Hiranyagarbha

Samkhya	Kapila;
Yoga	Patanjali;
Vaisheshika	Kanada, Prashastapada;
Secular	Valluvar;

Pahari painting of Golden cosmic egg Hiranyagarbha by Manaku, c. 1740

Hiraṇyagarbha (Sanskrit: हिरण्यगर्भः ; literally the 'golden womb', poetically translated as 'universal womb')^[1] is the source of the creation of universe or the manifested cosmos in Vedic philosophy, as well as an avatar of Vishnu in the Bhagavata Purana.^[2] It finds mention in one hymn of the Rigveda (RV 10.121), known as the Hiraṇyagarbha Sūkta, suggesting a single creator deity (verse 8: yo deveṣv ādhi devā eka āsīt, Griffith: "He is the God of gods, and none beside him."), identified in the hymn as Prajāpati. The concept of the "golden womb" is first mentioned in the Vishvakarma Sūkta (RV 10.82.5,6) which picturized the "primeval womb" as being rested set upon the navel of Vishvakarman the Supreme cosmic creator, that One wherein abide all things existing. This imagery was later transferred to Vishnu and Surya.

The Upanishad calls it the Soul of the Universe or Brahman,^[3] and elaborates that Hiraṇyagarbha floated around in emptiness and the darkness of the non-existence for about a year, and then broke into two halves which formed the Svarga and the Pṛthvi.

In classical Purāṇic Hinduism, Hiraṇyagarbha is the term used in the Vedanta for the "creator". Hiraṇyagarbha is also Brahmā, so called because it is said he was born from a golden egg (Manu Smṛti 1.9), while the Mahābhārata calls it the Manifest.^[4]

Some classical yoga traditions consider a person named Hiraṇyagarbha as the originator of yoga, though this may also be a name for Rishi Kapila.^[5]^[6]

Creation[]

Matsya Purāṇa (2.25-30) gives an account of initial creation. After Mahāprālaya, the great dissolution of the Universe, there was darkness everywhere. Everything was in a state of sleep. There was nothing, either moving or static. Then Svayambhu, self-manifested being arose, which is a form beyond senses. It created the primordial waters first and established the seed of creation into it. The seed turned into a golden womb, Hiraṇyagarbha. Then Svayambhu entered into that egg.

The Nārāyaṇa Sūkta exclaims that everything that is, visible or invisible, all this is pervaded by Nārāyaṇa within and without.

The Īśvara Upaniṣad says that the universe is pervaded by Īśvara (God), who is both within and without it. He is the moving and the unmoving, He is far and near, He is within all these and without all these.

The Vedānta Sūtra further states that Brahman is That from Whom this Universe proceeds, in Whom it subsists, and to Whom, in the end, it returns.

The Saṃkhya school holds that there are only two primary principles, Puruṣa and Prākṛti, and creation is only a manifestation or evolution of the constituents of Prākṛti due to the action of Puruṣa's Consciousness.

The Bhagavata states that Nārāyaṇa alone was in the beginning, who was the pious of principles of creation, sustenance, and dissolution (also known as the Hindu Trinity of Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Shiva) - the Supreme Hari, multi-headed, multi-eyed, multi-footed, multi-armed, multi-limbed. This was the Supreme Seed of all creation, subtler than the subtlest, greater than the greatest, larger than the largest, and more magnificent than even the best of all things, more powerful, than even the wind and all the gods, more resplendent than the Sun and the Moon, and more internal than even the mind and the intellect. He is the Creator, the Supreme. The term can also mean as He who, having become first the Creator, has come to be considered as the womb of all objects.

Hiraṇyagarbha Sūkta[]

The Hiraṇyagarbha Sūkta of the Rigveda declares that God manifested Himself in the beginning as the Creator of the Universe, encompassing all things, including everything within Himself, the collective totality, as it were, of the whole of creation, animating it as the Supreme Intelligence.

Sanskrit Verse[]

This article contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.

हिरण्यगर्भः समवर्तताग्रे भूतस्य जातः पतिरेकासीत ।
स दाधार पृथ्वीं ध्यामुतेमां कस्मै देवायहविषा विधेम ॥
hiraṇyagarbhaḥ samavartatāgre bhūtasya jātaḥ patirekāsīta |
sa dādhāra pṛthvīṃ dhyāmutemāṃ kasmai devāyahaviṣā vidhema ||

य आत्मदा बलदा यस्य विश्व उपासते प्रशिषं यस्यदेवाः ।
यस्य छायाऽमृतं यस्य मृत्युः कस्मै देवाय हविषा विधेम ॥
ya ātmadā baladā yasya viśva upāsate praśiṣaṃ yasyadevāḥ |
yasya chāyāmṛtaṃ yasya martyuḥ kasmai devāyahaviṣā vidhema ||

यः प्राणतो निमिषतो महित्वैक इद्राजा जगतो बभूव ।
य ईशे अस्य द्विपदश्चतुष्पदः कस्मै देवाय हविषाविधेम ॥
yaḥ prāṇato nimiṣato mahitvaika idrājā jagato babhūva |
ya īśe asya dvipadaścatuṣpadaḥ kasmai devāya haviṣāvidhema ||

यस्येमे हिमवन्तो महित्वा यस्य समुद्रं रसया सहाहुः ।
यस्येमाः परदिशो यस्य बाहू कस्मै देवाय हविषाविधेम ॥
yasyeme himavanto mahitvā yasya samudraṃ rasayā sahāhuḥ |
yasyemāḥ paradiśo yasya bāhū kasmai devāya haviṣāvidhema ||

येन द्यौरुग्रा पृथ्वी च दृढा येन स्वस्तभितं येननाकः ।
यो अन्तरिक्षे रजसो विमानः कस्मै देवाय हविषा विधेम ॥
yena dayaurugrā parthivī ca darḻhā yena sava satabhitaṃ yenanākaḥ |
yo antarikṣe rajaso vimānaḥ kasmai devāyahaviṣā vidhema ||

यं करन्दसी अवसा तस्तभाने अभ्यैक्षेतां मनसारेजमाने ।
यत्राधि सूर उदितो विभाति कस्मै देवायहविषा ��िधेम ॥
yaṃ karandasī avasā tastabhāne abhyaikṣetāṃ manasārejamāne |
yatrādhi sūra udito vibhāti kasmai devāyahaviṣā vidhema ||

आपो ह यद बर्हतीर्विश्वमायन गर्भं दधानाजनयन्तीरग्निम ।
ततो देवानां समवर्ततासुरेकःकस्मै देवाय हविषा विधेम ॥
āpo ha yada barhatīrviśvamāyana garbhaṃ dadhānājanayantīragnima |
tato devānāṃ samavartatāsurekaḥkasmai devāya haviṣā vidhema ||

यश्चिदापो महिना पर्यपश्यद दक्षं दधानाजनयन्तीर्यज्ञम ।
यो देवेष्वधि देव एक आसीत कस्मैदेवाय हविषा विधेम ॥
yaścidāpo mahinā paryapaśyada dakṣaṃ dadhānājanayantīryajñama |
yo deveṣvadhi deva eka āsīta kasmaidevāya haviṣā vidhema ||

मा नो हिंसीज्जनिता यः पर्थिव्या यो वा दिवंसत्यधर्मा जजान ।
यश्चापश्चन्द्रा बर्हतीर्जजानकस्मै देवाय हविषा विधेम ॥
mā no hiṃsījjanitā yaḥ parthivyā yo vā divaṃsatyadharmā jajāna |
yaścāpaścandrā barhatīrjajānakasmai devāya haviṣā vidhema ||

प्रजापते नत्वदेतान्यन्यो विश्वा जातानि परिताबभूव ।
यत्कामास्ते जुहुमस्तन्नो अस्तु वयं स्याम पतयोरयीणाम् ॥
parajāpate na tavadetānyanyo viśvā jātāni pari tābabhūva |
yatkāmāste juhumastana no astu vayaṃ sayāma patayorayīṇāma ||

Translation in English[]

In the beginning was the Divinity in his splendour, manifested as the sole Lord of land, skies, water, space and that beneath and He upheld the earth and the heavens.