Brahmn/Creation - Taithriya and others

Our friend from Bangalore – Shriram- had queried as to whether there is any reference in our texts about creation being a result of God’s desire to “experience”. This was followed by a scintillating response from ALN comparing divine creation as being akin to His “leela” a play/Drama etc. 

This triggered a desire to locate specific references in our texts on this. The outcome of this exercise is some interesting insight, and is worth sharing in the blog. Here I go:    

“Yatho vaacho nivarthanthe appraapya manasa saha” (Original Samskrit in Taithriya)

“From which both words and mind return without comprehending it, is verily the “brahmn”. (Translation). 

Brahmaiva sathyam is another upanishadic Vaakyam. 

This translates to “Brahmn alone is the truth”. 

In other words save that “one –non-dual” Brahmn, nothing else has any individual identity/existence, and this Brahmn itself is beyond comprehension of both mind and words.  

Having said that since it is also said that “it” is omnipotent, omniscient, self-effulgent etc it follows that everything else like its creations, its sentiments, desires etc are latent in it. It will be difficult to imagine “that” which is “everything” would want to either create or   desire or experience; this would only tantamount to saying that all of these have an identity beyond “it”. This will be contrary to the very definition of Brahmn.        

You would recall the Gita sloka 4 chapter 6 (in the blog) has a reference to “sarva sankalpa sanyasi” -- a renunciation of every kind of intent or desire before you merge into that “brahmn”. So how can a “Brahmn” desire ? In other words if everything is Brahmn then even desire is verily “brahmn”, and therefore How can “desire”, desire something for itself? 

The Atharva veda describes “it” as both zero and infinity, knowledge/ignorance, nature and also separate &beyond, etc. So the only inference one can draw from the reference to “its” desire to multiply and experience etc is to make “it” comprehensible to you and me.  As in Bhagavatham there is a reference to His creation; “Intent on multiplying itself it did “tapas” etc. The true meaning of Brahmn and its creations is however found in Upanishad . Let me get to these straight away.   

In Bhagavatham in answer to Parikshit’s query about creation there is this reference to the Brahmn as the Lord who multiplied Himself in to many. And He created “maya” representing the three characteristics namely Sathva, Rajas & Thamo gunas. These to my mind are those thru which one “experiences”.  

Now to Upanishads and especially Taithriya: 

Brahmn is Bliss. So to amplify what ALN says, out of this bliss, by bliss, and for bliss, in a spontaneous sportive activity, as against a self-conscious volitional effort, “it” designed a “play” – Leela. 

“Thadhaatmanam swayam akurutha” is the original Text. 

This translates to 

“That (Brahmn) created itself by itself”. (All the participants and their experiences etc are part of That Brahmn, yet Brahmn transcends all these)

It further goes on to add  “Thasmaath thath sukrutham uchyatha ithi” which translates to

“Therefore it is called self-made or well-made”.  Well done, divinely planned, and perfectly executed, and not born out of Sin.  

The creation therefore is that “brahmn” manifesting itself from itself along with the illusion called Maya, as the non-existent gross material world with all its polarized experiences/sentiments in an elaborate “leela” as a spontaneous sportive activity. “It” is a part but yet transcends all of these. Our Life’s mission is to remember this in realization.  

The penultimate stage of this process of our evolution is to negate the non-existent and experience that “oneness”, before finally going beyond, losing even this duality of experience-experiencer, merge and “be” in that absolute “non-dual oneness”.
     
My “Vichu Sutras”  “Beyond Experience” in the blog under title "sutras" is worth looking up (even to myself!!!). 

Ekalavya alias Vichu