Hiranyagarbha - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Image:Hinducosm Map1.svg|thumb|Click an area to go there. This is one of many material universes, Brahmāṇḍa, which expand from Mahā Viṣṇu when He breathes.|400px|alt=One Brahmāṇḍa, with Garbhodakaśāyī-Viṣṇu
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Brahma

Brahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all human beings are descended. In the Ramayana and the...

rect 164 241 273 268 Garbhodakaśāyī-Viṣṇu

Hiraṇyagarbha (Devanagari: हिरण्यगर्भः ; literally the 'golden womb' or 'golden egg', poetically rendered 'universal germ') is the source of the creation of the Universe or the manifested cosmos

Cosmos

In the general sense, a cosmos is an orderly or harmonious system. It originates from the Greek term κόσμος , meaning "order" or "ornament" and is antithetical to the concept of chaos. Today, the word is generally used as a synonym of the word Universe . The word cosmos originates from the same root...

in Indian philosophy

Indian philosophy

India has a rich and diverse philosophical tradition dating back to ancient times. According to Radhakrishnan, the earlier Upanisads constitute "...the earliest philosophical compositions of the world."...

, it finds mention in one hymn of the Ṛkveda

Rigveda

The Rigveda is an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns...

(RV 10.121), known as the 'Hiraṇyagarbha Sūkta' and presents an important glimpse of the emerging monism

Monism

Monism is any philosophical view which holds that there is unity in a given field of inquiry. Accordingly, some philosophers may hold that the universe is one rather than dualistic or pluralistic...

, or even monotheism

Monotheism

Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...

, in the later Vedic

Vedic

Vedic may refer to:* the Vedas, the oldest preserved Indic texts** Vedic Sanskrit, the language of these texts** Vedic period, during which these texts were produced** Vedic pantheon of gods mentioned in Vedas/vedic period...

period, along with the Nāsadīya Sūkta

Nasadiya Sukta

The Nasadiya Sukta is the 129th hymn of the 10th Mandala of the Rigveda. It is concerned with cosmology and the origin of the universe. It is known for its skepticism...

suggesting a single creator deity predating all other gods (verse 8: , Griffith: "He is the God of gods, and none beside him."), in the hymn identified as Prajāpati

Prajapati

In Hinduism, Prajapati "lord of creatures" is a Hindu deity presiding over procreation, and protector of life. He appears as a creator deity or supreme God Viswakarma Vedic deities in RV 10 and in Brahmana literature...

.

The Upaṇiṣad calls it the Soul of the Universe or Brahman

Brahman

In Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...

, and elaborates that Hiraṇyagarbha floated around in emptiness and the darkness of the non-existence for about a year, and then broke into two halves which formed the Svarga

Svarga

In Hinduism, Svarga is a set of heavenly worlds located on and above Mt. Meru. It is a heaven where the righteous live in a paradise before their next reincarnation...

and the Pṛthvi

Prithvi

Prithvi is the sanskrit name for earth and its essence Prithivi Tattwa, in the form of a mother goddess or godmother. Prithvi is also called Dhra, Dharti, Dhrithri, meaning that which holds everything. As Prithvi Devi, she is one of two wives of Lord Vishnu. His other wife is Lakshmi. Prithvi is...

.

In classical Purāṇic Hinduism, Hiraṇyagarbha is a name of Brahmā

Brahma

, so called because he was born from a golden egg (Manu Smṛti 1.9), while the Mahābhārata

Mahabharata

The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....

calls it the Manifest.

Creation

Matsya Purāṇa

Matsya Purana

Matsya Purana is the sixteenth purana of the Hindu scriptures. During the period of mahapralaya, Lord Vishnu had taken Matsya Avatar to save the seeds of all lives and Manu...

(2.25-30) gives an account of initial creation. After Mahāprālaya, the great dissolution of the Universe, there was darkness everywhere. Everything was in a state of sleep. There was nothing, either moving or static. Then Svayambhu, Self-manifested Being arose, which is a form beyond senses. It created the primordial waters first and established the seed of creation into it. The seed turned into a golden womb, Hiraṇyagarbha. Then Svayambhu entered in the egg, and it is called Vishnu

Vishnu

Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....

because of entering. Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇ

Brahmanda Purana

The Brahmanda Purana is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of eighteen Hindu religious texts and has been assigned the eighteenth place in almost all the lists of the Puranas.Brahma in Sanskrit means "the biggest", anda/andam means globe...

(1.4.25) says that it is called as Viṣṇu

Vishnu

Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....

because it pervades the whole Universe.

The Nārāyaṇa Sūkta exclaims that everything that is, visible or invisible, all this is pervaded by Nārāyaṇa

Narayana

Narayana or Narayan or Naraina is an important Sanskrit name for Vishnu, and in many contemporary vernaculars a common Indian name. Narayana is also identified as the original man, Purusha. The Puranas present divergent views on Narayana...

within and without.

The Īśvara Upaniṣad says that the universe is pervaded by Īśvara

Ishvara

Ishvara is a philosophical concept in Hinduism, meaning controller or the Supreme controller in a theistic school of thought or the Supreme Being, or as an Ishta-deva of monistic thought.-Etymology:...

(God), who is both within and without it. He is the moving and the unmoving, He is far and near, He is within all these and without all these.

The Vedānta Sūtra further states that Kṛṣṇa

Krishna

Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...

is That from Whom this Universe proceeds, in Whom it subsists, and to Whom, in the end, it returns.

The Saṃkhya

Samkhya

Samkhya, also Sankhya, Sāṃkhya, or Sāṅkhya is one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy and classical Indian philosophy. Sage Kapila is traditionally considered as the founder of the Samkhya school, although no historical verification is possible...

school holds that there are only two primary principles, Puruṣa

Purusha

In some lineages of Hinduism, Purusha is the "Self" which pervades the universe. The Vedic divinities are interpretations of the many facets of Purusha...

and Prākṛti, and creation is only a manifestation or evolution of the constituents of Prākṛti due to the action of Puruṣa

Purusha

In some lineages of Hinduism, Purusha is the "Self" which pervades the universe. The Vedic divinities are interpretations of the many facets of Purusha...

's Consciousness.

The Mahābhārata

Mahabharata

The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....

states that Nārāyaṇa

Narayana

alone was in the beginning, who was the pious of principles of creation, sustenance, and dissolution (also known as the Hindu Trinity of Brahmā

Brahma

, Viṣṇu

Vishnu

Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....

and Śiva

Shiva

Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...

) - the Supreme Hari

Hari

Hari is an Avatar, another name of and , and appears as the 650th name in the Vishnu sahasranama of Mahabharata. In Sanskrit "hari" sometimes refers to a colour, green, yellow, or fawn-coloured/khaki. It is the colour of the Sun and of Soma...

, multi-headed, multi-eyed, multi-footed, multi-armed, multi-limbed. This was the Supreme Seed of all creation, subtler than the subtlest, greater than the greatest, larger than the largest, and more magnificent than even the best of all things, more powerful, than even the wind and all the gods, more resplendent than the Sun and the Moon, and more internal than even the mind and the intellect. He is the Creator, the Father Supreme.

The Manu Smriti

Manu Smriti

' , also known as Mānava-Dharmaśāstra , is the most important and earliest metrical work of the Dharmaśāstra textual tradition of Hinduism...

says: In the beginning, all this existence was one undifferentiated, unmanifested, indefinable, unarguable and unknown in every way. From this condition arose the Universe of 'name and form' (Sanskrit: nāmarūpa

Namarupa

Nāmarūpa is a dvandva compound in Sanskrit and Pali meaning "name and form ".-Nāmarūpa in Hinduism:The term nāmarūpa is used in Hindu thought, nāma describing the spiritual or essential properties of an object or being, and rūpa the physical presence that it manifests...

), through the medium of the Self-existent Creator, Svayambhu.

Hiraṇyagarbha Sūkta

The Hiraṇyagarbha Sūkta of the Ṛkveda declares that God manifested Himself in the beginning as the Creator of the Universe, encompassing all things, including everything within Himself, the collective totality, as it were, of the whole of creation, animating it as the Supreme Intelligence.

Sanskrit Verse

हिरण्यगर्भः समवर्तताग्रे भूतस्य जातः पतिरेकासीत ।
स दाधार पृथ्वीं ध्यामुतेमां कस्मै देवायहविषा विधेम ॥
hiraṇyagarbhaḥ samavartatāgre bhūtasya jātaḥ patirekāsīta |
sa dādhāra pṛthvīṃ dhyāmutemāṃ kasmai devāyahaviṣā vidhema ||

य आत्मदा बलदा यस्य विश्व उपासते प्रशिषं यस्यदेवाः ।
यस्य छायामृतं यस्य मर्त्युः कस्मै देवायहविषा विधेम ॥
ya ātmadā baladā yasya viśva upāsate praśiṣaṃ yasyadevāḥ |
yasya chāyāmṛtaṃ yasya martyuḥ kasmai devāyahaviṣā vidhema ||

यः प्राणतो निमिषतो महित्वैक इद्राजा जगतो बभूव ।
य ईशे अस्य द्विपदश्चतुष्पदः कस्मै देवाय हविषाविधेम ॥
yaḥ prāṇato nimiṣato mahitvaika idrājā jagato babhūva |
ya īśe asya dvipadaścatuṣpadaḥ kasmai devāya haviṣāvidhema ||

यस्येमे हिमवन्तो महित्वा यस्य समुद्रं रसया सहाहुः ।
यस्येमाः परदिशो यस्य बाहू कस्मै देवाय हविषाविधेम ॥
yasyeme himavanto mahitvā yasya samudraṃ rasayā sahāhuḥ |
yasyemāḥ paradiśo yasya bāhū kasmai devāya haviṣāvidhema ||

येन दयौरुग्रा पर्थिवी च दर्ळ्हा येन सव सतभितं येननाकः ।
यो अन्तरिक्षे रजसो विमानः कस्मै देवायहविषा विधेम ॥
yena dayaurugrā parthivī ca darḻhā yena sava satabhitaṃ yenanākaḥ |
yo antarikṣe rajaso vimānaḥ kasmai devāyahaviṣā vidhema ||

यं करन्दसी अवसा तस्तभाने अभ्यैक्षेतां मनसारेजमाने ।
यत्राधि सूर उदितो विभाति कस्मै देवायहविषा विधेम ॥
yaṃ karandasī avasā tastabhāne abhyaikṣetāṃ manasārejamāne |
yatrādhi sūra udito vibhāti kasmai devāyahaviṣā vidhema ||

आपो ह यद बर्हतीर्विश्वमायन गर्भं दधानाजनयन्तीरग्निम ।
ततो देवानां समवर्ततासुरेकःकस्मै देवाय हविषा विधेम ॥
āpo ha yada barhatīrviśvamāyana garbhaṃ dadhānājanayantīragnima |
tato devānāṃ samavartatāsurekaḥkasmai devāya haviṣā vidhema ||

यश्चिदापो महिना पर्यपश्यद दक्षं दधानाजनयन्तीर्यज्ञम ।
यो देवेष्वधि देव एक आसीत कस्मैदेवाय हविषा विधेम ॥
yaścidāpo mahinā paryapaśyada dakṣaṃ dadhānājanayantīryajñama |
yo deveṣvadhi deva eka āsīta kasmaidevāya haviṣā vidhema ||

मा नो हिंसीज्जनिता यः पर्थिव्या यो वा दिवंसत्यधर्मा जजान ।
यश्चापश्चन्द्रा बर्हतीर्जजानकस्मै देवाय हविषा विधेम ॥
mā no hiṃsījjanitā yaḥ parthivyā yo vā divaṃsatyadharmā jajāna |
yaścāpaścandrā barhatīrjajānakasmai devāya haviṣā vidhema ||

परजापते न तवदेतान्यन्यो विश्वा जातानि परि ताबभूव ।
यत्कामास्ते जुहुमस्तन नो अस्तु वयं सयाम पतयोरयीणाम ॥
parajāpate na tavadetānyanyo viśvā jātāni pari tābabhūva |
yatkāmāste juhumastana no astu vayaṃ sayāma patayorayīṇāma ||

Translation

In the beginning was the Divinity in his splendour, manifested as the sole Lord of land, skies, water, space and that beneath and He upheld the earth and the heavens.

Who is the deity we shall worship with our offerings?

It is He who bestows soul-force and vigor, whose guidance all men invoke, the Devas invoke whose shadow is immortal life and death.

Who is the deity we shall worship with our offerings?

It is He who by His greatness became the One King of the breathing and the seeing, who is the Lord of man and bird and beast.

Who is the deity we shall worship with our offerings?

It is He through whose glory the snow-clad mountains rose, and the ocean spread with the river, they say. His arms are the quarters of the sky.

Who is the deity we shall worship with our offerings ?

It is He through whom the heaven is strong and the earth firm, who has steadied the light and the sky's vault, and measured out the sphere of clouds in the mid-region.

Who is the deity we shall worship with our offering?

It is He to whom heaven and earth, placed in the light by his grace, look up, radiant with the mind while over them the sun, rising, brightly shines.

Who is the deity we shall worship with our offerings?

When the mighty waters came, carrying the universal germ, producing the flame of life, then dwelt there in harmony the One Spirit of the Devas.

Who is the deity we shall worship with our offerings?

It is He who in his might surveyed the waters, conferring skill and creating worship - He, the God of gods, the One and only One.

Who is the deity we shall worship with our offerings?

Father of the world - may He not destroy us who with Truth as his Law made the heavens and produced waters, vast and beautiful.

Who is the deity we shall worship with our offerings?

Lord of creation! No one other than thee pervades all these that have come into being.

May that be ours, for which our prayers rise, may we be masters of many treasures!

-- (RV 10:121)

Creation

Hiraṇyagarbha Sūkta

Sanskrit Verse

Translation

See also