Creation (Sṛṣṭi)

Sṛṣṭi means “creation”: the way the world and all living beings came into being. The Purāṇas (ancient Sanskrit books of sacred history) describe creation in great detail. They explain how, before anything existed, only Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa was there, and how from his wish the whole universe slowly unfolded, step by step.

The accounts of creation are found in the Varāha Purāṇa, the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa and the Nārada Mahā Purāṇa. Each tells the story in its own way, but they share the same picture: Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa is the root of everything, Brahmā is his agent of creation, and all beings are made from the same basic elements.

The Five Marks of a Purāṇa

In the Varāha Purāṇa, Bhagavān Viṣṇu in his Varāha (boar) form explains that a Purāṇa has five lakṣaṇas (marks or topics):

1. Sṛṣṭi: creation
2. Laya: dissolution, the end of the world
3. Vaṃśa: family lines (genealogies)
4. Manvantarāḥ: the ages of the Manus (the great fathers of humankind)
5. Rāja-vaṃśa: the histories of royal dynasties

The State Before Creation

Before creation, Nārāyaṇa alone existed. Nothing other than Hari (another name of Viṣṇu) was there. Even though he acted only by his own will, he found no rati (delight) in being alone. A wish for a second arose in him. From that wish a bright thought, sā eka iti saṃjñayā, flashed for an instant like sunlight.

That thought divided into two sounds, “U” and “MA”. These sounds express Brahman (the Supreme Reality) and became established in the world of mortals. Together they became “OM”. From that single syllable this earth (bhūmi) was produced, and after it bhuvarloka, svarloka, maharloka, janaloka and tapoloka (the higher worlds). The ātman (self) then merged back into the Paramātman (the Supreme Self).

How Mahāviṣṇu Created the World (Varāha Purāṇa, Chapter 9)

1. The Cosmic Egg

When ākāśa (space) and the other elements joined with bhūmi (earth), a womb-chamber filled with water (garbha-kośa) formed. It became an aṇḍa (cosmic egg). When the egg split in two, Nārāyaṇa appeared first in a form of water. He created the nārāmbu (the first waters) and made them his āyana (dwelling). For this reason he received the name Nārāyaṇa.

2. Brahmā Appears

While Nārāyaṇa lay in cosmic sleep, a lotus grew from his navel. From it came the four-faced Brahmā. Nārāyaṇa told him: “O great-minded one, create the people.” Then Nārāyaṇa became invisible. Brahmā did not know where he himself had come from, and he fell into deep worry.

3. Brahmā’s Anger and Rudra

Brahmā became angry that he could not know his creator. From that anger a child came forth and sat on Brahmā’s thigh. The child was weeping, so Brahmā named him Rudra (“Mārā”, meaning “do not cry”). Brahmā asked Rudra to create, but Rudra did not yet have enough power. So he dived into the water to perform tapas (spiritual discipline and austerity).

4. The First Parents

While Rudra performed tapas under the water, Brahmā produced a prajāpati (a father of beings) from his right big toe, and a wife from his left big toe. From this prajāpati and his wife, Svāyambhuva Manu was born, the first father of humankind.

Creation in Viṣṇu’s Own Words (Varāha Purāṇa, Chapter 2)

Viṣṇu describes the order in which the universe came out of him:

The elements appear in this order:

Śūnyam → śabda/gagana → vāyu → agni → jala → pṛthvī

That is: emptiness, then sound and sky, then air, fire, water and earth. Earth (pṛthvī), the mother of all living beings, was produced last.

The Streams of Creation (Srota)

Brahmā first made the mukhya sṛṣṭi (primary creation): trees and things that do not move. He was not satisfied, so he produced more:

Humans are described as beings of mixed guṇas. In them rajas (activity and passion) is strongest, mixed with tamas (heaviness and darkness), and so their lives are full of many sorrows and many actions.

The Eight Creations (Aṣṭa Sarga)

The Purāṇa lists eight (or nine) kinds of creation:

1. Mahattattva sarga: cosmic intelligence
2. Tanmātra sarga: the subtle elements
3. Vaikārika / Aindriyaka sarga: the powers of the senses (Brahmā’s first creation made on purpose)
4. Mukhya sarga: the primary creation of things that do not move
5. Tairyaksrotas: the creation of animals and birds
6. Ūrdhva-srota: the creation of the devas
7. Manuṣya sarga: the creation of humans
8. Anugraha sarga: the “grace” creation (a mix of sattva and tamas)

A ninth, the Kaumāra sarga (the creation of the Kumāras), is both natural (sāhaja) and modified (vikṛti).

Viṣṇu as the Root Cause of Everything

In Chapter 9, Viṣṇu sums it up:

“I alone was in the beginning. Nothing else existed. From me arose the atom; from me, a single buddhi; from that, the three guṇas; from those, mahattattva…”

The world moves forward in this order. At the end of each kalpa (a day of Brahmā), the three lower worlds (bhūloka, bhuvarloka, svarloka) dissolve when Brahmā sleeps, and appear again when he wakes.

Creation in the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (Chapters 44–46)

Varāha Lifts the Earth Again

At the end of the Pādma-kalpa, Brahmā wakes and finds the universe empty. Nothing can be seen: no earth, no sky, only the first waters. Nārāyaṇa knows that the earth (bhūmi) lies sunk beneath those waters. He takes his Varāha form and dives into the deep to lift her up, just as he has done in every earlier kalpa. He raises the earth, sets her on the waters, and divides her into the seven dvīpas (island-continents). In this way the foundations of the world are laid again.

The First Creation and Its End

Brahmā’s very first act of creation was the mukhya-sarga: the making of the mountains. But the first fire, kālāgni, burned them up. The mountains melted into the ocean, and the waters merged with the wind. Brahmā understood that this creation was the base of everything but was not enough. It is called mukhya-sarga (“first creation”) because it came first, yet it could not fulfil the purpose of creation.

Beings Born from Brahmā’s Bodies

Brahmā went on to create the other kinds of beings by taking up bodies one after another and then setting them aside. Each body he set aside left something behind, and from it a new kind of being arose:

• From one body, full of tamo-guṇa (darkness), came “Rātri” (night). From the darkness of that body the rākṣasas were born, crying “rakṣa!” (“protect us!”), and the yakṣas, crying “bhakṣa!” (“let us eat!”).
• From another body, full of shining sattva (purity), the devas were born from his mouth.
• From another body, full of rajas (activity), humans were born from his mouth.
• From his hair, the nāgas (serpent beings) were created.
• From his thought, the gandharvas were created, beings of divine music and beauty.
• From the different parts of his body came goats, cattle, horses, elephants, and all the plants and vegetation of the world.

The First Age of Humankind

In the earliest age, human life was completely different from today. People lived without effort, without disease and without want. Every need was met by itself, without work or searching. A man and a woman would be born together as a pair and would die together, and neither was placed above the other. This first age of equality and natural plenty came before the slow decline through the yugas (world ages), which brought hard work, illness and death.

Creation in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa (3rd Skandha)

In the 3rd Skandha (Chapters 5–12) of the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Maitreya Maharṣi tells Vidura how the present kalpa was created. He pays special attention to the step-by-step unfolding of the tattvas (basic principles of the universe) and to the role of Bhagavān Viṣṇu’s kāla-śakti (the power of time).

Before creation: Bhagavān Viṣṇu rests in yoga-nidrā (divine sleep). All the tattvas of the universe lie at rest in Prakṛti (nature). The karmas (results of past actions) of all jīvas (living souls) from the previous kalpa stay as bījas (seeds) inside Bhagavān Viṣṇu.

Time sets things moving: The first stirring does not come from Brahmā or any person. It comes from kāla, time, which is Bhagavān Viṣṇu’s own power. Kāla disturbs the balance of the guṇas in Prakṛti. From that disturbance Mahat (cosmic intelligence) arises. From Mahat comes the threefold Ahaṃkāra (the sense of “I”). From Ahaṃkāra come, in order, the tanmātras (subtle elements), the indriyas (senses) and the mahābhūtas (great elements). This is called sarga, the natural unfolding of the first tattvas.

The Brahmāṇḍa: When all 24 tattvas come together, the Brahmāṇḍa (cosmic egg) forms. It lies still in the garbhodaka, the cosmic ocean at the base of the universe. Bhagavān Viṣṇu, as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, lies in this ocean. The universe rests in him and on him.

Brahmā’s creation: From the navel of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu grows the cosmic lotus. From the lotus comes Brahmā, who carries out visarga, the second stage of creation. First Brahmā is confused. Then he performs tapas and receives a vision of Bhagavān Viṣṇu in Vaikuṇṭha. After this he is given the authority to create, and he brings about the daśa-vidha sarga (the ten kinds of creation).

The prajāpatis and Rudra: In this account Brahmā creates the great prajāpatis to help him create. Rudra is born from Brahmā’s anger and is given eleven names and eleven wives. The sons born from Brahmā’s mind, Marīci, Atri, Aṅgiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Bhṛgu, Vasiṣṭha, Dakṣa and others, are created and given the work of visarga.

The Birth of the World in the Nārada Mahā Purāṇa (Chapter 42)

Chapter 42 of the Nārada Mahā Purāṇa (Jagad-utpatti-varṇanam, “the description of the birth of the world”) tells of creation through a conversation between Bhṛgu Maharṣi and Bharadvāja Maharṣi. Sānandana Maharṣi tells this conversation to Nārada. Nārada had asked who created the whole stāvara-jaṅgama jagat (the world of moving and non-moving beings), and into whom it dissolves at pralaya (the end of the world).

Mānas, the First Being

Bhṛgu says that the ancient ṛṣis called the first being Mānas. He is ādyanta-rahita, without beginning or end. From Mānas came the avyakta (the unmanifest), which is eternal, never destroyed, never used up and never ageing. All bhūtas (beings) are born from avyakta and all return to it. Avyakta first produced the mahat-tattva, which is also called sarvabhūtadhara (the support of all beings) and which is the Prabhu (master) of mahat itself. The first being, Mānas, is identified with Brahmā: Mānas himself takes on the work of creating.

The Endless Sky

Ākāśa (space or sky) is described as ananta (endless), sundara (beautiful) and nānāśraya (the home of all). Even sūrya and candra (the sun and moon) cannot measure it; these divine lights cannot see the ūrdhva-parimāṇa (upper limit) of ākāśa. Not even beings as bright as the sun and fire can see where ākāśa ends. Its lower extent is also beyond measure.

The First Creation: Water

The first thing Mānas-Brahmā created was water, the jīvana-bhūta (source of life) for all prāṇīs (living beings). All prāṇas (life-breaths) are kept alive by water, and without water all beings would die. Water fills the whole world: pṛthivī (earth), parvatas (mountains), meghas (clouds) and all mūrtimanta-padārthas (things with bodies) are vāruṇa, born of water and kept alive by water.

The Five Great Elements and Their Qualities

Mānas-Brahmā created the five dhātus, the mahābhūtas (great elements). Each has its own quality:

So the human body, and every body, is pāñcabhautika, made of the five elements. Śrotra (hearing) comes from ākāśa, ghrāṇa (smell) from pṛthivī, rasa (taste) from jala, and so on for the other senses. The whole world of moving and non-moving beings is filled with these five bhūtas.

Even Plants Have the Five Elements

Bharadvāja raises a question. Trees seem to lack many of the qualities of the five elements: they do not hear, see or speak. Bhṛgu answers that even in the solid form of a tree, ākāśa is surely present. Flowering and fruiting prove that agni (heat, fire) is there. Trees wilt, drop their leaves, and their wood burns, which shows sparśa (touch, belonging to vāyu). The sound of wind, thunder and lightning makes fruits and flowers fall, which proves that śabda (sound, belonging to ākāśa) is there. So even stāvara (non-moving) beings are fully made of the five elements. The whole universe, from the most lifeless stone to the most aware being, is made of these five mahābhūtas, joined together by the will of Mānas.

Sources

• Varāha Purāṇa, Chapters 2 and 9
• Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapters 44–46
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 3rd Skandha, Chapters 5–12
• Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapter 42