of the entire space of the Spiritual Realm and is depicted beneath the lotus on the lower right corner of the image below.

Material Realm in a corner of the Spiritual Realm

Even though Material Realm is created for souls who want to live independent lives, the Lord, by means of His infinite expansions, still ensures they can have a smooth sailing. He takes the form of Shri Maha Vishnu for the Creation of this Material Realm and it is from Him that everything in this world emanates.

Now there is ONE MAJOR difference in the Hindu notion of the Material world and the current scientific understanding about it - Hindu scriptures state that the Material Realm is composed of Billions and Trillions of Universes (!!) and NOT just a single one!!

Billions and Billions of Universes

Scientifically, it is still undetermined whether the universe exists by itself or is just one of the countless trillions within a larger Multiverse, itself contained within the Omniverse that is the Material World. But, according to scriptures, the Universe that we live in, is just a TINY infinitesimal part of the entire Material Creation and all these zillions of Universes are born at the Same Time from the Same Primeval Source - Shri Maha Vishnu.

EVERYTIME the Lord exhales, a Universe emerges from EACH of his body pores and with EACH of His inhalations, ALL these Universes merge BACK into His body! The multiple universes generated are floating, and they are scattered all over the Causal Ocean.

Universes emerging from Sri Maha Vishnu

I was rendered speechless by the larger-than-life imagery inherent in this concept. The mere thought of so many Universes taking Birth, Expanding and Dissolving again in Maha Vishnu’s SINGLE breath is fantastic and indeed (to use the pun) breath-taking!!

Madam Blavatsky, the founder of the Theosophical Society describes this phenomenon thus-

The Great Breath goes forth and returns again.
As it proceeds outwards, objects, worlds, and men appear.
As it recedes all things disappear into the original source.
The Great Breath is, so to speak, the universal and eternal Perpetuum Mobile.

If ever there is a Grand description of God in World literature, it has to be this one! How infinitesimal and tiny our entire existence appears to be if we humbly give thought to this notion. Our entire lifetimes are nothing, not even a fraction of a second for Lord Maha Vishnu!

Indeed our entire Universe (which by current estimates is about 13.7 Billion years old), was born with a SINGLE exhalation of the Lord and will merge back into Him with His NEXT intake of Breath!! The concept also fits the Big Bang Theory, as the moment it emerges from Lord Vishnu's body pores is THE moment of Big Bang for each Universe!

 Big  Bang - The Birth of a Universe

I wished to check if this fits with our current concept of science in any way and I found data from NASA's WMAP Program (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe) which has been studying the cosmic microwave background in the Universe.

This CMB is basically the light emitted by our Universe when it was just 400,000 years old. The study of this data which is being collected since 2001 suggests that apparently, new universes could be created spontaneously from what we perceive as empty space! The support for this view also comes from the observation of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics or the Law of Entropy that states that each closed system (like our Universe) has a tendency to get into disorder spontaneously (hence it's expansion) - this implies that to begin with, the Universe was in an ordered state!

Caltech astronomers studying this CMB data claim that this initial order is entirely possible if the so called Big Bang happened in the cold space of a previous Universe. Imagine then, Lord Mahavishnu lying in the cold dark material realm, surrounded by this empty space, giving rise to multiple universes including our own! After exploding out of the body of Sri Maha Vishnu, each Universe continues to expand, and after reaching a critical threshold, again begins to contract until it is assimilated back in the body of Lord Maha Vishnu.

I thought this was probably one isolated example of the mention of a Multi-verse and maybe was not intended in the way I was interpreting it. But to my surprise, the concept of Multiple Universes is widely accepted and acknowledged in Hindu Cosmology!

Multiple Universes in Scriptures

Puranic literature is full of descriptions of multiple as well as parallel Universes. Hindu scriptures also declare there's Intelligent life out there in the Universe and this is gotta be the absolutely FIRST mention of ALIENS in World Literature ever!! I will share with you a few examples from different texts to illustrate the point.Srimad Bhagavatam [6.16.37] eulogizes the Supreme Lord Vishnu in following words:

There are Innumerable Universes besides this one, and although they are unlimitedly large, they move about like atoms in You. Therefore You are called 'Without-limits'.

In verse 10.14.11, it again states:

Unlimited universes pass through the pores of Your body just as particles of dust pass through the openings of a screened window.

Lord Shiva in verse 9.4.56 again mentions thus:

My dear son, I, Lord Brahmā and the other devas, who move within this universe, cannot exhibit any power to compete with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for Innumerable Universes and their inhabitants come into existence and are annihilated by the simple direction of the Lord Hari.

Shri Hari Vishnu, the Cause of all Creation

Similar views are shared by Lord Brahma in the Brahma Vaivarta Puraan where a mention of Multiple, Parallel Universes is made-

And who will search through the wide infinities of space to count the universes Side by Side, EACH containing its Brahma, its Vishnu, its Shiva? Who can count the Indras in them, ALL those Indras Side by Side, who reign at once in all the innumerable worlds; those others who passed away before them; or even the Indras who succeed each other in any given line, ascending to godly kingship, one by one, and, one by one, passing away?

Hindu scriptures declare there's Intelligent life out there, and this is gotta be absolutely the FIRST mention of ALIENS in World Literature ever!!

The obvious take-away from this concept is that according to the scriptures, there exist MORE than One Universes in our Creation and this topic has long been debated by modern Scientists. Let us see what our current notions of scientific theory have to say about it.

Multiple Universes in Science

A large body of Scientific intelligentsia believes in multiple Universes existing perhaps in parallel dimensions. Here, I would like to introduce you to perhaps the most brilliant mind of our times - Stephen Hawking, whose phenomenal work - A Brief History of Time, is by far the most important book on Space Science ever.



Stephen Hawking's Masterpiece

In this monumental work, Mr. Hawking talks about something known as Chaotic Boundary Conditions and the Anthropic Theory. He states and I quote-

‘According to the Strong Anthropic Principle, there are either MANY different Universes or MANY different regions of a single universe, each with its own initial configuration and, perhaps, with its own set of laws of science.’

Simply put, it states that, the likelihood of development of our Single Universe from the big-bang is much less than the likelihood of Multiple Universes being born out of it!!

Multiple Universes emerging from the Big Bang

The notion of Parallel/Alternate Universes has been widely used in many Hollywood movies such as the recent Star-Trek film (2009), FAQ (2004), and Jet-Li movie The One (2001).

What is interesting for me is that the mention of Multiple Universes comes from the scriptures much BEFORE modern Science came to terms with accepting their existence. Short of Time-Travel, the ancient Yogis could only have grasped the basic nature of our Universe through their rigorous meditation and penance!

Till now, Science has been unable to tell us, what existed BEFORE the Big Bang. WHERE did the explosion take place if there was nothing before it happened?? WHAT caused the explosion in the first place??

But if we grasp the concepts from Srimad Bhagvatam we can understand the Science as well as Faith behind this. The Scientific Spirit of ancient Rishis makes me bow down in reverence and if you read the texts with an open mind, will amaze you with their profound philosophical insight as well.

 Ancient Yogis deciphering the Universe through meditation

Our ancient beliefs are not just Myths, but Parables for explaining profound Scientific principles to the common man.

We will cover more such interesting topics in the Posts to follow and I will try to touch upon as many diverse scientific disciplines as I can use to understand and decode the myths and legends from ancient Hindu tradition.

For now, I conclude this post with the amazingly inquisitive Nasadiya Sukta from the most ancient text of Humanity -the Rigveda [10.129] which highlights the quest of ancient Rishis to find Origins of not only this Creation but that of GOD Himself-

At first was no Being neither Non-being,
There was yet no Air nor Sky spread.
So what was covering? Where was it present?
Was Water there, in the unfathomable depth? 

There was no Death, nor Immortality;
Of Night or Day there was yet no sign.
The One breathed windless, self-sustaining,
Other than HIM was nothing divine.

Darkness was there, wrapping more Darkness,
And All was Water indistinguishable, Dark.
The Cosmic seed was wrapped in the Void,
Rising at last, by the power of Thought.

In this beginning, Desire took form,
The primal seed, born of the Mind.
Wisely sifting, Existence from Non-existence,

Sages have found all this in their Heart.

A Ray was stretched across the Void,

Know what was below, and what above.
Bearers of seed were there and Mighty forces,
Below was Strength, and Creative-will above.

Who really knows? Who can declare?
When did it happen? How Creation came on?

Even the Devas came after its emergence.

So who truly knows, Whence it was born?

He, from Whom this Creation Arose,
Did He fashion it or did He not,
He, who surveys it from the Highest Heaven,

He surely knows or maybe even He does not!

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 Aum Shanti: Shanti: Shanti:

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