I. Creation

Brahma Knowledge, by L. D. Barnett, [1911], at sacred-texts.com

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PART II

SOME TEXTS OF THE VEDĀNTA

I. Creation ¹

1. In the beginning this universe was Self alone; there was naught else open-eyed. He bethought Himself: "Now I will create worlds!"

He created these worlds—the Ocean, the Light, the Dead, the Waters. That is the Ocean which is beyond the heaven; the heaven is its foundation. The Light is the sky. The Dead is the Earth; the Waters are those beneath.

He bethought Himself: "There are the worlds; now I will create world-wardens!" He drew from the waters Man, ² and made him solid. He brooded over him. When he had been brooded over, his mouth burst asunder like an egg; from his mouth arose Speech, from speech Fire. His nostrils burst asunder; from his nostrils arose the incoming Breath, from the

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[paragraph continues] Breath Wind. His eyes burst asunder; from his eyes arose Sight, from Sight the Sun. His ears burst asunder; from his ears arose Hearing, from Hearing Space. His skin burst asunder; from his skin arose hair, from the hair plants and trees. His heart burst asunder; from his heart arose Mind, from Mind the Moon. His navel burst asunder: from his navel arose the outgoing Breath, from the Breath Death. His secret parts burst asunder; from his secret parts arose seed, from seed the Waters.

2. These gods, having been created, fell into this great ocean; this He gave over to Hunger and Thirst. ¹ They said to Him: "Find out for us a dwelling-place in which we may rest and eat food." He brought them a cow. They said: "This is not enough for us." He brought them a horse. They said: "This is not enough for us." He brought them a man. They said: "Well done, forsooth!" For man is in sooth well done. He said to them: "Enter, each according to your dwelling-places." So Fire, becoming Speech, entered his mouth; Wind, becoming the incoming Breath, entered his

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nostrils; the Sun, becoming Sight, entered his eyes; Space, becoming Hearing, entered his ears; the Plants and Trees, becoming hair, entered his skin; the Moon, becoming Mind, entered his heart; Death, becoming the outgoing Breath, entered his navel; the Waters, becoming seed, entered his secret parts.

Hunger and Thirst said to Him: "Find out for us a dwelling-place." He said to them: "I give you a share with these gods, I make you partners with them." Therefore it is that whosoever be the godhead for whom an offering is taken, Hunger and Thirst are partners therein.

3. He bethought Himself: "There are the worlds and the world-wardens; now I will create for them Food."

He brooded over the waters; when they had been brooded over, there arose from the waters a shape. The shape that arose was Food.

When this was created, it sought to escape Him. He sought to seize it with Speech, but could not; if He had seized it with Speech, one might have been filled with food through speaking only. He sought to seize it with the incoming Breath, but could not; if He had seized it with the Breath, one might have been filled with food through breathing only. He sought to seize it with the Eye, but could not; if He had seized it with the Eye, one might have been filled with food through sight only. He sought to seize it with the Ears

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but could not; if He had seized it with the Ear, one might have been filled with food through hearing only. He sought to seize it with the Skin, but could not; if He had seized it with the Skin, one might have been filled with food through touch only. He sought to seize it with the Mind, but could not; if He had seized it with the Mind, one might have been filled with food through thinking only. He sought to seize it with the secret parts, but could not; if He had seized it with the secret parts, one might have been filled with food through excretion only. He sought to seize it with the outgoing Breath, and He swallowed it. It is the Wind that grasps Food, the Wind that wins Food. ¹

He bethought Himself: "How can this be without me?" He bethought Himself: "By what way shall I come in?" He bethought Himself: "If speaking is by speech, in-breathing by the in-breath, sight by the eye, hearing by the ear, touch by the skin, thinking by the mind, out-breathing by the out-breath, excretion by the secret parts, then who am I?" ²

He cleft asunder the crown of the head, and by that door came in. This door is called the "cleft"; it makes for bliss. ³

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Three dwellings has He, and three dream-states —this is His dwelling, this His dwelling, this His dwelling. 1

Having been born, He surveyed living things. "What is here," said He, "that one would call other [than Me]?" He saw man to be most utterly Brahma, and He said, "idam adarśam" ("I have seen it"). Therefore He has the name Idan-dra. His name is indeed Idan-dra; but him who is Idan-dra men call Indra, 2 in a dark manner; for the gods love what is dark.

Footnotes

56:1 Aitareya Upanishad, i.

56:2 Purusha; see above, §§ 4, 5, 7.

57:1 The cosmic powers, Fire, Wind, Sun, Space, Vegetation, Moon, Death, and Water (each of which is created from a corresponding function of the ideal Man) are in themselves powerless. They sink back into the primitive waters, and suffer hunger and thirst; they must have a home in the real Man in order to be satisfied and active. The forces of Nature exist only through and in the human subject

59:1 The outgoing breath, apāna, probably is here identified with the function of digestion (p. 43). The rest of the sentence is based upon a word-play.

59:2 For the answer to this question, see the next extract.

59:3 See above, § 9.