[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Re: Questions
Pradip Gangopadhyay (pradip@lism.usc.edu) wrote:
: Hindu philosophy asserts that God has become this universe. So since God
: has no beginning and no end , the universe has no beginning and no end.
: However, sometimes the universe is manifest and sometimes latent. So you
: are right. There is no creation. God, however, periodically projects the
: universe and then takes it back.
Dear Pradipbabu:
It is true that God created the universe, but it is not correct to say
that God is the universe, that is, in theory, if one could know the
universe in its entirety, one would know God. In the Gita, God has dealt
with this subject in detail. God said that the universe is but one
fraction (ekamsha, SBG) of Him. God transcends the universe. That
means, if one could know (by both jnana and vijnana as in 9.1 in SBG) the
universe, one would know only the ekamsha of God. The universe does have
a beginning and also an end, both in space and in time. By our yardstick
of measurement, the universe seems like infinite in space and also in
time, but it is not for God. He clearly said that at certain times, He
creates and at certain other times, He dissolves the universe, and as He
does these, He returns everything disintegrated to their elements to
Mahadbrahma (SBG ch 14), that is prakriti (not nature) and again
reimpregnates prakriti to recreate the universe.
As He has said, He is present in His unexpressed form (avyaktamurti) in
the world and also in vyktamurti as the many Purushas. He also said (for
example, in SBG ch.9) that He is not one of the objects of the world, but
His omnipresence (as Purushas) is there in everything of the world.
With best regards,
Dhruba.
References:
