The Glory of God : A Summary of the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapuranam : 2.3- Swami Krishnananda
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Swami Sivananda Asramam.
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Friday, May 22, 2020.
Chapter 2: The Process of Creation-3.
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1.
Here is a little departure in the story of the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana. There is the vast ocean, the vast Earth, the entire physical universe before us—sun, moon, stars, all things. God created vegetation first. The plant kingdom manifested itself in the process of evolution. In this context, a question arises:
Did God create all things at one stoke with a fiat of His will, or did He allow things to grow gradually from lower to higher species in a systematic manner?
Both seem to be a valid answer in this connection. It is something like what goes on in the dream world.
Do we suddenly dream mountains, rivers and things in our perception of dream, or is there a gradual perception of things from one stage to another?
We can say both are equally valid. We fall into sleep and suddenly begin to dream, and the entire picture of the dream world is before us as if it has been created at one stroke. In that manner, we may say that the universe was created by a fiat of God by His will which He announced: “Let there be light”—and there was light. That is all. One word of God is enough, and the whole thing is manifested.
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2.
But after having created this total with the fiat of His will, there is no objection to the idea that the process of evolution took place gradually, because the theory is that creation is a cyclic process.
It is not a sudden emerging of things that did not exist earlier. It is not that God created the world from nothing. We may say that, in some way, God does not create things Himself, as the sun does not create the problems of life, though without it no movement can take place here.
God is responsible for the evolution of the potentials that existed during the conclusion of the previous cycle—called mahapralaya, the dissolution of the cosmos after one hundred lives of Brahma, the creative principle.
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3.
The one hundred lives of Brahma is something difficult to imagine in one’s mind. There are four cycles of time, called Krita Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga and Kali Yuga. Kali Yuga, which is the time through which we are passing now, is considered to be the worst of times because there is conflict everywhere, which is why it is called Kali, which means quarrel. There is quarrel everywhere in this particular time of our life in this world.
This period of Kali is supposed to range for about four lakhs twenty thousand years (420,000).
Double that time is the duration of Dvapara Yuga.
Treble that time is the duration of Treta Yuga.
Four times the duration of Kali Yuga is the duration of Krita Yuga.
When these fourfold cycles of such long duration revolve one thousand times, it is one day of Brahma; and that length of one thousand cycles of similar duration is the night of Brahma.
These cycles constituting the day and night of Brahma make one full day of Brahma, and Brahma lives for one hundred years. Calculating Brahma’s lifespan is like calculating the distance of the stars—so many light years, and much more than that.
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Friday, May 22, 2020.
Chapter 2: The Process of Creation-3.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
Here is a little departure in the story of the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana. There is the vast ocean, the vast Earth, the entire physical universe before us—sun, moon, stars, all things. God created vegetation first. The plant kingdom manifested itself in the process of evolution. In this context, a question arises:
Did God create all things at one stoke with a fiat of His will, or did He allow things to grow gradually from lower to higher species in a systematic manner?
Both seem to be a valid answer in this connection. It is something like what goes on in the dream world.
Do we suddenly dream mountains, rivers and things in our perception of dream, or is there a gradual perception of things from one stage to another?
We can say both are equally valid. We fall into sleep and suddenly begin to dream, and the entire picture of the dream world is before us as if it has been created at one stroke. In that manner, we may say that the universe was created by a fiat of God by His will which He announced: “Let there be light”—and there was light. That is all. One word of God is enough, and the whole thing is manifested.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.
But after having created this total with the fiat of His will, there is no objection to the idea that the process of evolution took place gradually, because the theory is that creation is a cyclic process.
It is not a sudden emerging of things that did not exist earlier. It is not that God created the world from nothing. We may say that, in some way, God does not create things Himself, as the sun does not create the problems of life, though without it no movement can take place here.
God is responsible for the evolution of the potentials that existed during the conclusion of the previous cycle—called mahapralaya, the dissolution of the cosmos after one hundred lives of Brahma, the creative principle.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.
The one hundred lives of Brahma is something difficult to imagine in one’s mind. There are four cycles of time, called Krita Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga and Kali Yuga. Kali Yuga, which is the time through which we are passing now, is considered to be the worst of times because there is conflict everywhere, which is why it is called Kali, which means quarrel. There is quarrel everywhere in this particular time of our life in this world.
This period of Kali is supposed to range for about four lakhs twenty thousand years (420,000).
Double that time is the duration of Dvapara Yuga.
Treble that time is the duration of Treta Yuga.
Four times the duration of Kali Yuga is the duration of Krita Yuga.
When these fourfold cycles of such long duration revolve one thousand times, it is one day of Brahma; and that length of one thousand cycles of similar duration is the night of Brahma.
These cycles constituting the day and night of Brahma make one full day of Brahma, and Brahma lives for one hundred years. Calculating Brahma’s lifespan is like calculating the distance of the stars—so many light years, and much more than that.
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To be continued .....
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