Wednesday, January 6, 2010

from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

"In the beginning was the Self alone, in the form of Purusha, the mighty Person.
In previous times (purva) he burnt up (ush) all evil, thus he is called Purusha.
With this knowledge one devours all rivals.

Looking around, he saw no one else.
Then Purusha spoke, and his first words were: "I am."
Thus was I-ness born.
And even now, when a person is asked, "who is it?" he replies first "It is I," and then adds his name.

But then Purusha became frightened--as even now we become frightened when alone.
He thought to himself:
"Since there is nothing but myself, what is there to be frightened of?"
Thereupon his fears dissolved, as he realized they were groundless.
For truly, fear is born of duality.
But still he was not happy, for there is no happiness in being alone.
He wanted a companion, so he grew as large as a man and woman entwined, and then divided himself in two, creating a husband and a wife.
(For, as Yajnyavalkya used to say, this body is but half of oneself, the other half is woman.)
Thus his emptiness was filled by a woman.
They came together again, and from there union were born all people.

But then the woman thought:
"How could he join with me when he has created me from himself? I must hide."
So she took the form of a cow, but he took the form of a bull, and joined with her again.
And from their union were born all cows.

Then she took the form of a mare, but he took the form of a stallion and joined with her again.
Then [fuck this repetitive shit. they do the same thing for "ass's (seriously, that's the translation. I assume they mean donkeys. goats, sheep]

In this way he created the male and female of all creatures--even down to the ants.

Then he thought:
"Truly, I am the whole creation, for I have created everything from my own Self.:
Hence he is called Shrishi, the creator.

Whoever awakens to this become as great as Purusha in his own creation.

---

this is a little excerpt I just read from Alistair Shearer and Peter Russell's translation.

some of it's a bit weird and maybe there's a cultural context I'm missing, but I quite like it as a creation story, as it relates to me intimately. It also works with the title/theme of this blog. I kind of like the idea that God doesn't like being lonely either. And that he does like having sex, alot.
:D

-IO



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