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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:



Hari Potter or Complexities of Creation

The one thing philosophers belonging to all religions, sects and sub sects are 
agreed upon is that God created this world. There might be differences among 
them about the exact process and the nuts and bolts of Creation, but they are 
unanimous on the Lord's authorship of the world and its innumerable inhabitants.

There is also no difference of opinion that non-sentient matter as well as 
sentient beings were indeed products of God's creation. Only the atheists, 
consisting of a microscopic minority, disagree with this idea: however, since 
they disagree with most of what everyone else agrees upon, we need not take 
them seriously.



Turning to our own Sampradaya, as staunch votaries of the Shruti, we believe 
implicitly in the Lord being the Creator. The TaittirIyOpanishad says, "yatO vA 
imAni bhootAni jAyantE-------tat vijigyAsasva, tat Brahma", conclusively laying 
down that the Supreme Power is that from which all beings and objects are born. 
This is reiterated in the Mahabharata too, in the words of Sri Bhishmacharya-

"yata: sarvANi bhootAni bhavanti Adi yugAgamE". Sri Nammazhwar concurs with 
this at several places in Tiruvaimozhi-

"ondrum dEvum ulagum uyirum mattrum yAdum illa

andru nAnmukhan tannOdu dEvar ulagOdu uyir padaitthAn"



"pAmaru moovulagum padaittha PadmanAbhAvO" etc.



"Eka: tvam asi lOkasya srashtA samhAraka: tatA" says the Jitanta Stotram. 

The reason for furnishing these multiple quotes to confirm the same point is to 
emphasize the unanimity on the subject.



The Purusha Sukta, describing the process of creation, details a Cosmic yagyam 
performed for the purpose, from which was born the VirAt Purusha, from whom 
were born various categories of celestial beings. From the Lord's face were 
born DvijAs, from His powerful shoulders the princely clan and so on. From His 
mind was created the Moon, giving it its pleasant and cool nature, and from His 
eyes the Sun, the provider of life-giving light and heat. Again from the face 
was born fire and from His breath, air. The skies originated from His navel and 
the upper worlds from His head, while the Earth was born from His holy feet. 
His ears gave birth to the four principal directions and so were created the 
various worlds and their inhabitants.



The process of Creation is recounted in other contexts too in the Shruti, 
slightly differing from the one outlined above. The Puranas too devote quite a 
few pages to the subject, with minor differences in detail. Again, there is no 
dispute about who created the worlds.



If we go into the mechanics of Creation, not only of the Universe, but of any 
creation or production, we find that there are three principal requirements for 
the process-



1.The material cause- There has to be some raw material, out of which the 
proposed object is to be fashioned. This is indispensable, for things can't be 
made out of thin air. If we take the oft-repeated example of a pot, it can be 
made only out of the basic raw material of clay. Think of anything, you will 
find that there is something that goes into its manufacture, an essential 
material component.



2. The Accessories- For making anything, one needs tools. Raw materials will 
not by themselves be transformed into the desired object, unless they are 
processed with the aid of tools. In the aforesaid example of the pot, clay can 
be made into a pot only if it is shaped on the potter's wheel.



3. The Efficient Cause-The basic material and the tools of production may be 
available, but unless there is someone to make use of them in the appropriate 
manner, production would not result. Without the potter, neither the clay nor 
the tools themselves would be of any use. It is he who uses both in the 
prescribed fashion to turn raw clay into an earthen vessel, with the aid of the 
wheel.



Apart from the above, there has to be a place from which the production process 
is to be carried out, as the potter, his wheel, clay etc. require a location 
from which to operate.



Having accepted the Lord as the Creator, we are faced with a few questions, 
seemingly unanswerable, which strike at the very basis of our belief.



First and foremost, it is necessary to have tools for any sort of production or 
creation, making them indispensable aids in the process. If we accept this, 
then the question arises as to what are the Accessories that the Lord uses when 
He creates. Accepting the existence of such accessories would again raise the 
question as to who created them. If our reply is that the Lord created the 
accessories also, this would raise the query as to what were the tools used in 
the manufacture of those accessories. Such questions could hence be asked ad 
infinitum, and would be akin to the argument about which came first, the hen or 
the egg. If He used tools, then those tools had to be created with the aid of 
some more tools, which again would not have been possible without yet more 
accessories, and so on. If carried to its impossible but logical conclusion, it 
may necessitate an admission as to the existence of tools, which were not 
created by the Lord, which again would run counter to our principle of the Lord 
being the Universal Creator.



The second question is-when the Lord creates, which place does He have as His 
base for the process? Just as the potter has his shed from where he turns out 
the pots, the Lord too has to have some place from which he carries on the 
process of Creation. If we point to a particular place and ascribe the activity 
as based in that place, we would have to answer the question of who created 
that place. If our answer is that the Lord did, it would again raise the query 
as to from which base the instant place was created. Interminable questions 
could be asked in this regard, as each successive production base for the 
creative process would be subject to the same objection that it has to have a 
different place of establishment.



There are also allied questions as to why the Lord should create the world, for 
any action is invariably with a purpose in mind. None, not even a mad man, acts 
in a particular fashion, without a specific purpose-"phalam anuddisya na 
mandOpi pravartatE". Hence Creation too has to be with a definite objective in 
mind. If we accept this, then it would mean that the specific purpose the Lord 
had in mind while undertaking creation, was obviously not satisfied prior to 
Creation. Had the objective been achieved prior to Creation, there would be 
absolutely no need for Creation at all. And if there was a time (before 
Creation) when the Lord's wishes had not been satisfied, we can't really call 
Him a person with fulfilled wants ("avApta samasta kAma:"), can we?



These and other objections of the same genre are not idle ones thrown up just 
for debate, but were issues bandied about by a minority school of thought, who 
would not accept the Lord's authorship of the world. This is evident from Sri 
KoorattAzhwan's couplet in Sri Vaikuntastavam-



"Kim sAdhana: kva nivasan kim upAdadAna:kasmai phalAya srijati Isa:idam samastam

ityAdi anishtita kutarkam atarkayanta: tvat vaibhavam Shruti vidO vidu: 
apratarkyam"



Sri Koorattazhwan terms all the aforesaid questions as "kutarkam" or illogical 
arguments against the Lord's Creatorship of the world.



If these are questions regarding Creation, there are others too about the 
Lord's role in Destruction, the Cosmic Deluge. This time, it is no cantankerous 
adversary who raises the matter, but an Azhwar. Sri Poigai Azhwar, referring to 
Emperuman's endearing form, that of an infant lying on a banyan leaf amidst the 
raging waters of the Cosmic Deluge, with all the worlds and beings safe in His 
small tummy-the Vatapatra SAyee. He asks the Lord, with the liberty of those 
who are close, where the banyan leaf came from, when the entire universe was in 
the throes of destruction. Where could the parent tree have been rooted, for 
there was absolutely no land left, having been inundated by the swirling waters 
of the praLayam. Azhwar wonders sarcastically whether the strange tree (which 
gave birth to the leaf on which the Lord reclined) had its roots in the waters 
or in the sky. Azhwar seeks a categorical reply from the Lord as to the origins 
of this weird ad wonderful tree, which had not a place to put out its roots, 
yet was able to beget the leaf, which could accommodate the Lord Himself. Here 
is the beautiful pasuram, for which the Lord apparently no reply-



"BAlan tanadu uruvAi Ezhulagu uNdu-Alilaiyin

mEl andru nee vaLarnda mey enbar-Al andru

vElai neer uLladO viNnadO maNNadO

sOlai soozh kundru edutthAi sollu"



Imagine the scene-all the Universe, with its innumerable inhabitants, has been 
overrun by the swirling waters. There is a great emptiness, relieved only by 
the deluge, in which all the oceans have combined to inundate all available 
land. The sole remnant of the destructive deluge is the Lord Himself, who has 
swallowed all the sentient and non-sentient beings and stored them in His tiny 
tummy for safekeeping, till the occasion arises for the next Creative process. 
His form, however, is that of a bewitching infant, apparently in hunger and 
chewing the toe of His foot, holding it still in His right hand. And amidst all 
the deluge and the raging waters, He reclines on a small banyan leaf, hardly 
enough to provide full cover to His little back. Amidst the chaotic inundation, 
this wonderful leaf and its worthy occupant alone remain stable and steady, 
unaffected by the terrifying torrents. It is this scene that makes the Azhwar 
wonder where the leaf could have come from and how it was able to accommodate 
the great and glorious Lord Himself.



These and other such questions about the Lord's doings are answered by Sri 
KoorattAzhwan in the latter half of the sloka cited above-" tvat vaibhavam 
Shruti vidO vidu: apratarkyam". Those who have mastered the Vedas know that the 
Lord's capabilities are beyond debate, He being verily the omnipotent Supreme 
Being, having the wherewithal to make anything happen, however strange and 
impossible it may sound for others. His capacity for extraordinary feats is 
indeed inexhaustible and it is futile to question Him on how or why He does 
certain things and not others.



Lest this be regarded as a facile explanation for the inconvenient questions 
posed above, Sri Koorattazhwan cites the impartial and eternal Shruti as the 
expert witness in this regard, for proving the Lord's competence for making the 
impossible happen ("aghatita ghatanA sAmartyam").



The Upanishad pays glorious tribute to the Lord's capabilities, by putting them 
on a lofty pedestal, beyond human ken, and attesting to their varied and 
imponderable character-"ParAsya shakti: vividhaiva shrooyatE"



We, who have not even a trillionth portion of the Lord's capacity, in all its 
myriad manifestations, are hardly qualified to comment on what He can or cannot 
do. Nothing is impossible for Him, for His Shakti is such. If we are able to 
accept, albeit with a pinch of salt, the daring and hardly-credible exploits of 
Supermen in films and comics, we should have no difficulty in admitting the 
powers extraordinaire of the omnipotent Lord for creating without aids or 
accessories, for carrying out the Creative function without an apparent base, 
for undertaking the function of destruction lying on a little leaf emanating 
apparently from nowhere. For, after all, He is the Parabrahmam who is able to 
see without eyes, hear without ears and run without legs, capable of achieving 
any objective instantaneously, through the single thought that it be so.



Swami Desikan too deals with the matter and arrives at the same conclusion in 
his own inimitable way, in Achyuta Satakam-



"Purusha pradhAna sharIra: bhuvanAnAm bhavasi Achyuta! UpAdAnam

nija sankalpa sanAtha: vahasi nimittatvam api adhbhuta shakti:"



Addressing Sri Devanatha of Tiruvaheendrapuram, Swami Desikan wonders at His 
astonishing powers for putting through amazing acts, beyond even the 
contemplation of the most exalted of deities, powers which have been neither 
heard of or witnessed earlier-:adhbuta shakti:". It is this Shakti, which 
enables Him to create the various worlds with Himself as both the material and 
efficient cause. Having accommodated all matter and beings in a sublime form in 
His capacious stomach, He uses the same as the material cause for bringing 
forth Creation as and when occasion arises. It is His divine Will, Sankalpam, 
to transform Himself from a Supreme Being with sentient and non-sentient matter 
forming an inseparable part of Himself, into the Universal Ruler with a full 
complement of adoring acolytes, manifesting themselves into a gross form 
compared to their earlier subtle one. When He wills to become many ("bahu:syAm 
prajAyEyEti"), He creates the innumerable varieties of beings and objects, all 
forming His own sharIram.



It is this wonderful character of the Lord that makes Him tower head and 
shoulders above deities who are after all His own creation and make the latter 
appear to be mere pygmies in comparison. And it is this amazing ability of the 
Lord to enact the apparently impossible, that also endows us with the faith 
that there is some one who can pardon even our gross, grievous and countless 
sins accumulated over one sinful birth after another. Otherwise, we feel 
convinced that it is impossible for anyone to take anything but a serious view 
of our innumerable indiscretions. As "aparAdha ChakravarttIs" specialising in 
transgressions, we are relieved that it is indeed possible for the Lord, with 
His powers extraordinaire, to forgive us, notwithstanding our unforgivable 
offences, if only we adopt the simple but effective strategy of Prapatti.



Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana 
Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

Dasan, sadagopan











[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





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