The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad - Ch-1. Second Brahmana, The Creation of the Universe. : 11. Swami Krishnananda

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Monday, August 2, 2021.8:15. PM.
Chapter - I :
SECOND BRAHMANA : 
THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE-11.
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Here we have a description of creation down to the point of Virat : 

Tejo raso niravartatāgnih:

 A luminous essence, which we may call the Cosmic Fire, emanated from this condition, which is the outrush of the Creative Process. That luminous Cosmic Essential Being, the Fire Universal, is what we call Vaiśvānara or Virāt. Then what happens? We are slowly to come down to our sorrowful state, not yet begun, but going to begin.

The intermediary conditions are now described, which are prior to the manifestation of our grossened individualities. There are certain intermediary stages – the division of the Virat into the Tripartite Being, known in technical language as Adhyatma (subject), Adhibhuta (object), and Adhidaiva (transcendent). There is no such thing as Adhyatma, Adhibhuta, Adhidaiva in the Virat. All the three aspects are one there, but these three have to be separated and conceived independently for the purpose of subsequent creation. That point is slowly being arrived at, in these passages.

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Mantram-3.

"Sa tredhātmānaṁ vyakuruta, ādityaṁ tṛtīyam, vāyuṁ tṛtīyam, sa eṣa prāṇas tredhā vihitaḥ. tasya prācī dik śiraḥ, asau cāsau cairmau; athā asya pratīcī dik puccham, asau cāsau ca sakthyau; dakṣiṇā codīcī ca pārśve, dyauḥ pṛṣṭham, antarikṣam udaram, iyam uraḥ, sa eṣo׳psu pratiṣṭhitaḥ, yatra kva caiti tad eva pratitiṣṭhaty evaṁ vidvān."

Threefold is the manifestation subsequent to this original condition. ādityaṁ tṛtīyam, vāyuṁ tṛtīyam, sa eṣa prāṇas tredhā vihitaḥ: Here Prāṇa means the Cosmic Prāṇa, Hiraṇyagarbha, or we may say, Virāt. He assumed a threefold form – the transcendent (Adhidaiva), the objective (Adhibhūta) and the subjective (Adhyātma). Prior to this, there was no such distinction as the transcendent, the objective and the subjective. 

Now we have the God who is above, the world which is outside, and ourselves here. This tripartite distinction has now taken place. So, when we pray to God, we look up, as if He is 'above'. He was not above previously. Now He has become above, because we have lost Him. He has run up to the skies, as it were. And the world is 'outside' us, and we are looking at it, and we are 'here' as imagined subjects. 

We are subjects falsely arrogated to ourselves. This is, perhaps, the fall described in the Biblical context, the Satan falling, assuming individuality, independent of God. The assumption of individuality immediately calls for a transcendent Creator and an external universe. 

The moment you become conscious of yourself as an isolated being, you begin to see an outside world, and then you conceive, not perceive, a transcendent God. Here, God becomes merely a conception; He is not an object of perception. Originally, He was a content of direct perception, experience, realisation. He was 'Being', 

'Existence', 'Vitality', the 'Soul' itself. Now He has escaped our grasp, and over and above us become transcendent, and remained only as a theoretical Creator for our prayers and worships. What we physically see is only the world of gross objects, towards which we run every moment of time, assuming that we are the sole monarchs of this world, that we are the rulers of things; an assumption, false indeed, for reasons quite obvious.

To be continued ...

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