14 words that explain the whole Universe (Mundaka Upaniṣad #04)
The Upanisads bring up complicated philosophical concepts in just a few words. The verse 1.1.8 of the Mundaka Upanisad is a surprising example, describing the whole universe in just 14 words.
The Upanisads are famous for bringing up complicated philosophical concepts in just a few words. The verse 1.1.8 of the Mundaka Upanisad is a surprising example, describing the whole process of creation and the workings of the universe in just 14 words! When the complete meaning is understood, we can appreciate the deep meaning of the verse, as well as to better understand the way the Upanisads convey transcendental knowledge and the process by understanding it.
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Text 1.1.8
tapasā cīyate brahma tato ’nnam abhijāyate
annāt prāṇo manaḥ satyam lokāḥ karmasu cāmṛtam
Brahman, desiring to create, manifested the material creation. First, pradhāna, the sun total of material energy was manifested, which is seen by the souls as an object of their enjoyment (anna). Agitated by the time energy of the Lord and inseminated with the innumerable souls, pradhāna produced the Hiranyagarbha, the golden egg which is the collective, cosmic entity holding Brahman’s power of creation. From this Hiranyagarbha, innumerable material universes were produced, and in each of them, the Lord manifested as the universal form, the subtle cosmic manifestation of the universe. From the Lord, Brahma appeared, creating the planetary systems and the bodies of the different living beings. Inside this material manifestation, these living beings perform material actions and receive the results, but by the development of Krsna consciousness, one can finally become free.
Commentary: This verse describes the process of creation of the material universes. This process is explained in much more detail by Lord Kapila, in the third canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam. Here the process is described in a very cryptic way, understandable only after we already know the process.
A literal translation of this verse would be:
"Through austerity, Brahman expands; from that, food is born; from food, the life energy arises; from life energy, the mind; from the mind, truth; and from truth, the worlds. Immortality is established in actions."
This is how Patrick Olivelle translates it:
"Through heat brahman is built up; thereby food is produced. From food comes breath, mind, truth, and worlds, and immortality in rites."
As you can see, the meaning is not clear. Almost all the words in the verse are used out of the usual context, and they all describe stages of a long process. Without this understanding, we can't access the true meaning of the verse, and it appears to not make much sense. To properly understand this verse we need to break down the verse and study each stage described separately. When the complete meaning is understood, we can see how this verse of 14 words can describe the entire process of creation.
Tapasā
The first word, tapasā, would be normally translated as "austerity", but in this context, it refers to the knowledge or creative power manifested by the Supreme Brahman. Brahman desired to create and to expand Himself. This resonates with verse 6.2 of the Chandogya Upanisad, where Maha-Vishnu tough to himself: tad aikṣata, bahu syām prajāyeyeti, "Let me become many. Let me propagate myself."
This desire of Maha-Vishnu is connected with giving a new chance to the conditioned souls who are forgetful of their eternal relationship with the Lord. Out of this desire, He looked in the direction of his eternal potency, in the form of pradhāna, impregnating her with His time energy and all the jivas who previously desired to take part in the material creation. Just like a father begetting a son, by this look Brahman expanded Himself, generating unlimited living entities in all the different universes.
Ramanujacarya explains the Lord creates the material world as a reflection of the spiritual world, creating a new world in the pattern of the existing one. Everything is thus similar, but perverted, like an inverted reflection. This is also explained by the Lord in the Bhagavad-Gita (15.1-3) where He gives the analogy of the material world as an inverted tree, a reflection of the original tree in the spiritual world:
"The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: It is said that there is an imperishable banyan tree that has its roots upward and its branches down and whose leaves are the Vedic hymns. One who knows this tree is the knower of the Vedas. The branches of this tree extend downward and upward, nourished by the three modes of material nature. The twigs are the objects of the senses. This tree also has roots going down, and these are bound to the fruitive actions of human society. The real form of this tree cannot be perceived in this world. No one can understand where it ends, where it begins, or where its foundation is. But with determination one must cut down this strongly rooted tree with the weapon of detachment."
This look of Maha-Vishnu is referred to in the Srimad Bhagavatam as "vīryam", and is explained by Srila Jiva Goswami as the jivakhya cit-rupa sakti, or the conditioned souls who want to participate in the material creation. These souls are part of the internal potency of the Lord, but because they have free will, and can thus choose between staying in contact with the spiritual potency or coming to the material manifestation, they are called marginal. Prabhupada adds another meaning to the word: "semen", giving the analogy that the souls are like the semen of the Lord, which impregnates the material nature. The material nature is thus compared to the mother, who produces the bodies of the living entities, and the Lord with the father, who puts the souls inside the womb of the mother. Thus, when we say that Lord Maha-Vishnu "expanded himself" we just refer to the process of material creation, not to the literal meaning. Just as a father doesn't create a new soul while begetting a child, but just a new body, Lord Maha-Vishnu just impregnates material nature with His eternal parts and parcels, giving them material forms and names.
In this way, the first part of the verse, "tapasā cīyate brahma" describes the first step of creation, Brahman desiring to perform the material creation and inseminating the material nature with the souls and time energy through his look. The rest of the verse, tato'nnamabhijāyate annātprāṇo manaḥ satyaṃ lokāḥ karmasu cāmṛtam, describes the process of creation of the universe. In the Srimad Bhagavatam, this description takes several chapters, but here it is described in just a few words, making it particularly hard to grasp.
Tato ’nnam abhijāyate
The word "annam" in the second part is ordinarily translated as "food". Certainly, food is created by the Supreme Lord, just as everything else, but in this context, the word annam is used to describe the initial stage of the material energy, as pradhāna, in its unmanifested stage. The word is thus used not in the sense of "food", but in its secondary term, in the sense of "that which is enjoyed". As conditioned souls, we see this material energy as something we can enjoy, and this is the start of our conditioned life.
Material nature is an energy of the Lord, and this relationship is explained by the description that the Lord created it. In reality, there is no creation, since both the Lord in His energies are eternal, but it is said that the Lord created "annan", or the material energy as a way to explain their relationship, with the material nature being subordinate to the Lord as His energy, just like the jivas.
In this way, the Lord manifested His external potency in the form of pradhāna, and this pradhāna is described as "annan" because the souls have the propensity to enjoy it. In this way, the second part of the verse, tato ’nnam abhijāyate (then “annan” comes into being) describes the manifestation of material nature and the conditioning of the souls due to their desire to enjoy it.
Annāt prāṇo
The next part of the verse, annāt prāṇo, describes the manifestation of the Hiranyagarbha, the golden egg which is the collective cosmic entity holding Brahman’s power of creation. From this golden egg, the whole cosmic manifestation appears.
Normally, the word prana is translated as "life air", but in this case, prana is used to describe this Hiranyagarbha, the cosmic womb born from the combination of the material energy, time, and the souls, from which the whole cosmic manifestation sprouts. This Hiranyagarbha contains the totality of the material energy, including the material consciousness, false ego, mind and intelligence, senses, as well as the karma and desires of all souls who participate in the material creation. The word "Hiranyagarbha" is also used to refer to Lord Garbodakasayi Vishnu, to each individual universe, to Brahma, or even to the lotus flower from with Brahma is born (wich contains all material elements and all the souls who will participate in his creation) but in this case, we are speaking about the original meaning as the cosmic egg.
This Hiranyagarbha is one of the most challenging concepts in the description of creation offered in the Vedas.
The glance of Lord Maha-Vishnu, containing His time energy, as well as the souls who will participate in the material creation, leads to the manifestation of the three modes of material nature, which were previously dissolved into pradhana. When the three modes become apparent, pradhana becomes active and is called the mahat-tattva.
The Lord then manifests pure material consciousness as a shadow of the original spiritual consciousness of the soul, and then the false ego, mind, intelligence, and finally the senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch). This restores the subtle bodies of the souls, which were destroyed at the end of the previous cycle. Together with the subtle bodies, the effects of their previous activities (karma) are restored.
By the interaction of the false ego in ignorance with the time energy and the mahat-tattva, the five material elements (ether, air, fire, water, and earth) are successively created, together with their properties (sound, touch, form, taste, and odor) and the sense organs connected with them (ear, skin, eye, tongue, and nose).
Up to this point, there are no material universes, just the mass of material elements in the form of the mahat-tattva. The elements are manifested, but still not assembled in the form of the universes. It's important to emphasize that in the definition given in the Vedas, the material elements are different from matter as a physical manifestation. The elements created at this stage manifest later (during the creation of Brahma) as different grades of matter. The elements that exist at this point are still subtle manifestations. We can think of them more like energy, and not as something we can physically touch.
It is described that the material universes come from the pores of Lord Maha-Vishnu, but the universes that appear at this stage are more like empty shells. For the universes to work, the Lord has to enter into each one of them as Garbhodakasayi Vishnu, together with the material elements that were created at the previous stage. Each complete material universe, the abode of one of the forms of Garbhodakasayi Vishnu is also called Hiranyagarbha. The lotus flower that appears from the navel of the Lord is also called Hiranyagarbha, and Lord Brahma, who appears from this lotus is also called Hiranyagarbha, and even the sun is called Hiranyagarbha, adding to the complexity of the term.
The reason the term Hiranyagarbha is used for so many different manifestations is because they are all manifestations of the potency of the Lord. On CC Adi 2.53, Prabhupada defines hiraṇyagarbha as “the numinous soul of everything”, and on SB 8.16.33 as “the source of life, the Supersoul of every living entity”. Because the Lord enters into all these different manifestations, they are all called hiraṇyagarbha. Aditional information on this topic is given on SB 5.20.
The manifestation of the individual universes is explained by Lord Kapila on the Srimad Bhagavatam. Here, the creation of one universe is described, but the same process repeats inside all other material universes:
"When all these elements were unmixed, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the origin of creation, along with time, work, and the qualities of the modes of material nature, entered into the universe with the total material energy in seven divisions. From these seven principles, roused into activity and united by the presence of the Lord, an unintelligent egg arose, from which appeared the celebrated Cosmic Being. This universal egg, or the universe in the shape of an egg, is called the manifestation of material energy. Its layers of water, air, fire, sky, ego and mahat-tattva increase in thickness one after another. Each layer is ten times bigger than the previous one, and the final outside layer is covered by pradhāna. Within this egg is the universal form of Lord Hari, of whose body the fourteen planetary systems are parts." (SB 3.26.50-52)
The seven divisions mentioned here are the five elements, ether, air, fire, water, and earth, plus the false ego and the total material energy, the mahat-tattva. The Lord is originally one, Maha-Vishnu, but out of His desire to create the material manifestation, he becomes many, as Garbhodakasayi Vishnu and Ksirodakasayi Vishnu inside each universe.
In this way, taking the seven primary elements with him, the Lord assembled the material elements into many separate universes. These universes were originally present in the mahat-tattva in the form of seeds and by the combination with the material elements by the desire of the Lord, the complete structures were formed.
Each universe includes a series of shells, composed of primeval elements, each covering being ten times larger than the previous. Because the universes are at this stage just composed of these inert material elements, they are mentioned as unintelligent eggs. However, these inert masses of matter become alive when the Lord enters into each one as Garbhodakasayi-Vishnu, carrying with Him all the souls who will participate in the creation inside each universe.
Inside each universe, Garbhodakasayi Vishnu manifests the universal form, together with all the potencies that act upon it. Finally, the Lord enters into this universal form as Paramatma, and that's what finally makes it active. This concludes the process of primary creation. The next stage is the birth of Brahma and the physical manifestation of the universe, which encompasses the secondary creation.
Manaḥ
The next stage of creation is described by the word "manaḥ". Ordinarily, manaḥ is translated as "mind", but in this case, it describes the creation of the universal form inside of each universe, the subtle cosmic manifestation of the universe, that allows the soul to experience it. In other words, it describes not the individual mind of the conditioned soul, but the Lord as the universal mind and essence of the universe, followed by the creation of the material mind and intelligence that are given to the individual souls to allow them to perceive this cosmic manifestation created by the Lord.
How does it happen?
Once inside each universe, the Lord fills half of the space with water and lies down on the water on the bed formed by Lord Sesa. Comfortably situated, He proceeds to manifest the universal form, which is the subtle manifestation of the universe. Everything that exists in the universe, including all potencies, is first manifested in a subtle form in this universal form. Later Brahma takes birth and performs the secondary creation, the process of the physical manifestation of the universe.
This process of manifestation of the universal form and the potencies of the demigods is also described by Lord Kapila in the Srimad Bhagavatam (3.26.53-61). This process happens not only in our universe but in all other universes.
The universal form is the reservoir of all the forms and potencies that exist and act upon the universe. It's only because the universal form has a mouth that we can have mouths, and only because it has ears that we can have ears, and so on. The universal form is originally subtle, but later it gains also a gross manifestation with the creation of Brahma. Just like we have a subtle body and a gross body, the Lord accepts the subtle and gross manifestations of the universal form as His cosmic body. This cosmic body is not accepted as an eternal form of the Lord, therefore it is sometimes considered a form of the Lord and sometimes not, depending on the point of view.
Next, the senses appear inside the universe. In the previous stages, consciousness, false ego, intelligence, and mind were manifested in the mahat-tattva, and now they are manifested inside each universe, forming the heart of the universal form. In the same way, the mind, intelligence, ego, and consciousness of each living being are situated inside the heart, which works thus as the center for all the energies of the body.
The citta, or material consciousness manifested inside the universe is different from the pure Vasudeva consciousness that is manifested in the mahat-tattva, which is in turn just a reflection of the original spiritual consciousness of the soul. This citta manifested inside of the material universes is not pure, it is already mixed with false ego and manifests a propensity for material enjoyment. This is the universal consciousness that will be attributed to the conditioned living entities acting inside of the universe.
After consciousness, the mind appears, and it is presided by the moon. In the Taittiriya Upanisad, the moon is defined as a manifestation of the Lord, just like the sun. Here, however, the moon and sun don't refer to the planetary bodies or the embodied demigods, but to the divine potency of the Lord that manifests through them. The mind is generated from the mode of goodness and is thus presided directly by the Lord. Intelligence is manifested from passion, and thus it is presided over by Lord Brahma, and false ego is connected with the mode of ignorance and is thus presided over by Lord Shiva, who is in turn manifested from Lord Sankarṣaṇa, the original controller of false ego.
Actions are motivated by desires, and desires are stored in the mind. The mind is also the connection between the soul and the material body and senses. Therefore, the mind is the basic tool we use to experience the material world. Intelligence, in turn, can be divided into two types: spiritual intelligence, which is used when the soul is connected with his eternal spiritual nature, and material intelligence, which works to satisfy the desires of the mind, making plans to manipulate matter.
When it comes to the senses, there is a difference between the subtle senses, grouped around the mind, and the gross sense organs that are part of the physical body. The physical bodies of all living entities are the last stage of creation, which becomes possible only after all the previous stages are concluded.
In this way, the subtle manifestations of the universe are put into place, as well as the means for the souls to experience it. The next stage is the appearance of Lord Brahma on top of the lotus flower that sprouts from Lord Garbodakasaiy Vishnu and the physical creation of the universe. All of this is directly powered by the Lord, who enters into everything as Lord Ksirodakasayi Vishnu, permeating everything and powering the whole universe. It is only due to His presence that the cosmic manifestation can take place.