AITAREYA UPANISHAD : 5. - Rishi Maheedasa Aitareya.

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Sunday, April 24, 2022. 18:00.

3 Parts, 6 Chapters, 33 No. Mantras - “By a Peasant for the Peasant”

Introduction : PART - 1 : Chapter One : THE THEORY OF CREATION.

PART 1: Chapter 1, 4 Mantras - The Creation of the Worlds

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Mantram - 1.3: Hiranyagarbha, the Chief Devata

8 Sa eekshata ime nu lokaah;

9 lokapaalaan nu srijai iti; 

10 Sah adbhya sam-uddritya eva  purusham amurchhayat.

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Translation :

8 Sa eekshata  ime nu lokaah; = He (Brahman) reflected :  “Here now are the worlds, (just created).

9 lokapaalaan nu srijai iti;  = Let Me now create Protectors for these worlds.”

10 Sah adbhya sam-uddritya eva  purusham amurchhayat. = Then He took up a lump of the Waters  and gave it a human form (Hiranyagarbha).

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Commentary :

8-9 Lokapaalaan : “protectors of the worlds”. 

When the worlds were created, nothing was in them. There were no living beings. So the next intention that crossed the Supreme Being was to place the Devatas or deities who would protect these worlds. These would become the Guardian Angels of the universe.

10 Adbhyah : “Water” 

-is symbolically used to represent the liquidity which held all the potential material together; it was the causal substance from which the rest of creation was made. This liquid material is a vast mass of consciousness resembling an ocean. It is full of the potential for sentiency, vitality, power, creativity, etc. Brahman took out (SamUddritya) a ‘handful’ of this Water of Life. A handful indicates that it is from only a small  part of Him that creation was made. The bulk of Him remained unmanifest. This is to lead us to the knowledge that He, the Lord, is Infinite and has no ‘parts’.

Amurchhayat: 

Then He “gave it a shape” that resembled a Purusha, human form.

Note that the Deities do not have a gross form. Their bodies are made of Consciousness or

Light. To depict this, Deities are painted in a blue colour, representing Consciousness.

The first Deity Form conceived represents Hiranyagarbha, which is Consciousness in

association with the subtle creation. What is being described here is the creation of

Hiranyagarbha Himself, the Chief Deity of the whole subtle manifestation.

Other Deities fall under Hiranyagarbha, and their creation follows in the next verse.

The Deities are subtle beings, and it is interesting that they all have been given human

forms. The gross creation has not yet begun.

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Next - Mantram 1.4 : The Eight Chief Devatas are Created

To be continued ....

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