Devi - God as a Female

God may be in the details, 
But the Goddess is in the questions..

Once we begin to ask them, 
There's no turning back...

Keeping in line with the above sentiment, I'll begin this Navratri post with a question- God is Female.. Agree or Disagree?

For a follower of one of the Abrahamic Religions, the answer most likely would be 'NO', as Western religions are based on the premise of a Male God, generally envisioned with white robes and a flowing white beard, sitting high on a throne in a distant heaven.

For a person following one of the Eastern religions, the answer could very well be 'YES' as most Eastern religions give equal emphasis to both Male and Female aspects of divinity. For example, Hindu Theology, believes God to be a balance of the Male and the Female Powers, the Purush and Prakriti, otherwise referred to as Shiva and Shakti.

Shiva-Shakti

Continuing in the same vein, I'll ask another question.. Bible, Genesis 1:27, states that - God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female.

Now the question here is, if God is Male, how is a female in His image???

You may not have an outright answer to this one, but I hope the questions did begin a thought process in your mind! In the current post, we will try and understand the cult of the Goddess, not only from an Indian perspective, but also from the point of view of various other world religions.

 The Historical Perspective

Historically, the cult of the Mother Goddess was more widespread all over the globe than it is now. Older Western religions viz. the Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Native American etc. included Goddess worship as a central part of their cultures.

In fact, more than 50 figurines of the Goddess have been found in excavations from all over Europe, dating more than 20,000 years ago, of which, Venus of Willendorf, is the most famous. Let us take a look at some of the goddesses worshiped in other ancient religions. Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Celts, Incas, Aztecs, all had their favorite goddesses viz.-

• The Celts had Abnoba- a goddess of rivers and forests and 
• Agrona- the goddess of war;
• Greeks had Rhea- the Mother of Gods;
• Aphrodite- the goddess of Love and Beauty and
• Athena- the goddess of Wisdom and War.
• Similarly, the Egyptians revered Bast- the protector of the pharaoh and 
• Isis- the goddess of magic, motherhood and fertility.

Goddesses in World religions

There are many more examples from Native American, Chinese, Japanese and Polynesian mythologies indicating that most ancient religions gave as much importance to the feminine aspect of God as the masculine. It is also interesting to note that most of these depictions look at the Goddess as the Guardian of Nature and have a Maternal connotation just like the Mother Goddess in the Indian sub-continent. Indeed, excavations from the Indus-Saraswati Civilization, have thrown up abundance of seals and figurines that suggest goddess-worship. Sometimes its a male-god or tribal chief worshiping a goddess while on other seals there are seven attendants accompanying the central goddess.

Man bowing to Goddess

 

The female figurines in terracotta found at Mohenjo-daro are comparable to similar artifacts excavated from archaeological sites in Baluchistan, Elam, Mesopotamia, Transcaspia, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Cyprus, Crete, the Balkans and Egypt. Famous Scottish anthropologist, James George Frazer, believes that all diverse goddesses worshiped in Europe were derived from a single concept originating from the Indo-European Neolithic cultures. The figurines also show an exaggerated fertility aspect suggesting the role of the goddess as a MOTHER-figure heralding a tradition that is still unbroken in Hinduism.

Goddess Worship in Hinduism

Throughout its millenia-old history, Hinduism provided its followers with the freedom of worshiping God in whichever form they want. While Vedas talk about the elemental gods, later scriptures especially the Agams and Puraans glorify three major aspects of God:

Vaishnavism, worship of Lord Vishnu and His Avatars 

Shaivism, worship of Lord Shiva

Shaktism, worship of the Goddess or Devi

These different sects provide different concepts, rituals and spiritual exercises for different modes of Awareness of the soul. Thus, Shaivism and Shaktism identify the Goddess as the consort of Shiva but while the Goddess is one half of the Complete Whole in Shaivism, she is Supreme in the latter. In Vaishnav tradition, Goddess is considered Lord Vishnu's Yogmaya who takes the form of Mother Durga to look after the Material Creation as Her own child.

Goddess Durga as Lord Vishnu's Yogmaya

The worship of Mother Goddess actually shows a FIVE-FOLD approach by the devotees. The FIRST approach is the one we have seen repeated in all ancient communities of the world - that personifies Divinity as the Mother Goddess. Rigved refers to Her as the Mahimata, or Earth-Mother; Viraja, the Universal-Mother; and Aditi, the Mother-of-Gods. Verse 7.8i.4 while addressing the Dawn-goddess Usha states - Vayam syama maturna sunavah - Let us be dear to you like sons to a mother.

Mahimata, the Mother of Creation

In the SECOND approach, Goddess is visualized Mystically in the form of Shakti, the Cosmic Energy which is the Source of all Creation. All things, material and abstract are only the manifestations of the Divine Female. Both the Puraans and Upanishads contain numerous references to Goddess as Shakti. The Mahabharat mentions Pradyumna’s worship of Goddess Katyayani, Aniruddha’s hymn to Goddess Chandi and Yudhishthira’s hymn to Goddess Durga.

 Aadi-Shakti, Cosmic Energy of the Universe

The THIRD approach, identifies the Goddess in the form of Dash-Mahavidyas or the Ten Wisdom Goddesses, who represent a spectrum of feminine divinity, from horrific goddesses at one end, to the ravishingly beautiful at the other. Worshiped by the followers of Tantrism, they are led by the fiercest of all, Goddess Maha Kali. The devotees understand them as different aspects of the same Great Goddess suited to the tastes, temperaments, and mental levels of spiritual aspirants

The ten goddesses are: Kali, Tara, Shodashi, Bhuvaneshwari, Bhairavi, Matangi, Chhinnamasta, Dhumavati, Bagala, and Kamala.

Dash Mahavidyas

 

The FOURTH approach is again devotional in nature, but here the goddess is (surprisingly) worshiped as the patron of the warriors. These warrior-goddesses are known as the Saptamatrikas, or the Seven Mothers. This group comprises of the warrior avatars of even otherwise benign goddesses such as Saraswati and Lakshmi (!!). Thus in the Matrika cult, Brahma's consort in martial mode is Brahmani, Shiva's better half is Maheshwari and Vishnu's consort is Vaishnavi.

The fierce Matrikas in battle mode

Image courtesy Grant Morrison's 18 Days

{Art by Mukesh Singh}

At this point, it may be worthwhile to remember the Indus-Saraswati seal shared earlier which depicted seven attendants of the central goddess. The seven may actually represent the Matrikas, especially since the depiction of these goddesses has remained almost unchanged even in later Art.

The FIFTH approach is of the Puranas like the Skanda Puraan, Brahmavaivarta Puraan, Devi Bhagwat Puraan, Prapancha-saratantra, Linga Puraan etc. which describe various goddesses as consorts of the Male gods. Thus, while Devi Durga is described as the Core Goddess, other goddesses are  described as Her expansions who form the Vital Energy (Shakti) of the Gods without whom, it is impossible for them to vanquish the Demons.

This fifth approach also covers all assorted LOCAL goddesses as well as the Nav-durga worshiped in India's towns and villages and accords them the status of being one with the Supreme Goddess Durga. The principal THREE forms of the Devi according to the each of the three gunas of course are Maha-Kali, Maha-Lakshmi and Maha-Saraswati.

Female Hindu Holy Trinity

The Supreme Goddess DURGA

Of all texts related to goddess worship, Markandeya Puraan contains the most vivid description in the form of  a full book, known as Devi Mahatmya conceptualizing and adoring the Goddess and is the first scripture to celebrate the Goddess as the Supreme Divinity.

Goddess Durga is referred to variously as Chandi, the fierce goddess, who destroys the evil Asuras; as Annapurna or the giver of food; and as Jagaddhatri, one who upholds the world. In the ‘Devi Kavacha’ an auxiliary of the Mahatmya, Devi is conceived of in nine forms known as the Nava-durga.

These are:

1. Shailputri, daughter of the mountains; 
2. Brahmacharini, dwelling in Brahman; 
3. Chandraghanta, who has the moon for her bell; 
4. Kushmanda, the fertility goddess; 
5. Skandamata, mother of the war god Skanda; 
6. Katyayani, the daughter of Rishi Katyayana; 
7. Kalaratri, the dark night of dissolution; 
8. Mahagauri, the light of knowledge; and 
9. Siddhidatri, the bestower of success.

According to the traditional story of appearance of the Goddess, once a Buffalo-demon called Mahishasur (Greek Minotaur??) had conquered the Three Worlds. Due to a boon from Brahma, he was invincible against any male, be it a beast or human or even a demigod.

Mahishasur, the Minotaur

Mahish had subjugated the three realms and made them his slave. Tired of his tyranny, the Devas ran to Brahma for help and after Brahma disclosed his boon, the male gods decided to create a FEMALE warrior to eliminate the buffalo demon.

They decided to pool all their creative as well as destructive powers for the process, and the COMBINED energies of all the gods took shape of a beautiful Goddess who was the Devi Durga.

Goddess Durga emerges from the Energy of Gods

The goddess was gifted weapons by all the assembled gods and she set forth on her mission. As soon as the Minotaur saw Durga's Divine form, he understood that the demigods had found a way around the boon granted to him by Brahma!

Rishi Markandeya, gives a detailed account of Ma Durga's battle with the demonic forces, including the slaying of Mahish in about 700 verses, chanted religiously by ardent devotees of the Goddess especially during the current Nine Days of Durga Puja.

Durga, Kali and other Matrikas together killed scores of demons including the dreaded Asuras like Shumbh, Nishumbh and Raktabeej.


 

 Ma Kali defeating Raktabeej

After a prolonged battle, the buffalo-demon was slain, and henceforth, Goddess Durga was given the epithet of Mahishasur Mardini, the Slayer-of-Mahish. This is the most widely depicted representation of the Goddess in art and there's a lot of profound symbolism inherent in the depiction of the Goddess in battle mode.

By vanquishing the buffalo-demon and reigning in a fierce Lion, Goddess Durga inspires us to tame our own ANIMAL INSTINCTS and rid ourselves of our Inner demons.

Goddess Durga slaying Mahishasur

The depiction also reflects taming of the MALE EGO by the Feminine principle to bring back balance in Creation and prevent the annihilation of our World.

The FEMALE principle tames this animal urge of mankind to destroy itself and gives it a push towards the creative process of sustenance. Men have indeed been responsible for a lot of blunders in our history just to pander to our egos. The development and deployment of the first Nuclear bomb; Iraq's annexation of Kuwait; America's attack on Afghanistan; Pakistan's attempt to steal Kargil from India, all being very apt examples of the same.. By controlling our animal urges, Ma Durga prevents us from straying from the path of Spiritual growth and brings us back in line.

Not only Hinduism, other ancient Eastern religions also recognized and revered the Goddess for the same. In my travels, I found an unlikely temple dedicated to the Goddess in Penang Island of Malaysia! Even though the deity here is worshiped as a form of Buddha, its name and depiction clearly refers to Goddess Chandi, which is another name for Goddess Durga :o)

Chundi Bodhisattva in Penang, Malaysia

Even with the increasing opportunities available to women in civilized societies, a majority of women in the developing economies as well as certain fanatical societies do not have equal rights as their male counterparts. The many hands of the Goddess could easily represent the multi-tasking woman of today!

    Traditional Goddess                                                    Modern Goddess

The prerogative is on us, the Men of today to acknowledge and respect the Goddess in women around us and to accord them the same respect we reserve for the Goddess in our Temples. 

Let this Navratri be a reminder to us to deal with our inner demons and re-establish the high status accorded to women in our ancient scriptures! I conclude this post with the ode to the Goddess, the Mahishasur-Mardini Stotra compiled by Shri Adi Shankracharya-

O Daughter of Himalayas, Dwelling in the Vindhyas, 

O consort of Shiva, glorified by Indra,

Creatrix of the Universe, Slayer of Mahisha,

O Daughter of the Mountain, Victory to You!

Arising from the Ocean, Nourishing the Three worlds,

Delight of Raas Dance, O consort of Vishnu,

Remover of all sins, Destroyer of evil Pride,

O Daughter of the Mountain, Victory to You!

Conqueror of Daityas, Vanquisher of Danavs,

Destroyer of Dhumralochan, Slayer of Shumbh-Nishumbh,
You stemmed the spawn of Rakta-bija,

O Daughter of the Mountain, Victory to You!

You are Invincible, with your Trident,

You string your mighty bow, and weild your shiny sword,

To remove the miseries, of all the Three worlds, 

O Daughter of the Mountain, Victory to You!

You are fond of battle, against worthy warriors,

You are fond of dancing, with Shiva as Ardha-narishwar,

Your beauty captivates even the heart of Cupid,

O Daughter of the Mountain, Victory to You!


You are all Auspicious, the Merciful Mother of All,

You are my mother, and I too am Your son,

Do not reject my prayer, even if its flawed,

O Daughter of the Mountain, Victory of Victories to you!
 

.

Aum Shanti: Shanti: Shanti:

.

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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