The Upanishads speak of creation. Trying to explain this marvel, the Svetasvatara Upanishad says: “Know Maya as Prakriti and Brahman, associated with Maya, as the great Ishwara (who imparts existence and consciousness to it and guides it). It is He who creates the world.” The Aitareya Upanishad attributes creation to Brahman. “He thought, ‘Let me create the world’ and then He created the world by His own will.” The Taittiriya Upanishad says the Lord desiring to create said: “I shall be many, so I shall create” and meditated to create the world. From Brahman arose in succession the whole creation including ether, air, fire, water, earth, vegetation, food and bodies.”
According to these Upanishads, Brahman is both the material source and the instrumental cause for the unique phenomenon of creation, whereas in other processes of creation these two entities are distinct, pointed out Sri K. Srinivasan in a lecture. The work of a potter who makes objects from mud, for instance, involves the process of production through transformation. The pots require mud, an instrument, the potter’s wheel and the potter himself as the maker. When the pot is made, there is the inevitable waste mud, which is cast away and deemed as a loss. But, in the case of Brahman, nothing is lost and He remains unchanged though He brings about all the adaptations involved in creation which is subject to constant change effected by birth, growth, decay and death.
However, Brahman chooses to transform Himself and create the tangible and the intangible with the help of Maya. He is the Mayi and controls Maya in imparting the appearance of reality and consciousness to the diverse names and forms created. Both Maya and Mayi are inseparable and indefinable. It is not possible to identify Maya as different from Him. They are the cause and effect of creation even as the Lord is identified as inseparable from Maya (Maya sahita Brahman). The Vedic statement
“He who is unborn assumes varied forms when He chooses to be born (ajayamano bhahudhabi jayate)” explains how He incarnates in many forms and manifests in each and every aspect of creation.
According to these Upanishads, Brahman is both the material source and the instrumental cause for the unique phenomenon of creation, whereas in other processes of creation these two entities are distinct, pointed out Sri K. Srinivasan in a lecture. The work of a potter who makes objects from mud, for instance, involves the process of production through transformation. The pots require mud, an instrument, the potter’s wheel and the potter himself as the maker. When the pot is made, there is the inevitable waste mud, which is cast away and deemed as a loss. But, in the case of Brahman, nothing is lost and He remains unchanged though He brings about all the adaptations involved in creation which is subject to constant change effected by birth, growth, decay and death.
However, Brahman chooses to transform Himself and create the tangible and the intangible with the help of Maya. He is the Mayi and controls Maya in imparting the appearance of reality and consciousness to the diverse names and forms created. Both Maya and Mayi are inseparable and indefinable. It is not possible to identify Maya as different from Him. They are the cause and effect of creation even as the Lord is identified as inseparable from Maya (Maya sahita Brahman). The Vedic statement
“He who is unborn assumes varied forms when He chooses to be born (ajayamano bhahudhabi jayate)” explains how He incarnates in many forms and manifests in each and every aspect of creation.
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