Dialogues Of Self And Soul - 4

‘Origin of the universe’.

“Listen carefully”. The soul said.

We were sitting by the side of a beautiful pond and she was absent mindedly playing with a blue colored lotus flower with her fingers.

I was persistently asking her to tell me about the origin of the universe. She was unwilling at first, however, gave into my perseverance at last.

I slowed my breathing further to dig deeper in to Samadhi and expand my awareness. After a long moment I was ready and I told her so.

She spoke gently,

“This is going to be a bit difficult to grasp but I will try to elaborate in between”.

A slight nod from me assured her and she started to speak,

"They were seven in number — the great primordial Rishis/Seers known as 'Saptarishis'. Thousands of years ago, I heard them discussing the origin of the universe, when they were conferring inside the temple of Viraj."

She looked deep into my eyes; I held her gaze with rapt attention. She continued,

"And this is what they chanted:

In the beginning, even nothingness was not, nor existence,

There was no air then, nor the heavens beyond it.

What covered it? Where was it? In whose keeping?

Was there then cosmic water, in depths unfathomed?

Then there was neither death nor immortality

nor was there then the torch of night and day.

The One breathed windlessly and self-sustaining.

There was that One then, and there was no other.

At first there was only darkness wrapped in darkness.

All this was only unillumined water.

That One which came to be, enclosed in nothing,

Arose at last, born of the power of heat.

My dear, I heard them chanting and soon realized that they were talking about the beginning - the very beginning of the universe we know as ours! They talked about a point of time in the ever-recurring cycle of the creation and the annihilation.

_{They were describing a point of time when there was just the eternally existent, superfluid reality! There was no concept of time yet when there was this primary substance, that existence beyond conception — the primordial energy only! They talked about space so dense that no light could penetrate through its depths.}

_{And in that ocean of dark energy ‘THE ONE’ ‘THE CREATOR’ existed as an embryo exists inside the mother’s womb. And from this vacuum or nothingness came out the creation — born out of the mind of the creator.}

She looked up and I felt her eyes searching my face for a sign of comprehension.

“It is really difficult to understand,” I said honestly.

“Let me try once again!” She smiled and held my hand in her affectionately.

Like an eager child, I smiled back in anticipation.

She spoke softly,

“Imagine a place where the purest form of energy exists alone without any matter, creating an immensely powerful Zero point energy field — a singularity where the laws of physics and materialistic science simply do not work- this is Nothing!”

My eyes instantly widened in surprise.

I knew what she was talking about — Quantum mechanics!

She smiled as she comprehended the look of recognition on my face.

"They were talking about Akasha!" Her smile deepened.

"The ancients were talking about the Big Bang!"

"Yes! They said that billions of years ago, the dense fluid of Akasha - the fifth element, continued to contract on its own— then suddenly — BIG BANG, and it changed into the matter and antimatter from which this universe gets created, taking billions of years to reach its present state." She nodded her head.

“B… but, how could the ancients know that?” I stammered.

“They knew!” She smiled at last.

She spoke again and I listened in awe, a vision of seven wise men in a mysterious temple forming in my conscience.

"They chanted further:

That One which came to be, enclosed in nothing,

arose at last, born of the power of heat.

The sages who have searched their hearts with wisdom

know that which is kin to that which is no

But, after all, who knows, and who can say

Whence it all came, and how creation happened?

the gods themselves are later than creation,

so who knows truly whence it has arisen?

Whence all creation had its origin,

he, whether he fashioned it or whether he did not,

he, who surveys it all from highest heaven,

he knows — or maybe even he does not know!

They said — All perceptible matter comes from that filling what appears as vacuity to you. With the intent of the creator, this Akasha was acted upon by the life-giving ‘Prana’ — the life force or heat, creating all things and phenomena of the physical and metaphysical worlds.

But wait! That, He created this universe is a fact but how and why…may be even He does not know. Because the creator is also but a part of the unending cycle of creation!"

She paused to give me a meaningful look, then continued,

Finally the Sages declared — Who will know and who can explain when and where from it all started, since we, the Seers were not there and also all the causative forces came into existence later, when even the Gods were created after the Srishti, then who can be sure of its origin!"

She concluded.

I was spellbound by the sheer genius of the brilliant minds of the Saptarishis!

Now I knew that if thoughts equal energy and energy equals matter, than thoughts become matter and that is how the universe came into existence.

I opened my eyes eagerly but, I was all alone — as before, she was gone!

However, I knew, no matter how difficult to grasp- this was the eternal truth, as described in the 'Nasadiya Sukta'‘ - the hymn of creation’ in 'Rig Veda'; many - many thousands of years ago.

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