bowerbird cyberlibrary -- bhagap036.html

p035 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p036w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p037
----- bhagap036.html

back to our home, the bosom of Isvara, from which we all came. We
have now to undo our sense of separateness. The five forms of
Avidya are therefore called miseries (klesha) by Patanjali and he lays
down rules for getting rid of them.

After invoking Avidya, Brahma created the Kumaras, who
were the most spiritual of the beings to be created. They were
so spiritual, that they could not take any part in the work of
creation. They had to bide their time, till there was spiritual ascent
in the Universe.

The Rudras, called the Blue-Red Kumaras, come next. Though
highly spiritual themselves they did not object to take part in the
work of creation. But as real factors in the work of dissolution,
they were entirely out of place in the work of creation. We owe our
idea of separateness or individuality to the Rudras. In the scale
of universal life the agencies of dissolution carve out individual lives
and their mission ends there.

The ten Rishis form the next Creation. Further descent of
life in the Universe brought forth ten distinct types of Intelligence.
We shall consider these types later on. Then comes the story
of Brahma's incest. Brahma could not directly take part in the
Creation. His task was simply to bring back the former state of
things through a graduated series of intermediaries. First appeared
those that had to hold cosmic positions of responsibility, some
throughout the Kalpa and others throughout the Manvantara. With
the powers invoked, the temptation to evolve an independent Creation
with the help of Vach, the potency of Mantras had to be got over.
This done, Brahma thought of the Monads of the previous Kalpa, and
the first Manu appeared with his wife Sata-riipA or Hundred-formed.
All forms of Creation existed in Idea before further manifestation,
and Sata-rupa was the collective aspect of all such Ideas.

THE FIRST OR THE SVAYAMBHUVA MANVANTARA.

VI. BHUR AND VARAHA,

SKANDHA III., CHAP. 13.

Said Manu to Brahma " I shall do thy behests, O Lord. But
tell me where my Praja (progeny) and myself are to be located. The
Bhur of the previous Kalpa where all beings found shelter is lost in
the great ocean of Pralaya. Bestir thyself and raise it up, O Deva."

Brahma thought within Himself what was to be done, when lo!
out from His nostril came a Boar, no bigger than a thumb. In a

[[36]]

p035 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p036w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p037