| LAGHU YOGA-VĀSIṢṬHA | Chapter 3 | UTPATTI PRAKARAṆA |
3 UTPATTI PRAKARAṆA
The Chapter on Origin
- 1. The Story of Ākāśaja or Son of Ākāśa
- 2. The Story of Līlā or Sport
- 3. The Story of Karkaṭī
- 4. The Story of Aindhava the son of Indhu or the Moon
- 5. The Story of the Deceitful Indra
- 6. The Story of Manas (Mind)
- 7. The Story of a Bāla (Lad)
- 8. The Story of a Siddha
- 9. The Conclusion of this Prakaraṇa
From: Introduction:
In beginning with Utpatti Prakaraṇa, the author gives out a story to illustrate Parabrahm manifesting itself as Brahmā, the creator with the conception of ‘I’ through its own Saṁkalpa. Instead of giving out, as in the Purāṇas, that the creator, Brahmā, arose out of the navel of Nārāyaṇa with four hands, etc., this work states that, out of the one vast Ākāśa of Jñāna or the one Plenum of Abstract Intelligence, a Brahmin, the primeval ego called Ākāśa was born who lived for a long time when Kāla (time) wanted to get at him and bring him under his clutches, but was unable to do so through the radiant Tejas (luster) that shone about his person. Then Kāla consulted with Yama (Death) who also is the personification of Time, but in the lower or Rūpa planes and advised the former to go in quest, of any of the past Karma(n)s of the Brahmin which were found to be nil. Thereupon Yama is said to have remarked to Kāla that the Brahmin was no other than Brahmā himself; though performing Karmas, Brahmā had nothing clinging to him, as he did not perform them for any selfish purposes of his own. From this, it will be clear that, ere creation began, there was one vast space or Ākāśa with no activity in it or in the noumenal state of Parabrahm. When evolution began, three kinds or states of Ākāśa are said to have evolved, viz., Jñāna-Ākāśa, Chid-ākāśa and Bhūta-ākāśa. The last is the elemental Ākāśa compounded of the quintuplicated five elements, Ākāśa, Vāyu, etc., whereas Chidākāśa corresponds to the plane of the lower mind. Jñānākāśa corresponds to the third body or plane. The first ego of Brahmā which is differentiated into many is then, in the story of Līlā, traced in its workings in the three Ākāśa above-mentioned. The three pairs introduced therein are (i) Līlā and Padma, (2) Arundhatī and Vasiṣṭha, (3) Vidūratha and his spouse. In the story of Karkaṭī we come to the lowest stage, whether of the man or world. The intelligence or Puruṣa that pervades the physical body is described in this story. In the Upaniṣads and other books, the Puruṣa in this stage is likened to a thread or the tail-end of paddy. As stated in this work further on, the normal experience of humanity now is their being no other than the physical body, though some may, in theory, hold that they are different from the body; the second experience is the direct perception of their being like a thread-like substance in the gross body and being different from the gross one. In the third state, they rise to a direct experience of their being the universe. The Rākṣasī Karkaṭī having a voracious stomach was unable to fully gratify her appetite and hence got a boon from Brahmā to enter as a Jīva-Sūchi or living needle into all human beings, with the power of troubling those of lower desires, but becoming the slaves of those who are conquerors of them. It is this Rākṣasī that is at the bottom of all our pains and that can be made to minister to our wants, if we will only make up our minds to lord over our desires.
The story of Aindhava brings some corroborations to the occult doctrine. The author, after describing that the universe is no other than the aspect of the Brahmic intelligence, now proceeds to the enumeration of the worlds that exist. At the beginning of a creation, Brahmā is said to have asked the resplendent orb of the sun to describe its origin. The sun and its nine brother suns are said to have been born out of Indhu since according to the Hindu or occult doctrine all things merge into the moon during Pralaya the son of Kaśyapa, and to be ruling over the ten worlds created by their own Saṁkalpa as if they were Brahmās themselves. Hence arose the ten worlds out of their minds. These ten worlds may refer to either the ten solar systems or the ten worlds which are subtler and subtler than one another and existing in space. Besides the seven worlds as ordinarily known, there are said to be at first three other worlds which have arisen out of the one. Out of the one arises at first the three lokas of Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Rudra who originate and work in the seven worlds, Bhū(r), Bhuvar, etc., up to Satya. Then are introduced the stories of the wily Indra, Chitta and a lad to exemplify the illusory nature of the universe. In the story of Śāmbarika, the Siddha, the illusory nature of time is also illustrated. Thus eight stories conclude this chapter wherein is traced the initial stage of the origin of ‘I’; wherein is exemplified the fact that the universe arises out of the mere Saṁkalpa of the original creator, both the universe and Jīva, the intelligence arising as the illusory aspect of the one Substratum.
Go to: 3.1. THE STORY OF ĀKĀŚAJA, THE SON OF ĀKĀŚA
