In the previous episode, we had witnessed how Bhagawan is the one and only creator of the entire world, including various aspects of nature, living beings, etc. We’ve seen an important explanation as to how the creator has to have the knowledge of creation and how Bhagawan Vishnu encompasses all knowledge and will-power to create and keep re-creating the world over and over again. Thus, Sage Paraashara explains to Sage Maithreya that all of us are being created only by the Brahman, which is ultimately Bhagawan Vishnu and when all of us get destroyed, we again go back into the Brahman.
Interestingly, when we talk about “destruction” of creation, in fact, there is nothing called “destruction” in this world. If we look at it carefully, everything in this world has numerous “states” of existence. For instance, if there is a mud pot, since it is composed entirely of mud, the mud pot is one “state of existence” of mud itself. In other words, we can say that the mud exists in the form of the pot. Similarly, mud has a lot of minerals in it, isn’t it? This is what we process with a lot of chemical apparatus, etc. and extract various metals like gold, iron, aluminium, copper, etc. Ultimately, the reality is that, all whatever we use in our daily lives, are all composite states of sand or mud. Thus, if for instance the mud pot gets broken down, rather than saying that the mud pot is destroyed, we can say that the mud has moved from one state of existence to the other, isn’t it? What was there in the form of an earthen pot, has transformed into a state of powdered mud. Similarly, if we take the example of diamond, it is nothing but carbon existing in a different form. If we burn the diamond stone, what happens? It reduces to ashes, isn’t it? Thus, we can say that the carbon, which was once existing in the form of a diamond stone, has transformed itself into another form of “ashes”. Similarly, many of us have this practice – If we have some gold ornaments at home, after many years of existence, what do we do? If for instance, we have a golden ring, and the ring doesn’t suit our finger anymore, do we throw away the gold ring in the dustbin? Instead, we take it to the goldsmith, and he melts the gold ring into gold, re-creates the gold into another ornament like a necklace or a chain, isn’t it? Thus, we see here that this gold ring, (one state of existence of gold as a metal) gets transformed into a necklace or a chain (Other forms of existence).
Thus, the point here is that, if we talk about “destruction”, it is nothing but “transformation of the item from one state to the other”. This applies to living beings as well, isn’t it? When we’re born in this world, we’re born with a physical body (Shareera) within which, the “Atman” is embedded. We’ve already seen multiple times that the “Atman” is permanent and the “Shareera” is temporary in nature. Thus, at the end of this birth, our Atman gets “transferred” into another “Shareera” or, if our Karma accounts are zero, our Atman transcends to “Moksha” and never comes back to this world. Thus, we can see here that the “Atman” has different states, but it never gets destroyed. Even if we say that our physical body gets “destroyed”, is it real destruction? No! Our physical body, when it is alive, is in one form and shape. However, as the physical body is dead, it decomposes into another state called “Sand” or “Mud”, isn’t it? Or, if we burn the body, it becomes ashes, which is another form of existence merely. Thus, the concept of “destruction” means that one item gets transformed into another form, and it never gets destroyed altogether. This is what we’ve to understand here.
Thus, from all of this, we can understand that there is nothing called “ultimate” destruction in this world. It is just that, the world passes through various stages of existence and whatever we see today, might “change” into a different form tomorrow. Thus, Bhagawan’s major role to play here is that, as He creates the world, everything assumes a physical form of existence, and as Bhagawan “destroys” the entire thing, all of it merges into Bhagawan’s divine form once again, only to be recreated in a different form again! Thus, this cycle keeps continuing and this is what we’ve to understand.
So for today, let us understand this important point that this entire process of “creation” and “destruction” are part of a huge cycle. What gets created today, gets destroyed tomorrow, and the same “destroyed” items would be recreated in some other form the next day! We shall continue this important and interesting discussion again in the next episode and take it forward from there! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 