The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad - Ch-1. Second Brahmana, The Creation of the Universe. : 9. Swami Krishnananda.

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Sunday, July 18, 2021. 9:01. PM.
Chapter - I :
SECOND BRAHMANA : 
THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE-9.
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1.

There is a diversity in the form of this creation, made possible by a reversal of the position of the ultimate Reality and that reversed position assumes a consciousness of its own, originally. That is what is known as the Universal Mind. It is attended with Self-Consciousness, –  is something less than the Absolute. It is a condition that has to be accepted, subsequent to the reversal, which, again, has to be assumed prior.

2.

The Cosmic Mind, Hiranyagarbha, as we call it in the Vedanta, is the Cosmic 'I-Am'. It is Self-Consciousness, Pure Universality. And, here is the seed of all diversity. In a sense, we may say that we are parts of this Cosmic Mind, but not, indeed, correctly. As I pointed out, we cannot regard ourselves as parts of the Absolute. Nothing that we see with our eyes can be regarded as a real representation of the Absolute. 

Thus, we have to understand that we are not parts, even of the Hiranyagarbha. We are much less than that. We are far down below the condition of Hiraayagarbha and Virat, for reasons we shall see shortly. For the time being, it is enough if we understand the actual meaning of this passage. 

There was a destruction, a Mrityu, a complete abolition of Reality, which is what the Sankhya calls Prakriti, the Vedantins call Maya, Mula-Prakriti, etc., the Potential Being, the Matrix of the universe. That becomes the seed for the manifestation of the Cosmic Mind, known as Mahat and Cosmic Ahamkara. The Vedanta calls them Hiraayagarbha and Virat.

3.

 One who makes this phenomenon, assumes power over this phenomenon, becomes that, is the advice with which the passage concludes. The cosmic condition is thus to be described. The Mind which was created, cosmically, in this manner, by a reversal of the content of the Absolute, this cosmic condition, is the seed of the universe. 

This seed of the universe, we call Ishvara; we call Hiranyagarbha; we call Virat, in the various degrees of the densities manifested. It assumed a joy. It became the energy of the universe. It became Vai?v?nara. Here the word 'Arka' is sometimes taken to mean Cosmic Fire, or, we may say, Universal Energy, which is also the same as the great Joy of the Universal. 

'Kam' means joy, happiness. There is a happiness which is untarnished and undiminished in this condition on account of the retention of universality, though it is the seed-form of all diversity. The conditions of Hiranyagarbha and Virat are potential diversities, no doubt, but not manifest diversities. What we call diversity, responsible for the sorrow of the individual, has not taken place yet. 

There is no sorrow in Virat, Hiranyagarbha and Ishvara, though there is a potency for diversity. The reason is that there is the Universal Consciousness maintained yet, in spite of the potentiality for diversity. There is an organic connectedness of things in Virat and above, and this consciousness is maintained. 

Therefore, on account of the absence of the loss of universality there, the Joy of the Universal also is present. Whoever knows this becomes that; and knowing this, he is also equal to have the power of it. Knowledge and Power are identical. So the knowledge of it is necessary, by 'being it' in meditation. And then there is power that is unlimited, power that is born of unlimited knowledge on account of unlimited 'Being'.

To be continued ...


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