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THE SLEEP OF VISHNU AND BRAHMA'S WORLD EGG

If Shiva’s dance of creation provides a powerful image of the great expanse of creation in terms of macrocosm and microcosm, that is, the vast expanse of the created (or re-created) universe with its center being our own innermost selfhood, an equally powerful image of the maintenance or extent of creation over time is also available in Indic narrative mythology, namely, the narrative of the coming forth of the universe from the navel of the sleeping Vishnu. The cosmic dance of Shiva is largely the continuing dance of creation in the perpetual present, a holding together of the many polarities of everything in Shiva’s on-going dance. The cosmic sleep of Vishnu invites us to consider creation from the perspective of time, the unfolding of the past into the present and the present into the future.

As is the case for Shiva, so, too, with Vishnu and Brahma, there are numerous narratives and myths that might be considered, but for this second module of the core course, the story of creation as set forth in the opening sections of the Vishnu Purana will provide the focus for discussing Indic notions of time.

Narrative: The Cosmic Sleep of Lord Vishnu
In the cosmic night before the appearance of the manifest world, Lord Vishnu sleeps in the cosmic ocean, reclining on the serpent, Shesha (meaning "remainder"), sometimes also called, Ananta (meaning "the endless or eternal"). Vishnu holds within his body all of the elements of creation, including the creator god, Brahma. As Vishnu sleeps, a lotus plant grows out of his navel, and from a drop on one of the petals of the lotus, the creator god, Brahma, emerges. From Brahma emerges the great Cosmic Egg (Anda) which is this manifest universe, including the celestial worlds or heavens at the top, the mundane world of ordinary life in the middle, and the nether worlds or hells in the lower regions of the Cosmic Egg.

The emergent world passes through a series of on-going cycles of decline.

1. There is, first, a "well-made" or perfect "period" (known as Krita-Yuga), a period which last for 1,728,000 human years. During this Yuga everything is in proper balance and order.
2. Thereafter begins a second "period" or Yuga (known as Treta Yuga), a period which lasts for 1,296,000 years during which time the world is three-quarters "well-made" but one-quarter becoming corrupt.
3. Thereafter begins a third "period" or Yuga (known as Dvapara Yuga) which lasts for 864,000 years during which time the world is one-half "well-made" but also one-half corrupt.
4. Finally, there is a fourth "period" or Yuga (known as Kali Yuga) during which three-quarters of the world has become corrupt and only one-quarter remains "well-made."

At the end of the fourth Yuga, that is, after 4,320,000 years (adding together the four periods), there is a general dissolution of the now-corrupt world, and Brahma generates another cycle of four periods. Each of these cycles of four periods of 4,320,000 years is known as a Mahayuga or Great Period, and 1000 of these Mahayugas make up one day in the life of Brahma. There is a similar period of 1000 Mahayugas for one night in the life of Brahma. There are 360 days and nights in one year of the life of Brahma, and Brahma lives for 100 years. [Mathematically, this means 4,320,000 x 2 = 8,640,000,000 x 360 x 100 = 311,040,000,000,000 (just over 311 trillion human years!] At this point Brahma withdraws back into the lotus plant, and the plant withdraws into the navel of Lord Vishnu sleeping on the cosmic serpent. This is the period of a Great Dissolution, after which a new lotus plant grows out of the navel of Vishnu, a new Brahma appears on one of the petals of the lotus, a new Cosmic Egg manifests itself, and the process repeats itself again, and so on and on and on, endlessly....

Iconography: Reclining Vishnu

Usually depicted in sculpture, Vishnu reclining on Shesha or Ananta and the creator god, Brahma, appearing on a petal of the lotus growing out of the navel of Lord Vishnu. The Cosmic Egg is represented variously, and there is a general cosmology of heavens, the middle mundane region and the nether worlds within the cosmic receptacle that is common to Hindu, Buddhist and Jain cosmologies (with, of course, variations of one kind or another). Various texts portray the periods of Yugas with varying numbers and frequently intersperse the Yugas with what are called "Manvantara-s" or Manu Intervals which represent world-periods within world-periods, and so forth. The details are not important, so long as the basic mythical structure of the reclining or sleeping Vishnu, the lotus, the creator god, Brahma, the Cosmic Egg and the standard World Periods are kept in mind.

Interpretation
In contrast to the spatial imagery of the cosmic dance of Lord Shiva, in this creation myth, there is a striking focus on (a) the endlessly recycling periods of time--the cyclical repetition of period after period together with (b) the notion of continuing decline--that the world continuously winds down (the opposite of our modern "myth" of progress and positive development). The future is simply a recycling of the past, and the present is likewise the past showing itself again and again. Everything is present in the beginning in its fullness and perfection, but slowly over time the world continues to run down endlessly--perhaps not unlike modern notion of the second law of thermodynamics or entropy.

Here can be introduced for the first time the notions of Karma (karman) and Rebirth (samsara). What sentient beings "do", that is, their Karmic activities, determine what they become in the endlessly unfolding cycles of time. Moreover, there is a great hierarchy of living or sentient creatures, reaching from the celestials regions of the divine, through the mundane world of ordinary existence and reaching into the nether worlds of demons and hells. Because sentient beings cycle endlessly and take up different life forms due to their Karmic trajectories, all sentient creatures have lived in a variety of life-forms over countless "periods" (Yugas) of unfolding time. There is a kind of Cosmic Ecology that encompasses the entire extent of the observable and unobservable universe and that encompasses all sentience, even the life of the gods, in which we are all "bound" or entwined.

Through this endless cycling process of rebirth we have all lost touch with our original or true identities. We have become caught up in our particular Karmic trajectories and have lost sight of our true identities as Brahma, Vishnu or Shiva, or even more than that, our true identity with the attributeless Ultimate or Absolute, Brahman. Hence, our need to achieve "freedom" or "release" (Moksha) from the bondage of our ignorance and endless recycling.