hapter Eight

THE CREATION, SUSTENANCE AND DISSOLUTION OF

THE UNIVERSE.

. Has this universe proceeded from God or from something

else?

A.-God is the efficient cause of this universe, but the material

cause is prakriti – the primordial elementary matter.

“He who has created this multiform universe, and is the cause
of its sustenance as well as dissolution, the Lord of the
universe in whom the whole world exists, is sustained and
then resolved into elementary condition, is the Supreme
Spirit. Know Him, O man, to be your God and believe in no
other as the Creator of the Universe.” RIG VEDA : , .

“In the beginning the whole was enveloped in utter darkness.

Nothing was discernible. It was like a dark night, Matter was
in its very elementary form. It was like ether. The whole
universe, completely overspread by darkness, was
insignificantly small compared with the Infinite God who
thereafter, by His omnipotence, evolved this cosmic world –
the, effect – out of the elementary matter – the cause.* RIG
VEDA : ,

“Love and worship that Supreme Spirit, O men, Who is the

support of all the luminous bodies (such as the sun), the one
Incomparable Lord of the present as

* It is remarkable that modern science is slowly but surely

coming round to what the Vedas teach. The atomic theory is
losing ground and the Vedic doctrine gaining ground day by
day. Mark what one of the modern most scientists, M.
Bernard Brunlhes says: – “Matter which seems to give us the
image of stability and repose only exists, then, by reason of
the rotatory movement of its particles so that when atoms
have radiated all their energy in the form of luminous,
calorific, electric and other forms of vibrations, they return to
the primitive ether.” Rama Deva.

well as of the future worlds, Who existed even before the

world came into being, and has created all things that exist in
space between the earth and heaven.*”RIG VEDA :, .

. Has not prakriti emanated from God?

A.- No, it is beginningless.

“O Men, that All-pervading Being alone is the Lord of the

imperishable prakriti – the material cause of the world – and
of the soul and is yet distinct from both. He is the Creator of
universe – the past, present and the future.” YAJUR VEDA :

“That Supreme Spirit, from Whom all things proceed and in

Whom they live and perish, is the All-pervading God. Aspire,
O men, to know Him.” TAITREYA UPANISHAD BHRIGU, .

“That Great God should be sought after, Who is the cause of

the creation, the sustenance and dissolution of the universe.”
VEDAANT SHAASTRA I. ,.

. How many entities are eternal or beginningless

A.- Three – God, the soul, and the prakriti (matter). Q. What
are your authorities for this statement?

A.- “Both God and the soul are eternal, they are alike in
consciousness and such other attributes. They are
associated together – God pervading the soul – and are
mutual companions. The prakriti (matter), which is

*Literally the sun. -Tr.

likened to the trunk of a tree whose branches are the

multiform universe which is resolved into its elementary
condition at the time of dissolution is also eternal. The
natures, attributes and characters of these three are also
eternal. Of the two – God and the soul – the latter alone
reaps the fruits of this tree of the universe – good or evil –
whilst the former does not. He is the All-glorious Being who
shines within, without and all around.” RIG VEDA I, , .

“The Great God – the King – revealed all kinds of knowledge

to the human soul – His eternal subjects – through the Veda.”
YAJUR VEDA, , .

“The prakriti, the soul and God, all of them, are uncreated.
They are the cause of the whole universe. They have no
cause of the whole universe. They have no cause and have
been existing eternally. The eternal soul enjoys the eternal
matter and is wrapped up in it whilst God neither enjoys it,
nor, is He wrapped up in it.” SHWETA SHWATER
UPNISHAD, : .

The attributes of God and the soul have been described in

the last chapter. Here we shall treat of the properties of
prakriti (matter). “That condition of matter in which the
intellect-promoting (satva – high), passion-exciting (rajas –
medium) and stupidity producing tamas – low qualities) are
found combined in equal proportions is called prakriti. From
prakriti emanated the principle of wisdom (Mahaatava), and
from the latter proceeded the principle of Individuality
(Ahakaara) from which emanated the five subtle entities and
the ten principles of sensation and action, and the manas,
i.e., the principle of attention. From the five subtle entities
issued forth the five gross entities, such as

solids, liquids, etc. These twenty-four entities and the purush,

i.e., the spirit – human and Divine – form a group of twenty-
five noumena.” SANKYA SHASTRA,: .

Of all these twenty-four, the prakriti is uncreated, the principle

of wisdom, the principle of Individuality, and the five subtle
entities are the products of the prakriti and are in their turn the
cause of the ten principles of sensation, and action and of the
principle of attention. The purush – i.e., the spirit – is neither
the cause (material) nor the effect of anything.

. Is this whole universe nothing but God?

But it is said in the Chhaandoya Upanishad, “Before Creation

the universe was existent”; whilst the Taitreya Upanishad
says, ” It was non-existent or nothing.” Again the
Vrikadaaranyaka Upanishad (Chapt. I,,) says “It was all spirit”
and lastly the Shatapatha Brahmanad (Chapt. : , , ) says, “It
was all God (Brahma)” and again “by His Own will the Great
God transformed Himself into this multiform universe.” In
another Upnishad it is written “Sarvam Khalu, etc.”, which
means “Verily this whole universe is God; all other things are
nothing but God.”

A._ Why do you pervert the meanings of these quotations?

For those very Upanishads it is said “Oshwetketo, proceed
thou from effects to causes and learn that prithivi (solids)
proceed from liquids, apah (liguids) from teja – that condition
of matter whose properties are heat and light, etc., – and teja
from the uncreated prakriti. This prakriti – the true existence –
is the source, abode and support of the whole universe.”
What you have translated

as “this universe was non-existent” means that it was non-

existent as universe in their gross physical and visible form.
But it existed in essence or in elementary form as the eternal
prakriti. It was not nothing, God and the soul also were
existent. Your quotations which begins with “Sarvam khualu”
is nothing but a pot-pouri, for, you have taken parts of two
verses from two different Upanishads and put them together
and formed them into one sentence. “Sarva Khalu”, etc., is
taken form the Chhaandogya Upanishad ( chapt III: , ) and
Neha naanaasti, from the Katha Upnishad (chapt. II:,).

Just as the limbs of the body are of use only so long as they
form part of it, but become useless as soon as they are
separated or cut off from it, similarly you can get sense out of
words or sentences when in their proper places in conjunction
with what has gone before and what follows them, but they
become meaningless as soon as they are dislocated from
their proper places and joined to others.