Summary about pralaya and creation

                                                       Summary about pralaya and creation:

So far we have seen Agatthiyar explain the events that accompany creation and dissolution.  Let us summarize some of the ideas here.  Let us see what the word pralaya means first.  Sanskrit dictionary gives the following meanings to the word pralaya: ‘loss of consciousness’, dissolution of the world, sleepiness.  Many puranas talk about the pralaya as the time when the manifested world is washed away by the great deluge.  Elaborate description of this process is found in Vishnu purana and Agni purana.  From the above description of the word we see that pralaya is not only dissolution of the world but also the loss of consciousness.  Thus, pralaya is the process of dissolution in both the macrocosm- the universe and in the microcosm- the human body.  While pralaya in the macrocosm

Let us look at pralaya and creation in the macrocosm first.  Puranas say that there are four types of pralaya.  The nitya pralaya occurs when we sleep.  The world that we perceive through our senses disappears when we sleep.  Thus, they are dissolved as far as we are concerned.  When a lifeform dies at the end of its current birth it is also a nitya pralaya as the world that is perceived through the senses is lost forever. 

Adhyanthika pralaya occurs when the distresses caused by external factors such as elements, other life forms, mental and physical stresses (aadibaudhika, aadhyatmika and aadidaivika) end.

The third pralaya is naimitthika pralaya.  It occurs at the end of a kalpa or eon when the three worlds bhu, bhuvar and suvar lokas are dissolved. 

The praakrithika pralaya occurs after the completion of the life of Brahma.  During this mahapralaya all the fourteen lokas are destroyed.  Everything abides in the state of supreme consciousness.  

Thus, the pralaya in the macrocosm occurs with respect to the external world.  The four yugas that the world goes through before pralaya are the kritha yuga, thretha yuga, dvapara yuga and kali yuga.  At the end of each chaturyuga or four eons pralaya occurs.

At the end of the pralaya the world is recreated.  This process of creation and dissolution is a continuous one.  It occurs at regular intervals.

During creation, the reverse process occurs.  From the Divine, the male and female principles separate.  From them occur the primordial sound and form, nada and bindu.  This is followed by the formation of the triple qualities of satva, rajas and tamas.  A combination of these three qualities create five senses of action, five senses of knowledge, five elements, their qualities, the modification of the mind- manas, buddhi, ahamkara and chittam.  The combinations of these, through panchikaranam, result in the manifested world. 

Thus creation and dissolution in the macrocosm occurs by dissolution and recreation of the external world.  However, this process is closely related to the microcosm.  Nitya pralaya occurs when the soul is in the wakeful state when the external world is destroyed.  The adhyanthika pralaya occurs in the dream state.  The world that is created here is through the internal senses.  This world ceases to exist when the soul wakes up.  The naimitthika pralaya occurs in the deep sleep state.  The three worlds of bhu, bhuvar and suvar represents wakeful state, wakeful-dream state, the dream-deep sleep state, the domains of borders of these states.  The soul moves through these states and reaches the deep sleep state.  The fourth state, the turiya, represents the maha pralaya, the termination of all lower states of consciousness.  This is mentioned as destruction of all the fourteen lokas.  These lokas are nothing but states of consciousness.  Beyond the turiya is the turiyatheetha.  This is the state when the soul merges with the supreme space, the state of supreme consciousness. Creation starts from this state. Thus, the four yugas represent the four states of consciousness and the different pralayas represent the termination of these different states.

In addition, all the four pralaya occur in the microcosm exclusively in the wakeful state.

The nitya pralaya occurs when the yogi goes beyond sensual distractions.  He stope perceiving the distinctions in the world and identifies them as consciousness.  Adyanthika pralaya occurs when he crosses the delusions that the  mind and its mofications- the chittam, ahamkara and buddhi, create.  He reaches a maya-free state at the end of this pralaya.  The naimitthika pralaya occurs when the triple qualities of sattva, rajas and tamas merge with each other.  The soul is now beyond the control of maya.  This may also indicate the consciousness ascending upto the navel or the manipuraka cakra.  See below the relationship between the cakras and the worlds.  The mahapralaya occurs when the consciousness reaches the sahasrara when all the distintions, the fourteen worlds or fourteen states of consciousness merge with the supreme state. 

Agatthiyar describes pralaya and creation as follows:  that the five letters namacivaya abide within each other, na merging with ma, ma with ci etc.  and that the soul watches them rising up along with the fire of kundalini, through the sushumna nadi.  We see that the five letters represents the different principles- the senses, the qualities etc.  The manifested world with its distinctions disappear at the vishuddhi cakra.  At the ajna cakra, the soul remains as pure consciousness.  The soul then merges with mani, the formless form or roopa arupa form of  the Divine.  The mani will merge with Sivam the formless state (aroopa) of the Divine.  The Sivam then merges with supreme space or paazh. This is pralaya in the microcosm. 

Na	Muladhara	Earth	Bhu	feet
Ma	Svadishtana	water	Bhuvar	stomach
Ci	Manipuraka	fire	Suvar	shoulder
Va	Anahatha	Air	Mahar	Mouth
Ya	Vishuddhi	Space	Jana	Eyes

The ajna cakra represents the tapa loka.  The soul is present here without any of the manifestations that constitute the physical world.  The sahasrara represents the satya loka, the first step of creation beyond which only the supreme space, paazh, remains.

These pralaya occur at the end of manvantara.  Man vantara means manu antara, the end of man.  Thus, manvantara represents the ending of human nature and the beginning of divine nature.  Thus, the emergence of creation after a manvantara means end of a certain state of human consciousness and emergence of a higher consciousness. 

Now creation in the microcosm: Agatthiyar says that the wheels turn in the opposite direction when creation begins.  The param enters the mani and remains there blowing its effulgence.  From the mani the yakara is born, from ya, va is born and in this order the reverse of namacivaya or the elements are formed from the space principle upto the earth element.  All these entities are created by consciousness whom Agatthiyar calls vaalai or kundalini sakti. 

These two processes, creation and dissolution occur by the will of the kundalini, the vaalai.  to Valai initiates the Siva Raja yoga or vaasi yoga.  It is the process of breath regulation intiated by the kundalini sakthi whom he calls vaalai or the young maiden.  The tripart breathing of pooraka, rechaka and kumbaka or inhalation, exhalation and retention is vasi yogam.  During inhalation the mantra vang is uttered.  During exhalation cing is uttered and these two are separated by the period of retention. 

All souls go through this process of dissolution by abiding in the sushumna nadi through which the consciousness travels.  They remain at different points depending on their state of evolution. 

Duuring creation, depending on their karma, they emerge into this world.  The power of consciousness not only creates all these entities but also pervades them.  Thus, the whole manifested world exists only because the consciousness created it.  Scriptures describe this as the process of a spider creating a web from itself and reabsorbing it all into itself when it wills so.

The process of creation and dissolution occurs everytime the yogi performs the vasi yogam.  When the consciousness is raised to the sahasrara the yogi experiences dissolution.  However, the consciousness does not go beyond the sahasrara, the point of no return.  When it descends back to its locus, the muladhara, creation occurs.

Thus, the primary process in this universe, creation and dissolution has parallels in both the external world and the internal world.  When we start examining several related concepts such as day and night, seasons, deities etc it will become yet another chapter.  Suffice to say what is in the macrocosm is in the microcosm and vice versa.