srstis catur vidba prokta tva di samkalpaja prabhoh
brabmaja cannaja turya ksetra ksetra jna yogaja
In the Gita creation has been described in four ways which are as follows:-
( 1 ) Maha sarga (New creation):- Brahma, the creator and all beings are born at the time of New Creation. This new creation takes place due to God’s intentions. Why does God resolve to do so? At the Final Dissolution all beings according to the impressions of actions merge in Prakriti with their causal bodies. Then Prakriti with all those beings merges in God. When the actions of beings merged in Prakriti, mature (ripe) and are ready to bear fruit, then God resolves to become many from One (Taittiriya 2/6). So He controlling His Prakriti creates Brahma, bodies of all beings and all the worlds. Actually the bodies of all beings are created by Prakriti. So the Lord has made two statements in the Gita – “Wielding My Prakriti (Nature), I send forth again and again all this multitude of beings” (9/7-8) and “Me as the Supervisor, Nature brings forth the whole creation” (9/10).
The description of the New-creation in the Gita has also occurred as follows:-
In the first verse of the fourth chapter when the Lord declares “I taught this immortal yoga (at the beginning of New creation) to sun god” and in the third verse also the “same ancient yoga (told at the beginning of New creation) has today been imparted to you by Me”.
In the thirteenth verse of the fourth chapter there is mention of the creation of four social orders also denotes the times of new creation.
In the third verse of the eight chapter the mention of ‘Visarga‘ (discharge of spirits) which brings forth the existence. It denotes the time of New creation.
In the sixth verse of the tenth chapter there is description of the New creation when the Lord declares ‘four Sanakadis, seven great seers and their elders and fourteen Manus were born of My will and from them all these creatures in the world have descended.’
In the third and the fourth verses of the fourteenth chapter the New-Creation has been described when the Lord declares that Prakriti is the womb (the conceiving mother) while He is the seed giving father.
There is description of New creation in the twenty third verse of the seventeenth chapter when it is declared that Om Tat and Sat- this has been declared to be the triple designation of the Absolute. By that were created the Brahmanas, the Vedas and sacrifices.
Again the Lord has described the New creation in the forty first verse of the eighteenth chapter by declaring that the duties of Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas and Sudras have been divided according to their inborn qualities.
(2) Sarga (creation):- When Brahma sleeps, there is dissolution and when he awakes there is creation. At the time of creation all beings with their subtle and causal bodies are born of the subtle body of Brahma, while at the time of dissolution they all merge in it (8/18-19).
There is also description of creation in the tenth verse of the third chapter when the Lord declares “At the beginning of creation Brahma created mankind.”
[In the New creation God connects the soul (spirit) with the causal body – This is creation of all beings by Him. In creation, Brahma, the creator connects the soul with the subtle body – this is creation of beings by Brahma]
(3) The cycle of creation:- First there is mental creation by Brahma. Then a couple (man and woman with gross bodies is born. Then the creation starts by the union of the man and the woman. This is the cycle of creation. The Lord has mentioned this fact in the Gita by declaring, “All beings are evolved from food, food is produced from rain, rain ensues from sacrifice, sacrifice is born of action, action has its origin in the Vedas and the Vedas proceed from the Imperishable (God). Therefore God Who is Omnipresent is the root of all” (3/14-15 ). Therefore either beings (creation) are born of God or of Brahma or food (menstrual excretion and semen) i.e. whether it is the New Creation or creation or cycle of creation, God is the root of all of them. So the purpose of the description of this creation is that we should have an ‘inclination towards God Who is the root of all’.
(4) Union of Ksetra (Field) and ksetrajna (knower of the field):- The identity of the Self (Soul or Spirit) with bodies is the union of ksetra and ksetrajna. This is also known as the union of ‘Prakriti’ and ‘Purusha‘ ‘the insentient and the sentient’ and ‘lower and higher Nature’. Attachment of the spirit to physical (gross), subtle and causal bodies is known as Union. It is this union which is responsible for the birth of beings and then their death. (13/21). It is because of this union (attachment) that the spirit is connected with the causal body at the time of New creation, with the subtle body at the time of creation and with the menstrual excretion and semen of parents in the cycle of creation.
This identifying or attachment of the spirit to the body has been described in the sixth verse of the seventh chapter and the twenty first and the twentv sixth verses of the thirteenth chapter.
The purpose of the description of New creation, creation cycle of creation and union of Ksetra and ksetrajna is that there is an incessant relationship between spirit and God. But the spirit has to take birth and death because of its attachment to the body. This attachment is self made. If by renouncing this attachment this human being (spirit) has an inclination towards God, he can attain Him under all circumstances.
Narayana ! Narayana ! Narayana !
From “Gita Darpan” in English by Swami Ramsukhdasji Maharaj.
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