Jyothish's Notes

Creation Analogies in Vedanta

May 20, 20257 min read

Not one of this can explain the ultimate reality completely, but then we use multiple analogies together.

Also see: https://www.esamskriti.com/e/Spirituality/Vedanta/Mystery-of-Creation-~-Some-Vedantic-concepts-2.aspx?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://ocoy.org/dharma-for-christians/upanishads-for-awakening/the-taittiriya-upanishad/brahman-creation-and-us/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

From Mundaka Upanishad 1.1.7:

yathorṇanābhiḥ sṛjate gṛhṇate ca yataḥ pṛthivyām oṣadhayaḥ sambhavanti yathā sataḥ puruṣāt keśalomāni tathākṣarāt sambhavatīha viśvam

  • Spider weaving web (flaw: spiders can leave web)
  • Herbs growing on earth
  • Hair growing on humans

Also, spiders use will, while the other two don’t.

Unverified

Clay Pot analogy

Chaandogya Upanishad 6.1.4-6.1.7:

vācārambhaṇaṁ vikāro nāmadheyaṁ mṛttiketyeva satyam

All transformations are just names based upon speech; the clay alone is real.

Gold Ornaments Analogy

Brihadaaranyaka Upanishad 2.1.9:

yathā ha vai lohamayaṁ karaṇam nipuṇena kartṛṇā vibhajyamānaṁ nānā-rūpaṁ bhavati

Ornaments made from gold – they may appear different, but are all gold.

Hot Rod - Flame Analogy

Prashna Upanishd 5.5’s Shankara Bhashya:

yathāgniḥ ekadhā arciḥ…

Iron rod in fire glows like fire but is still iron – a metaphor for jīva appearing as Brahman.

Water-Waves Analogy

This is more common inAdvaita texts like Viveka Choodaamani, Drg-Drishya Viveka, Panchadashi, but its seed ideas are found in Shruthi:

Chaandogya Upanishad 7.23.1

sa eṣa neti netyātmā…

implies the formless substratum, akin to water-wave analogy)

Ṛgveda 1.164.46:

ekam sat viprā bahudhā vadanti

Dream and Waking States

Brihadaaranyaka Upanishad 4.3.9

sa yathā swapne mahārājā bhavati…”

The Self creates its own world in dream—suggesting māyā and projection

Similar to Maandookya Upanishad 3-7 (analysis of Avasthas)

Reflections

Also found in Viveka Choodaamani.

Brihadaaranyaka Upanishad 2.5.19

Also in Katha Upanishad 2.2.9

yathā dīpo nivāta-stho…

(not the same analogy, but a metaphor for the subtle Self)

Pot-Space (Ghata-Aakaasha), Total Space (Mahaa-Aakaasha)

Chaandogya Upaniṣad 8.1.1, and explicitly discussed in Brihadaaranyaka Upanishad 3.8.8–11:

Sun’s Reflection in Water

Katha Upanishad 2.2.15:

ekasmin bahudhā dṛśyate

(Same Self appears manifold)

  1. Fire and Sparks: Brihadaaranyaka 2.1.20, Mundaka

  2. Fire and Smoke: Mundaka 2.1.1 (yathā sudīptāt pāvakāt viśphuliṅgāḥ…“)

  3. Salt in Water: Chaandogya 6.13.1-3 (lohitam iva… rasa iva…)

  4. Thread and Beads: Svethaashvatara 1.4 and Gita 7.7 (mayi sarvam idaṁ protaṁ sūtre maṇi-gaṇā iva)

  5. Dream Projection: Mandukya + Mandukya Karika 2.31 (Gaudapada) (svapna-māyā-sarūpyeṇa jagat etat prasūyate)

  6. Magician’s Illusion: Svethaashvara 4.10 (māyāṁ tu prakṛtiṁ vidyān māyinaṁ tu maheśvaram…) and RV 10.90.16 (also found in Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 2.5.19 (Indro māyābhiḥ puru-rūpa īyate…)?

  7. Reflecton in Mirror: Brihadaaranyaka 2.5.19

  8. Sun’s Reflections: Katha 2.2.15

  9. Seed and Tree: Chaandogya 6.12.1-3 (etad aṇim aitad ātmyaṁ idaṁ sarvaṁ tat satyam sa ātmā…)

  10. Music and Lute: Brihadaaranyaka 2.4.11 (yathā vā araṇyoh saṁhita-yā madhye pratyastā vīṇā svanavat…)

  11. Two Birds on a Tree: Mundaka 3.1.1 / RV 1.164.20 (One bird (jīva) eats the fruit, the other (Brahman) watches — immanent and transcendent.)

  12. Sun and its Reflections Katha 2.2.15 and Bhashyas

  13. Wheel and Spokes: Svethaasvathara 1.4 (sūtraṁ maṇi-gaṇā iva)

  14. Hidden Fire in Wood (Arani): Chaandogya 6.9.1-2 (Same analogy used in Tantra)

  15. Light and Eye: Brihadaaranyaka 4.3.6

  16. Charioteer: Katha 1.3.3-9

  17. Womb of Reality: Shvethaashvatara 5.5

  18. Parts of Purusha: RV 10.90

  19. Rivers into Ocean: Chaandogya 6.10

  20. Bow and Arrow: Mundaka 2.2.4

  21. Inverted Ashwattha Tree: Katha 2.3.1 (Actually 6.1), and Geetha 15.1 (Basically, we don’t come from the soil, but the soil comes from the self and the answers are found inward.)

  22. Creatio Ex Nihilo: RV 10.129

  23. Butter in Milk (Amritabindu Upanishad)

  24. Light through Prism

From: https://www.yesvedanta.com/vedantic-analogies-for-contemplation-on-the-non-dual-reality

  1. Rope and Snake (rajju-sarpa-nyaya)
  2. Mirage and Water (mrigatrishna-nyaya)
  3. The Silver and the Nacre (shuktirajata-nyaya)
  4. Gold and Ornaments (kanakakundala-nyaya)
  5. The Wave and the Ocean (samudrataranga-nyaya)
  6. The Color in the Crystal (sphatikavarna-nyaya)
  7. The Lotus-Leaf and the Water (padmapatra-nyaya)
  8. The Air and the Scent (vatagandha-nyaya)
  9. The Spider and the Web (urnanabhi-naya)
  10. The Sun and Its Reflections (surya-bimba-nyaya)
  11. The Space and the Pot (ghatakasa-nyaya)
  12. The Wasp and the Insects (bhramara-kita-nyaya)
  13. The Burnt Cloth (dagdhapata-nyaya)
  14. The Star in the Sky (arundhati-nyaya)
  15. The Seed and the Tree (bija-vriksha-nyaya)
  16. The Stone and the Mud (ashma-loshta-nyaya)
  17. The Teeth of a Crow (Kakadanta-Nyaya)
  18. The Cakes and the Stick (Dandapupa-Nyaya)
  19. The Barber and His Son (Kshaurikaputra-Nyaya)
  20. The Worms and the Poison (Visha-Krimi-Nyaya)
  21. The Crow and the Fruit (Kakataliya-Nyaya)
  22. The Blue Sky Parable (Akashanilima-Nyaya)
  23. Ghost in the Post (stambha-nara-nyaya)
  24. Clay and the Pot (mrittika-ghata-nyaya)

Section II.

  1. The Butter in the Milk (Amrtabindu Upanishad)
  2. The Fire in Wood
  3. The Smoke and the Fire
  4. Thread and the Necklace (From BG 7.7)
  5. The Wearer and the Apparel
  6. The Chameleon
  7. The Salt and the Water
  8. Two Thorns
  9. Sword and the Philosopher’s Stone
  10. The Chandelier and the Electricity
  11. The Two Birds (Rigveda and the Mundaka Upanishad)
  12. The Woman and the Necklace
  13. The Silkworm and the Cocoon

More:

  1. Lotus without muddying: Chaandogya Up 6.2, BG 5.10

  2. Dew Drop and Ocean (Idk)

  3. Nataraja (Shiva’s Dance)

  4. Movie Projection

From Texts Directly

Aithareya Upanishad says, ‘He thought I shall indeed create the world.’

Thaitthireeya Upanishad states ‘He desired I shall become and be born. He performed Tapas. Having performed Tapas, He created all this whatsoever we perceive.’

Prashna Upanishad says Prajaapathi, having performed penance, created a pair - Rayi, matter and Prana, energy - thinking that they would together between themselves produce creatures in many forms.

Katha Upanishad says the whole Universe, evolved from the Brahman, moves or vibrates in the Prana meaning thereby that creation is a motion, a vibration of energy.

Mundaka Upanishad says from the Brahman are produced all these: the Creator, names and forms and nourishment for all.

Chaandogya Upanishad says that in truth, this many seeming world is only one Reality, in which all things seem to be born, seem to live and pass away.

Shvetaashvatara Upanishad uses a simile to explain the process of creation. Just as a ray of light, though colorless in itself, assumes different colors when it passes through a prism, the formless Brahman who is one without a second, who is undifferentiated - nirvisesha, for the reasons not known to the human mind, created diversity at all levels with the help of His own power. When the world meets its end, all these diversities merge back unto Him.

Brhad-Aranyaka Upanishad gives a detailed account of how the One, Brahman became many - all the elements and the pairs of male and female.

Maithri Upanishad tells us that the three worlds, Bhuh, Bhuvah and Svah, are the very gross forms of Prajapati.

Paingala Upanishad mentions the famous process of quintuplication - panchikarana - or splitting and mixing up of subtle elements in various proportions to make them gross substances out of which Prajapati created many Brahmandas - macrocosms and many worlds appropriate to each of them - microcosms.

Brahma Soothras which interpret and organise the Upanishads, regard Brahman as the material as well as the efficient cause of the universe, its origin and support, himself uncreated and eternal.

Bhagavad Geetha

The gist of chapters 7, 9 and 15 of the Geetha which deal with this topic is that all the physical elements of nature, including the material bodies of animate beings and their sensory and mental functions, may be grouped together forming the ever changing physical aspect of the universe. This is called Prakrti.

Behind the living is the soul that dwells within each being and animates it. Behind all again is the Supreme Being whose power holds together all the changes visible in one organic existence. He dwells within, supports and moves everything, but exists apart from all.

The Absolute is the universal soul or Purusha of which the whole Prakrti or nature is an outward manifestation. The universe moves according to what are known as the laws of nature. This code of nature is nothing but the manifestation of the Supreme will. Life proceeds as if wholly independent of God.

Bhagavan says ‘Reflect on this that as the mighty air everywhere moving is yet fixed in space, even so all beings, are dependent on me’.

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