The Hindu Genesis (Origin of Life), S. K. Balasubramanian
(Genesis is the first book of the Old Testament. It describes the creation of the Universe, the solar system and the living beings in the course of six days by God. The Hindu view of Genesis is more detailed and is explained here. In a highly condensed form Hindu genesis is represented by the icon, Padmanabha. It tallies with the experimental conclusions of science. How did our ancients arrive at such startling conclusions? Was it by intuition? We are not in a position to give an answer to it.)
A few years ago, Americans sent a space craft into outer space carrying a cryptic message to intelligent beings over there. It consisted of a plaque inscribed with the figures of a man and a woman, the solar system and the Bohr -Rutherford model of the Hydrogen atom. If they had been knowledgeable about Hindu mythology, they would have included the Devanagari OM and the Padmanabha Icon. They would have been right on the target.
Hindu mythology presents quintessential science as imaginative fiction. Behind the seemingly absurd symbols lurk meanings only a twentieth century person can understand and appreciate.
OM Tat Sat, the Hindus say, meaning that OM is the reality. It is the complete description of the four dimensional Universe and the “noise” pervading it. The three limbs of the Devanagari OM stand for the curved three-dimensional space or the material part of the Universe. The crescent represents the time component of the space time continuum. It is a continuum and not a continuity because the relationship between the components is not obvious. The dot is the humming “noise” corresponding to few degrees Kelvin experimentally observed to permeate outer space. It is an energy dimension not yet understood It had been predicted as consequence of the big bang theory of the origin of the Universe but is not dependent upon the theory since it is an independent experimental observation.
Thus OM represents all the observed attributes of the manifest Universe. The three dimensions of space, the time and the humming “noise”. The Universe may be visualized as five dimensional: space-time-energy. (A recent report in the New Scientist, dated 18 December 1999, quoting Raman Sundaram, Physical Review letters Vol 83, p4690, confirms this deduction.)
“The vast Universe” says Krishna in the Gita, (XIV,3) “is my womb. I inseminate the same, whereby all Beings arise.” The Taittiriya Upanishad echoes the sentiment: The Brahman “desired ‘May I Procreate the many.’ He performed penance and created everything, every thing whatsoever . Having created them He entered them. Having entered He became” pairs of opposites. Purusha Sukta looks upon creation in more prosaic terms as a Yagna or ritual sacrifice by the Gods.
From out of the five dimensional Being came the four dimensional one or the Space -Time. This was a lower order of Reality represented by Brahma, the four headed Progenitor or the Prajapati. His four heads represent the four dimensions of Space -Time.
Vishnu is still lower in the scale. He is the tribhuvanavapusha, the celestial Being with three worlds as his body. The three worlds are the three dimensions of space or the x, y, z, axes of co-ordinate geometry. He is colored blue black combining the blueness of the terrestrial sky with the blackness of the outer space. He represents the regal authority of the Divinity with magisterial powers on earth and regulates the evolution of life on earth.
The story of Vamana Avataar is the demonstration of Vishnu’s three dimensionality contrasted to the two dimensionality of the asura regions.
Vishnu lives in the milky ocean which is the star studded milky way. He lies on the coiled five headed snake Anantha literally meaning endless. Endless are the forms of Anantha.
The coiled snake stands for the helical form of the DNA and the protein builder RNA, the two templates of life. Though the molecules have several billion repetitive units they are made up of five organic bases three of which are common to both DNA and RNA and one is exclusive to each. The five heads of Anantha stand for the five bases.
The Padmanabha icon gives the whole picture. Vishnu reclining on the bed formed by the coiled snake Anantha stands for the DNA-RNA template based Life floating in three dimensional space. The lotus rising from his navel is the umbilical connection life on earth has to the Universal reality. The Lotus stands for the three dimensional space which according to Einstein’s ideas is curved like a saddle due to gravity. The Lotus petal is the equivalent of the saddle. The Brahma on the lotus is the anthropomorphic formalization of the ultimate.
The Chaturbhuja (four armed) Vishnu with six limbs and a human form is the fusion of the two dominant forms of life on earth, the vertebrate and the invertebrate. The former are four limbed whist the latter have a multiplicity of limbs. The most common invertebrates, like the ant and the cockroach are six-limbed.
The ardhanareeswara image is the intermediate stage in evolution from the asexual
organism to the sexual bifurcation for rapid dissemination of the evolutionarily desirable mutations.
The Genesis according to the Hindus may be summed up as follows: Life originates in deep Space-Time represented anthropomorphically as the four headed Brahma and develops as the fetus Vishnu representing the three dimensional Space (supported by the DNA-RNA templates shown as the coiled snake Anantha) and the living beings therein. It evolves through the intermediacy of the bisexual Ardhanreeswara into the glorious form of Chaturbhuja Vishnu representing the fusion of the vertebrate and the invertebrate forms of life.
One critic, B. Dixit, had said the picture of creation presented above is “hilarious.” He had said the DNA structure was deduced in the early 1950s and I am comparing it with “faith” based concepts. The answer is simple. I had not drawn the Padmanabha icon. It had been there for a long time. I had just drawn attention to the similarity of Hindu icon to the conclusion of science. I see no contradiction in this.
The snake as a genetic compulsion is also found in the Jewish Bible. So in some way not understood by us the ancients had an intuitive idea. The Hindu concept predates the Jewish idea by a few millennia.
Dr. S.K. Balasubramanian completed his Ph.D. from IIS Bangalore. He went to business in Pune manufacturing fine chemicals. You can contact him at smanian@sancharnet.in.
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May 2nd, 2008 15:45
Most Hindus today do not know Scriptures, and many have also lost the sense of shame for their ignorance. This article is proof that the uneducated are coming forward to teach us.
May 22nd, 2008 06:26
I am surprised at why did you have to call it ” The Hindu Genesis”. We come from an era much before Genesis was even produced. Comparing our philosophy to Genesis is virtually degrading its importance, unintentionally as it might be.
June 8th, 2008 17:03
What is the purpose of the article? The author needs to realise that there is NO Hindu genesis nor hypothesis, thesis, synthesis, antithesis, synchronisation or parables of looking at the mythological testaments or biblical or even scriptural fantasy as you create it in your own imagination. Hilariously applauding it only serves a material of you own hallucinations and your own parameters of how you personally see things - totally irrelevant to the metamorphosis of creation, the Vedic metaphysics or the science of creation even…….Not convinced that I even understand what it is you are trying to say……in the main…With regrets I do apologise for not comprehending the article.
September 18th, 2008 14:53
Excellent decoding effort!
October 3rd, 2008 07:12
Good effort. But the whole matter can be simplified to indicate that the ocean of milk is the milky way, our galaxy.
The snake, Anantha, the un-ending, is the same as the Greek symbol which is an 8, turned 90 degrees, showing a loop, which is what infinity is.
I may have differences with your opinions, but I commend your effort, for it will initiate a discussion, throwing more light on most of the symbols which most Hindus know very little about.
November 10th, 2008 13:56
Wow, it is amazingly sad to see that the THEORY of evolution has infiltrated and is even supported by the Hindu faith. I believe that you were wonderfully and fearfully made and that you did not evolve from nothing. There is a god, but not many as you believe and His name is Yahweh. He knew you when you were in your mothers womb. I believe that you are unique in all creation and not just an animal as evolution would have you believe. One life, one death, and one ressurection of the dead to eternal life or eternal seperation from Yahweh. This is not determined by how “good” a person is because our most righteous deeds are as filthy rags to Yahweh. This is a gift to be received with thanksgiving and joy because a way has already been made and its not based on what you can do or say. Yes we must sactify our lives in such a way that has been given to us through the ancient scriptures of the bible, but it is through grace that we are saved and not by works lest any man should boast. We war not against flesh and blood, but against the powers and principalities of the spiritual realm. There is a plan for mankind, we don’t just go in cirles of life and death for nothing. One birth, one death, one ressurection. A sacrifice has already been made for you in Jesus, all you have to do is receive the gift of eternal life its that easy. Ask Jesus for His gift today and you will receive eternal life. He has gone ahead to make a place for us and wishes to lose no one. Jesus is returning in His second coming to take away the believers in these last days when the persecution of the believers begins in earnest as it has even now. Through prophecy the bible explains how these last days will come to pass. It will involve Russia, China, Iran, and others as they come against the tiny nation of Israel to wipe it off the face of the planet, but they will fail. For those of you
January 21st, 2009 19:47
wow, brilliant piece. thank you so much. I’m doing a project on Hindu paintings and this article has helped me so much I got full marks, so thanks again.
November 17th, 2009 12:19
I am now more inclined than ever to verify this for my satisfaction. I believe that the Hindu Mythology is the story of the universe, and have made it a point to verify it as much as possible.