Creation

Vishnu next narrated to the gods and the sages the history of creation.

In the beginning, the brahman was everywhere. The brahman had no form, but nor was it without form. It had no beginning and no end. It had no traits, but nor was it without traits. The brahman is impossible to describe, sense or see.

Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are derived from the brahman, Brahma performs the function of a creator, Vishnu that of a preserver and Shiva that of destroyer.

When it was time for creation to begin, the brahman created water throughout the universe. Before that, there was nothing. In the water, there appeared a golden (hiranya) egg (anda). The egg grew in size and Brahma, the creator, appeared inside the egg. Everything that there is in the universe, was already there, in in embryonic form, inside the egg. There were gods, the demons humans, the sun, the moon, the stars, the planets and the wind. The word garbha means womb and since Brahma originated from inside a golden (hiranya) egg, he is known as Hiranyagarbha. Brahma was the first being to be created. He had four faces. He had no birth (janana) in the real sense of the term. He is therefore also referred to as Aja (without birth). It is also true that he created (bhuva) himself (svayam). It is because of this that Brahma is known as Svayambhu. Brahma was to be the lord (pati) of all the subjects who were going to be born (praja). Thus, Brahma acquired the name of Prajapati.

To appreciate how creation took place, it is first necessary to have some conception about the nature of time.

A Digression on Time

The smallest unit of time is a nimesha. Fifteen nimeshas make one kashtha, thirty kashthas are one kala and thirty kalas constitute one muhurta. There are thirty muhurtas in a span of day and night (ahoratra). Thirty such ahoratras make up a month. There are two pakshas (fortnight) in every month. Six months constitute an ayana and two ayanas a year. There are thus twelve months in every year. The names of the two ayanas are uttarayana and dakshinayana, While humans pass through uttarayana, the gods pass through only one day. Similarly, when humans pass through dakshinayana, the gods pass through merely one night. One year for humans is equivalent to a time span of one day and one night for the gods.

Twelve thousand years of the gods make up one mahayuga. This is subdivided into four yugas (eras). The names of these eras are satya yuga or krita yuga, treta yuga, dvapara yuga and kali yuga. Satya yuga has four thousand years, treta yuga three thousand, dvapara yuga two thousand and kali yuga one thousand. This adds up to ten thousand years. But there are also periods that join two yugas: (sandhyamsha). Satya yuga has a sandhyamsha of four hundred years, treta yuga of three hundred, dvapara yuga of two hundred and kali yuga of one hundred, There will therefore be seven hundred additional years between satya yuga and treta yuga, five hundred between treta yuga and dvapara yuga of two hundred and kali yuga of one hundred. There will therefore be seven hundred additional years between satya yuga and treta yuga, five hundred between treta yuga and dvapara yuga, three hundred between dvapara yuga and kali yuga and five hundred between kali yuga and the next satya yuga. These are two thousand additional years, and when added up to the earlier figure of ten thousand. make up twelve thousand years.

There are a little over seventy-one manvantaras (eras) in each mahayuga. Each manvantara is a time period that is ruled over by a Manu. The first Manu in the present kalpa (cycle) was Svayambhuva Manu and there were several other Manus after him. Each kalpa in fact passes during one of brahma’s days and there are fourteen manvantaras in a kalpa. Stated differently, there are one thousand mahayugas in every kalpa.