universe in the Vedic metaphysics is part of Brahamand and covers sub atomic particles to mightiest system of stars, planets and galaxies.

Vedic Prakriti

The gross universe in the Vedic metaphysics is part of  Brahamand and covers sub atomic particles to mightiest system of stars, planets and galaxies. It has various types of matter, radiation, gunas (primordial matter) with the characteris­tics of purity, activity and passivity. These gunas are subtle in their nature. The universe also includes all kind of animate and inanimate life. The properties of matter with the five maha bhuta (main elements) which include water, air, ether, fire and earth and a large number of bhuta (elements) with three gunas of sattavic, rajasic and tamasic, are the same to the earth as well as in other planets and stars. The three gunas in different proportions are the cause of certain fixed properties in each element and five main elements. Prakrti is that living power through which all the material things are begotten. Vedas refer to it as Mahatava (the great subtle element or primordial matter of three gunas) that can create other five mahabhuta and a large number of gross elements.

Rig-Veda 3-55-14 describes Nature as Mother Prakrti and Yajur Veda 18-30 describes Earth as adorable immortal mother. Earth in the Vedas is Prithvi devi and it is widespread, very kind and gracious mother. She is soft as wool and is like a milch cow which does not kick (R.V.5-44-11, 2-44-11, 10-5-7 and 10-18- 10). Prakrti has invisible and subtle form and her gross form is the visible universe. Both visible gross Universe and invisible subtle Nature are His Grandeur.

Prakrti is also mentioned as Matar -the material cause, which is the mother of the world at the primeval state that came in contact with Pitar -the ineffable and formless God. Vedic cosmos is the jumble of physical and non-physical forces fash­ioned by the eternal law (Ritane) (A.V XI-1-23). The various hymns of Atharva Veda refer to Prakrti as Aditi and God as Adit. Prakrti like a woman desiring progeny churn this fiery element created by Pitar (Father in Heaven), further creates the worldly objects with Jivas (animate life containing the spirit of God). Rig Veda 4-20-6 mentions that Prakrti is mighty, benevolent and virtuous and all women should have complete knowledge of Prakrti (A.V.XI-1- 23). She has primordial matter spread like the light of the Sun, which goes round the earth and ether (R.V 5-42-2). From the subtle divine Nature emerge atoms, sub atomic particles, waves, wavicles and all these form gross matter. Also, from Prakrti emerge subtlest of the subtle particles containing the spirit of God that comes to all animate and inanimate life unlike Atma (soul), which is directly provided by Parmatma- the supreme Soul. Once from subtle Prakrti, the gross universe emerges and the earth is formed, Prithvi becomes the formative womb of matter in which all manifested things are generated. It then becomes the cosmic energy and working of God behind which the divine Reality is hidden and makes the earth as truthful, vivid, transparent and provides patience and persever­ance. Thus like Prakrti, earth is also a mother substance. In the Vedas Prakrti is described as Aditi (infinite), Devaki (mother of 33 devas- forces of Nature) and Daivi (divine). She is the supreme Mother and the Earth (Prithvi) is the benign mother.

Rig-Veda 1-164-15 describes Prakrti as Mahatatva. This subtle main element is the cause of formation of gross mahabhuta and bhuta.  Five main elements (mahabhua) include water, earth, air, fire and ether. Bhuta are the other large number of elements, which undergo change into different forms like alloys.  The Mahatava remains the same as it does not undergo any change and it is the sum total of subtle primordial matter in the form of three gunas of purity, activity and stupor. The divine Prakrti is created by the unmoved mover who Himself is immutable but can create various mutations in the objects made by Him and remains all pervasive in those objects being omnipo­tent and omnipresent.

The creative force of Prakrti is thus the spirit of God, which is present in all animate and inanimate life/things and follow the eternal laws or Vedic Rta ordained by the Supreme Ordainer (R.V 1-22-1). In view of His Spirit being present everywhere, not a single object even amongst inanimate things is inert. All elements, atoms, particles, waves, quarks have life in them. Since Prakrti is a perpetual source of energy, many metaphys­icists and even major religions of the world have no difficulty or any major problem in not believing in God. They consider Prakrti as adequate cause for the creation of the world and the entire universe. In India alone, Mahavira, Buddha, Kapila rsi of Sankhya Darshana and others did not feel the need to know or believe in God. They explained the cosmic creation, laws of social and moral order, ideal human conduct, social behaviour etc., without invoking God but could not avoid the role of Prakrti in their metaphysics. Prakrti it self provides a Book of Nature and gives guidance and education to all animate life as a supreme Mother and perfect preceptor.

Thus clearly two views emerge from the Vedas regarding Prakrti. One view is that God is the Creator while remaining as Unmoved Mover and the other Prakrti is the adequate cause of creation of the gross Universe. According to Ramanajum - a qualified monist of great eminence, Prakrti is Sri Devi and consort of divine Reality and is co-eternal. She is ever united with Him and is the supreme mother for all animate and inanimate life in the universe. She being a woman (symbolically) desiring progeny while creating this universe extends the accessibility to all including worthy and unworthy men. For all human beings mother Prakrti is the Shakti - divine power and energy. This concept of Shakti is very much similar to the religious philosophy of Shivaites. For them lord Shiva is the supreme God and her consort Parvati is Shakti. Thus, Sri Devi of Ramanajum is the same as Parvati of Shivaites.

Parvati amongst Hindus is known by many names - Durga, Kamakhya, Kali devi, Vaishno devi and a few other names which mostly indicate her cosmic power and energy to destroy and elimi­nate evil and evil minded persons. However, as Kamakhya she is the Creator. For the monists she is coeval with Him. For the qualified monists and dualists including Shivaites, Prakrti is both coeval and co-eternal. Ramanajum found Prakrti as Jada i.e., insentient category unlike God, so it cannot exist without Him. A Pure dualist Kapila Rsi considered Prakrti as independent and eternal. Advait Vedantists also considered as pure monists, found Prakrti and the gross universe as Maya-phantasmagoria and only a shadow of God, which looks real in the stage of ignorance and illusory when the true knowledge is obtained.

Largely the Vedic metaphysics bring out that the supreme lord Brahma, real self of individual (jiva atma), pure non materi­al stuff (shuddha sattva) which is beyond three gunas, Kala (Time), Dis (space) are all beyond Prakrti. According to Bhagavad Gita Prakrti is regarded as the ground through which all causes, effects and their agents are determined. She is the funda­mental principle of all-dynamic operations, motivations and ac­tions (B.G.12-20). Owing to vehement effect of gunas, particularly Rajasic and Tamasic, the subtle Prakrti and gross universe are the abode of sorrow and transitory by their nature and not our perma­nent habitat (B.G.8-15). While God and immortal souls are Chit, Prakrti and Universe owing to gunas is Achit. Chit in the Vedas is consciousness, God is supreme consciousness and human souls have different degree of consciousness owing to the effect of past and present Karma (good or bad actions). Achit is lack of consciousness.

        

Bhagavad Gita refers to lower and higher Nature of God. Prakrti with her five Mahabhuta - earth, air, fire, ether and water along with mind, reason and ego is the lower nature (insen­tient) of God, who is an Intelligent Being and keeps harmony in non-intelligent and insentient Prakrti. Since gunas consisting of subtle substance in the form of particles and being non-intelligent, when form Prakrti by their combination in different proportions, make her also non-intelligent. Only God is Sentient Being; He sustains the entire Nature and Universe. This is His higher nature in the form of Jiva Bhutani, which is the life principle of Prakrti. In view of the higher and lower nature of God, Bhagavad Gita brings out that Prakrti is the creation of God and in Him; it is dissolved (B.G.7-6). Like cluster of yarn beads formed by knots on a thread, all this is threaded to Him (B.G.7-7 and R.V.10-129 and 130 suktam). Thus both Vedas and Bhagavad Gita tell us that Prakrti, gross universe, all animate and inanimate life/things live in God and God lives in them- may be it is water, ether, brilliance in fire, sun, moon, sacred syllable OM, pure odour, life in all beings as austerity in ascetics. Those who understand Vedic metaphysics find no difficulty in under­standing and appreciating the eternal link between God and Prakrti and God as eternal seed of beings. Bhagavad Gita (9- 10) further says, being an Unmoved Mover, He acts only as Supervi­sor and under His Supervision Prakrti brings forth the whole creation. It is due to this divine cause the whole Samsara (uni­verse) is revolving.

Prakrti is non-violent, but strong. The various activi­ties in the divine Nature are performed without much struggle, peacefully, non-violently and smoothly which are certain­ly not the weakness but the strength of Prakrti. It is non-vio­lence of the strong. Gandhiji's metaphysical concept of non-violence of the strong largely resembles the similar principle of Prakrti. The magical effect of Gandhiji's practical application of non violence of the strong in achieving independence of India peacefully in spite of provocation through the revolutionary leaders both in India and Britain is the greatest experiment in the history of the world. This principle can be observed in the functioning of Prakrti through her gross form the universe and the world. Water containing the hidden energy in the form of electricity passes through hills, rocks, deserts, etc., peacefully and non-violently without many struggles. It goes on finding its path in all kinds of terrain before merging gracefully in the sea or ocean. According to Vedas only timid, ignorant and weak persons show their might on various occasions involving petty issues as violence of the weak. The fifth non-divine class of the Vedas viz. avarnas, vritras, bribe takers and givers, Mafia etc., has the inherent weakness and timidity as their main characteristics. It is for this reason their all activities and actions tend to get violent. Their worship of God is only for ostentation as the inner divine world is almost dead for them.Prakrti, universe and the world are for exploitation for their material and vested inter­ests.

               

In Prakrti all types of life has the spirit of God through Mahabhuta (five main elements) but not all have five predominant senses. Various bhuta (elements) like gold, silver, iron, etc., have the spirit of God as Shuniya (void), in the subtle form which provides constant and permanent qualities and properties to all elements any where in the world, universe, stars, planets, galaxies etc. No elements have any predominant sense of smell, touch, sight, hearing, etc. However, these elements (bhuta) have some visible or non-visible trace of air, ether, fire, water and earth. Since these elements are bereft of senses, many scientists and individuals tend to consider matter as inert, insentient or jada. This conclusion is entirely based on the lack of knowledge about the presence of God's spirit in these elements. The most surprising aspect amongst Hindus particularly that in all their prayers they refer to God as all pervasive and present in kan kan (sub-atomic particles) but the same prayer when applied into practice, all elements, even plants, wood are considered as inert. In the absence of Vedic knowledge the doubts about God's omnipresence in all atoms, parti­cles continue to exist.

In the Vedas when one predominant sense is found in any object it is considered as part of animate life. Trees, plants have one predominant sense of touch and virtually nil or negligible dominant sense of taste, hearing, smelling or seeing. Germs, bacteria, parasites etc., start developing two predom­inant senses of touch and seeing and can thrive on any kind of food in the absence of sense of taste and smelling. Ants, termites develop the third predominant sense of smell along with touch and sight. This evolution continues and five senses finally become predominant in animals, birds, fishes as well as human beings. It is for this reason that many philosophers consider human beings as animals and qualify their statements by describing man as a social animal, economic man, divine animal, etc. This gives a clue that human beings have an other predominant sense, which is very subtle in nature. The Vedic metaphysics refer to it as sixth subtle sense provided by the immortal soul (atman). Thus, human being is the only divine animal, provided he/she acts under the divine and benevo­lent guidance of the soul, which is the real "self" of the indi­viduals. In the absence of the knowledge of his/her real self, a man considers only his body as real self. He then tends to behave even worse than animals, mainly because the animals at least follow the laws of Nature by knowing these through the Book of Nature, but such a person considering his body as real self is likely to ignore laws of Nature or Vedic Rta. Vedas clearly bring out that avarnas, vritras, bribe takers, evil minded people who live on body consciousness tend to behave hypocritically with vested interest and feel pride in their false ego and status, fall in this categories of animals with five predominant senses.

Both Vedas and Bhagavad Gita mention about two Purusa in human beings. Prakrti Purusa in the form of spirit of God which provides energy in the gross body and the extended real "self" or higher Purusa which provides divine knowledge and guides human beings towards good, beauty and virtue. Individuals who are satisfied with material knowledge and add spiritual knowledge as an appendix to their intellectual knowledge normally consider soul and spirit as one and are keen to worship, meditate and pray to God only by ignoring Prakrti and its vital role in their conduct, behaviour and attitude towards others. Upanishads are emphatic in this regard that such persons even though they meditate, pray and worship get into greater darkness and their worship is more for ostentation, show and social recognition and their meditation is a temporary sleep.

          

The gross universe, which is manifestation of Prakrti, is both organic and inorganic having animate and inanimate life. The number of predominant senses (indiriyan) makes things organic and inorganic. Inor­ganic things with nil predominant sense would also have five main gross elements. Teja (fire), tapah (water) and kshiti (earth) are visible, vayu (air) is perceivable and akash (ether) is subtle cum gross with tanmatras. In the Vedas, tanmatras are extremely fine sub atomic particles, bordering subtle state. Thus basic three gross elements in organic matter are teja, tapah and kshiti and the other two are alloys, which help making in a large number of other alloys through tanmatras with gross and subtle characteris­tics. Even three visible gross and main elements (mahabhutas) have their subtle state known as kshiti /Prithvi matra, Agni or teja matra and apah /tapah matra. The subtle matras in all elements form gunas and have characteristics of purity, activity and pas­sivity. Since human beings gross bodies contain billions of tanma­tras, living cells and subtle gunas, they make the human body to work all the 24 hours i.e., day and night including in three states of being awake, sleeping and dreaming, through actions, thoughts, de­sires, ego and intellect. Vedas therefore, advise keep these inner instruments - manas (inward looking mind), will, ego, intellect always neat and pure along with the gross body.

These human actions, thoughts and desires further create subtler particles that go on making the immortal soul heavier.. Even amongst three gunas, Tamasic guna of passivity, stupor, idleness and dull­ness make the soul heaviest. Rajasic guna of activity, material desires, blind pursuit of matter and money make the soul relative­ly less heavy, but not light enough to make it move upwards to attain Moksha - eternal bliss. Sattavic gunas of purity, love, truth, transparency are the lightest which can make the soul to move upwards and towards other six communities of men includ­ing angels, devas, pitries, gandharvas etc. However, shuddha sattva and shuiya sattava that are beyond gunas, make the soul free from subtle three gunas and effect of Karma. Six schools of Indian philosophy based on Vedas describe this stage differently. For self-realisation Sankracha­rya has used the term Turiya and Patanjali as Kaivalya in his Yog Shastra. Only after reaching the stage of self-realization, one can attain moksha, when further rebirths as human beings are avoided. Those who do not reach the stage of turiya or self- realisation, their souls continue to get rebirth on this earth in gross bodies. Such souls are manifested souls or jiva atma and these are again affected by karmas of good or bad deeds. It is for this reason Hindu scriptures describe the earth as Karma Bhoomi, where a person desires, he wills and what ever he wills; he acts and thus becomes his own greatest friend or enemy. When senses, sense organs, mind and intellect are in harmony with the divine manifested soul, a person becomes his own friend. In the case of total discord in these, material, spiritual and divine instruments of the body, a person becomes his own enemy.

        

Vedas consider that matter is perpetually alive and striving to attain its particular perfect form owing to all pervasive spirit present in it. Greek philosophers independently found these characteristics. Plato found in his theory of Forms and ideas and Aristotle in the metaphysical concept of Entelechy and nous (mind) making all animate and inanimate things to move towards perfection - a quality that entelchy possesses. His concept of entelchy is more like divine spirit of Vedas. Acorn is matter, which contains the Form of Oak tree, and it strives towards it owing to the presence of entelechy. This term is from three words echo (having), telos (its purpose) and entos (within). Matter and Form with entelchia make things move towards perfection in the Nature, to their highest utility - tree, shape and organs - all these are His internal Designs created through His spirit. To Aristotle matter is eternal but cause of its movement is the Unmoved Mover (primum mobile immotum). He is therefore, not so much a person as a magnetic power-page 71 Story of Philosophy by Will Durant. He is a mystic force of modern physics and philosophy and "actus purus" -activity per se. According to Vedic metaphysics all gross and subtle things start from Him, move towards perfection in growth, utility and service and then go back to Him. This cosmic process of creation and dissolution is described as Sristi and Pralaya.  The modern Existentialists have come to this conclusion in a more abstract metaphysical expression "All things come to an end. Life is too short in time and space, so need to get detached from matter and develop need-based living. "They have obviously avoided bringing spirit of God in the need based living like Buddha who propounded his philosophy of middle path independently of Vedic metaphysics and accepted laws of God as laws of Nature. Bhagavad Gita also propounded this truth by invoking God, His spirit and laws of God. However, there is no evidence that Existentialists got this concept from Buddha or Bhagavad Gita.

Bhagavad Gita refers to eight-fold nature of Prakrti with five mahabhuta, ego hood (ahamkar), Intellect (buddhi) and mind (manas). The spirit of God (B.G.3-5, 3-27 to 29,10-21,14-5 and 16- 40) activates all these. There is no existence here on earth, in the heavens or amongst the celestials, or anywhere else in Prakrti, which is free from three qualities born of subtle primordial matter-sattavic, rajasic and tamasic. All these are activated by God to maintain equilibrium and to create Karma Bhoomi for the soul to get detached from the effect of gunas. Thus, any thought of renouncing the world to attain a stage of Turiya, Kaiva­lya, self-realisation and moksha (final salvation) is not support­ed by Vedic metaphysics. It can be achieved through selfless actions and duties without the desire for their fruit. Prakrti provides the earth as Karma Bhoomi for the human beings to achieve a stage of self-realisation. Prakrti itself is the cosmic energy of God and His working while He Himself remains unmoved. Through Prakrti He provides His stern and permanent laws (Rta), gives lessons of non-violence of the strong, transparency, truthfulness and vividness.

            

Any self-destruction act or death instincts or wish is against the laws of God. Non-violence is the message of Prakrti to depict harmony in Nature. There are no miracles and factoids in the divine Nature. However, Prakrti functions as non-violent but tend to show its wrath and even violence when under the vehement effect of tamasic gunas when we create pollution of all kinds in Prakrti, universe and atmosphere and even in society. This wrath and non-violence is more to bring ultimate peace and seren­ity everywhere. It is therefore; in Prakrti, there is not only non-violence of the strong but also violence of the right and virtue against evil and wrong. To neutralise the effect of evil activities of non divine persons and behaviour of social villains who consider bribe taking or giving, blind pursuit of money and matter as virtue and social evaluation in terms of income earning by what­ever means, Prakrti has to resort to occasional wrath and even violence to bring social and moral order. Thus in the Vedas there are certain Prakrti devas – forces of Nature who show "wrath" as violence of the right and virtue. A few of such devas are Indra with attributes of power, energy and strength, Manyu deva who is always ready to show wrath when pollution, social evils and environmental hazards become predominant in Prakrti and its manifestation -the gross universe. Yama -with power to take away the gross body also becomes active during large-scale social and physical pollution.

Though Prakrti gives a long rope to evildoers to revert to divine activities for the welfare of others, yet after crossing certain tolerance limits, these Prakrti devas do get activated to save the mankind and other animate and inanimate life/things. Thirty three Prakrti devas representing all the attributes of Nature, provide 21 kinds of fuel - Mahat (intellect), Ahamkar (ego), five subtle elements (suksham bhuta), five gross main elements (sthule bhuta or maha bhuta), five organs of cognition (jnan Indriyas) and primordial subtle matter in the form of three gunas (Y.V.31-15). With the help of these 21 kinds of fuels, Prakrti has orderliness in regularity, design, and shapes and expresses this orderliness through her laws.From this hymn of Yajur Veda, it is apparent that in the Vedic metaphysics except the immortal soul, all other inner and outer instruments of the body are directly from Prakrti- though under the direct super­vision of God.

Prakrti has three bodies- gross, subtle and causal conforming to Vedic terminology of "sthule, suksham and tamkam or karana) Prakrti herself is the subtle manifestation of God and Universe is the gross manifestation of Prakrti. God lives behind Prakrti in the causal body. Similarly human beings have three bodies. God and soul reside in the causal body. Spirit (jiva), will, intellect, Kundalini (hidden coiled spiritual energy), 10 Pranas (vital breaths) out of which seven are subtle, reside in the spiritual body. The remaining three pranas, mind, senses and sense organs are part of the gross body. In these three bodies reside five Koshas (sheaths). Annomaya kosha is the food sheath of the gross body. Manomaya  kosha is mind sheath, partly in gross body and partly in subtle body being consisting of extremely fine particles like ether. Pranamayi kosha is vital breath sheath partly in gross body and partly in subtle body. Jnan meyi kosha is the knowledge sheath in the causal body where soul resides and partly in the subtle body where spirit and intellect reside. If the soul provides the divine knowledge, the spirit and intellect provide spiritual knowledge. Lastly, Anand meyi kosha is the sheath relating to eternal bliss and entirely reside in the causal body. To reach the stage of self-realisation, one has to cross each sheath to reach the last sheath. This can be done through food control by avoiding entry of toxins in the body through stale, spicy, extremely hot or cold food and moving the taste of food from tongue to mind. This is only possible by taking need based simple food. After crossing annomayi kosha one has to cross manomayi kosha. In this case, the turbulent outward looking mind (etani) is to be controlled by inward looking mind (manas). By living in pollution free location, having noble thoughts and following the path of selfless action along with purification of vital breaths through pranayama (certain exercises for the purification of vital breaths), one crosses Pranomeyi kosha. Thereafter by acquiring harmonized divine, spiritual and material knowledge the fourth kosha relating to knowledge sheath can be crossed. Finally, one reaches the fifth kosha when self-realisation is attained and one can move towards moksha-stage of eternal bliss. In this stage, a person can communicate with his/her soul.

Prakrti has not only 33 subtle and formless devas, 21 kinds of fuel, three bodies, five kosha but also has 16 parts. Spirit in the form of ego (ahamkar) and parana, desires, five mahabhutas, five senses, mahat, food, vigour and the 16th penance and Vedic sacrifi­cial rites. In all the 16 parts, three gunas pervade. According to Prasana Upanishad when all 16 parts enter human gross body along with three gunas, only thereafter the soul enters as Jivatma  (manifested soul). It is only when soul leaves the body, all 16 parts start merging with Prakrti. Being supreme mother she loves her creation of both animate and inanimate life and provide adequate food, for guidance laws relating to social and moral order, sufficient material for shelter and all other things for their living on the principle of Idd Nan Mmam-nothing for self all for society. This enlightened liberalism ensures that her children-the entire mankind of the universe does not over use and waste resources and do not create any kind of pollution in the atmosphere and society. This principle of idd nan mmam , Prakrti explains through her laws and expects all human beings to under­stand and follow the same. All animals, birds, fishes, follow these laws within their capacity and characteristics provided by Prakrti and they invariably resort to need based living. Prakrti is the su­preme mother of all and so her blessings are meant for all kind of animate life. Being her children, all human beings are spiri­tually brothers and sisters.

           

Unlike the dualist Kapila Rsi, the absolute monists particularly Sankracharya, Badrayana and others have found a stuff in Prakrti which makes the changeful world and universe. Ow­ing to this stuff, which is not illusory, it creates a phenomenal world of Maya and makes it look both real and unreal to the individuals at different stages of knowledge. The other terms for Maya used by metaphysicists are Pradhana, tamas avyakta, shakti. Bhagavad Gita has preferred to use the epithets as Maya, Mayabhi, gunmayi Maya or guni Maya. All these epithets give the various characteristics of Maya- the Vedic phantasmagoria.

           

The concept of “seven” is another important feature of Prakrti and gross universe. There are seven commu­nities of human beings, out of which six are not found on this earth. Only the seventh community of human beings is found on this earth. Others are devas, ,pitries, karma devas, etc. Taittriya Upanishad gives a detailed description of these communities. Scriptures of other religions including holy Koran, Grantha Sahib also refers to these seven communities. In the Vedas there is a mention of seven codes of conduct and deviating from these a person becomes a sinner, transgressing the seven boundaries, a person falls into distress (R.V X-5-6 p.4377). These are described as theft, adultery, killing a learned person, abortion, drinking and habitual addiction to wickedness and false accusation of heinous crimes. There are seven flames of fire, seven colours of light, seven streams of knowledge merging in Brahma Jnan, seven fortifications of avarnas and other non-divine persons to be destroyed and many other “seven” objects in Prakrti.. Owing to the importance of seven, perhaps the mother hymn - Gyatri mantra is mentioned seven times in the Vedas.

          

The concept of Flux in the Nature and universe is very predominant in the Vedic metaphysics. There is continuous change in the universe and Prakrti. Because of this flux, atoms are breaking and uniting every second. Similar flux is there in the human beings where cells are born and destroyed in millions in a short span of time. We see flux in human personality and his thoughts every decade and even earlier. This flux is observed most after marriage. Buddha found this flux independent of Vedas. Spinoza found all things to a diverse degree are animated, so there is continuous flux, and change in the material things in Nature. Unlike Vedas, the distinc­tion between Universe and Nature is not very vivid in Spinoza's metaphysics. After complete understanding of the Vedic metaphysics, Sankracharya has brought out that the knowledge of the outer world through our sense perception throws us in perpetual flux.

          

In the Vedas the epithet Brahma-formless and ineffable God, appears much less compared to Prakrti devas - Indra, Agni, Varun, Mitra, Usha, Aditi, Savitar etc. It is perhaps this reason that the founder philosopher of Sankhya Darshna, Kapila Rsi did not find the need of God in his metaphysics. Even Patanjali in his Yog shastra based on Vedic metaphysics also described God as the first Guru who helps in learning and understanding Yogas and their philosophy. Beyond that, he also did not feel any necessity to bring God in his Yog Shastra. Thus, it clearly shows Vedas give great importance to Prakrti through her 33 formless devas. If the God is first and supreme Guru, Prakrti is the perfect preceptor. Even Greek philosophers, who virtually developed their philosophy before Socrates and Plato, particularly Democritus found only Nature as subject of philosophy.

Atharva veda considers human beings as Pashu - animals like cows, horses, goats and sheep (A.V.XI-2-9). Vedas further amplify if the human beings follow the path of knowledge known to the soul, they become divine animals and when they know the path of knowledge known to the spirit, they become spiritual and social animals. Thus, human beings can uplift themselves as divine social and spiritual animals. Aristotle could find the man as social animal based on the effect of Entelechy in him/ her and Dante found divinity in the man and described him in his spiritual Testament as “divine animal”.           

In Atharva Veda X-8-8, human body has mind as engine, five koshas or sheaths as wheels, the path to be covered not known to mind but only to the soul, which is the nearest on self-realization and farthest when the material world becomes the closest. Therefore, the human being is divine only when he follows the path shown by the soul, otherwise he/she is more like a "pashu" and in that state, he/she can get even worse than the animals. This is the stage when aimless killing of his spiritual brothers and sisters, mass scale murders, rapes, adultery, pursuit of matter, hypocrisy, deceit and other evils become a habit and the uncontrolled senses become so powerful that one forgets the inner world alto­gether. As the supreme mother Prakrti individuals have also three bodies where divine, spiritual and gross instruments are located. A person starts moving towards miseries, naked selfishness and false ego when he totally ignores the instruments of the inner world of the subtle and causal bodies within the gross body. While moderation and need-based living is advised to human beings while following laws of God, Satya (absolute truth) and Vedic knowledge (Y.V.8-53). One should not starve one's body as it is troubling the spirit and the gross body and hence it is a tamas­ic action and should be avoided along with other kind of excess­es. Tamasic rituals and penance by human beings are not advised in the Vedas. Yajur Veda 8-53 even has a prayer, " May we be rich in nourishing food." This nourishing food need no be expen­sive food.

       

To maintain purity, transparency and truthfulness in Prakrti, Vedas strongly prohibit creation of any kind of pollution in water, air, atmosphere and society. Rig Veda 1-88-9, 10 mentions, "Twashta (God) while making all wonderful articles of gross universe, sun, moon, earth, planets etc; also advised all animate life to protect forests and also conserve them for healthy growth of vegetables, herbs, plants.” For the preservation of vegetation, He created poisonous creatures with mild and strong venom. While continuing on this subject, Vedas refer to science of toxicology and anti toxic measures. Rig Veda 1-191-3 mentions about 99 kinds of anti toxic drugs in the world. There are 21 kinds of pea-hens, which suck the poison (R.V.1-191-4), and we should never kill these. Y.V.35-17, A.V 19-9-94, R.V.  X -105-8 and IX-63-4, 5 contain peace prayer as Shanti Path. There should be no pollution in Prakrti, peace in sky, earth, water, air, plants, and trees. Excessive use beyond minimum need is the cause of pollution, degeneration and environmental hazards. Also there is a prayer in Y.V.30-7 to 9, "O, God cast aside the vile man who pollutes rivers, waters, air and society." Vile men in the Vedas are bribe takers and givers, adulterators, exploiters, avarnas who do not follow divine professions and violate cosmic laws of social and moral order. Vile men are ever keen to make money out of the miseries of human beings.

     

In view of the concept of spiritual brotherhood (Bandhutva) and global family (Vishwa Kutmbkam) owing to same spirit of God provided by Prakrti to the entire mankind, Vedas recommend global trade for the welfare of all societies in the world while follow­ing the principle of Idd Nan Mmam. (R.V.1-140-1,1-71-9,1-144-1,1- 34-1 and many others). In the domestic and international trade, great emphasis is laid on the exact weighing by merchants (Y.V 30-17). If the internal trade and also the global trade is not based on the philosophy of Idd Nan Mmam or enlightened liberalism and is devoid of the principle of moderation in living, it starts showing its negative effects.  Class war, terrorism and other forms of social wars and turmoil, building up of various kinds of tensions amongst the states resorting to global trade are the indication that Vedic meta-econmics is not followed. The unhealthy trade prac­tices lead to inevitable disputes between producers, sellers and consumers. These disputes under the vehement effect of uncon­trolled senses and etani-outwards looking mind, further leads to deception, adulteration, loot and finally to class wars. Plato had  visualised in his Laws-622, if restraint is not observed by traders about the foreign trade, a kind of trade wars between the states can not be avoided. Unlike modern eco­nomics (akin to Vedic Anartha), Vedic trade is based on meta-economics (Artha). In the modern economics, the spirit does not play any role where as Vedic meta-economics looks after the material and spiritual welfare of society and mankind while balancing and harmonising the laws of Nature so that Nature does not show her "Wrath" which otherwise, is extremely peaceful, non-violent and benevolent. The meta-economics does not create material progress, which is bereft of social ethics, public and private morality and spirituality. It is apparent that the Vedas have derived the concept of meta-econom­ics (Artha) based on the functioning of Prakrti.

      

Without describing Gunas that are the primordial subtle matter, the description of Prakrti in the Vedas remains incomplete. As earlier brought out that Prakrti is the sum total of gunas of purity, activity and passivity. Since these gunas are subtle, so Prakrti is also subtle and she functions through the gross Universe, just like in human beings the gunas though subtle, their effect is seen through the activities of the gross body. Because of these three kind of subtle primordial matters, Prakrti functions incessantly. Bhaga­vad Gita says that all actions, desires and thoughts of men are impelled by the gunas coming out of Prakrti and make human beings act continuously. These are source of virtue, goodness, love, purity as well as sins, evils, stupor, impurity and passivity. Between these two extremes, these are also the cause of activity, desires and pursuit of false ego. Howev­er, their proportion in Prakrti as well as in human beings is different. All the scriptures of Hindu’s, Vedas, Purans, Upanishads and Smritis describe these three gunas as "sattavic, rajasic and tamasic." Bhagavad Gita has almost two complete chapters on gunas and their effect on gifts, speech, activities, sacrifice, charity, knowledge, desires, matter and virtually on all other things and subjects which effect human beings.  

However, those individuals who go beyond gunas and acquire a state of shuniya sattava or shuddha sattva finally go beyond the vehement effect of cosmic illusion - Maya. This cosmic illusion of Maya is more like a saw with sharp teeth. The individuals who go beyond gunas pass through the teeth of the saw of Maya unharmed physically, spiritually and Aura appears- a symbol of purity, divinity and truthfulness. Such persons only attain "self-realisation" and can communicate with their souls. They can have complete knowledge of their previous karma (good and bad deeds and ac­tions) and all their previous births through their manifested souls. The ancient Greek philosopher Pythagorus seemed to have claimed that he knew all his previous births. Like Socrates he completely believed in the immortality of the soul. Br. Upanishad says, while remaining in Prakrti you are not beyond hunger, thirst, delusion, decay and attachment. After purifying your gunas through satya, Rta and idd nan mmam, you move towards self realisation. Thus a person who follows the laws of nature, acts, thinks and speaks truthfully and observes the Vedic philosophy of enlightened liberalism crosses the vehement effect of gunas and soon reaches the stage of shuniya sattva on the way to the realisation of his extended perfect real self.

Brihadnyaka Upanishad therefore advises, "Get detached of your progeny, wealth, material possessions and live life unfettered." This advice of the Upani­shad is reinforced in Bhagavad Gita 3-28 " Those who know the truth about modes of Prakrti consisting of three gunas as primor­dial subtle matter, they do not get attached" and their all activ­ities are based on nishkama karma. The celestial song Bhagavad Gita further says, "Owing to gunas this universe which is the gross form of the divine Nature, is the abode of sorrow and transitory by nature and not our permanent habitat."(B.G.8-15). Rebirth of the gross body is under compulsion from Prakrti as it is due to gunas vehement effect. Though gunas are not intelligent and not the causes of consciousness but are cause of one’s Karma of good or bad actions in the human body. This characteristic of gunas which,  make them look intelligent is because of spirit of God present in Prakrti, which enables them this intelligent path in the Nature. It is their same characteristic in the human body. It is due to this reason when gunas are following the spiritual knowledge contained in the spirit and divine knowledge available to soul i.e., cosmic laws of social and moral order Rta, absolute truth Satya and Dharma- righteousness, the evil effect of gunas start disappearing. It is during this stage that all actions of the human beings are based on a-priori principles and treasure of knowledge already contained in the soul. Those who do not follow Rta, Satya and Dharma would invariably continue with their good and bad ac­tions. So, whether a person performs actions or karma by observing dharma, satya and rta or not, the final effect of gunas lead to stored Karma (Sanchita) which literally means accumulation of good or bad actions. The final result of this Sanchita is Prarabdha (destiny) which is the cause of present birth in a particular family of the gross body and its character, as the stored karma in their subtle form get accumulated on the manifested soul in the previous birth. As the stock of good karma would vary from individuals to individuals and Sanchita is exhausted, individuals come back sooner or later in this phenomenal world (B.G.IX-21).

One's actions also lead to "Kriya karma" which is the divine law "what you are sowing now, you shall reap in future". This Kriya karma leads to Agami karma, which literally means ahead or future. So agami karma becomes the base for your action in this birth as well as next birth. The Vedic metaphysics makes it very clear that no one can get out of the vehement effect gunas on one's actions, rebirth and law of retribution which is a stern law of God. By understanding and following rta, satya and dharma along with Vedic knowledge or in its absence the a-priori principles known to the soul, one can get rebirth in the families of seers, sages, savants for moving further towards self realisation and attaining Moksha. The birth in different kinds of families is not due to any accident or destiny and is due to law of Kriya karma -as you sow, so shall you reap. No one can escape this stern law.

      

These laws relating to karma- sanchita, kriya karma, agami karma, prarabdha are "Adrsta"-unseen where the stock of good or bad actions, merit and demerits apply. These are part of Vedic spiritual science. Thus, the entire process starts with the propor­tion of three gunas in the gross body. These make you act under your real self "jiva atma" or your body self, which is one’s lower self controlled by senses and sense organs and also the knowledge obtained through perception of the phenomenal world. The gross body or one’s local “self” has a characteristic of creating an illusory feeling which make you believe that there is no rebirth, no soul or spirit and there is nothing beyond the gross body. It will make you convinced under the vehement impact of senses that human birth is nothing but union of male and female and your creation starts only with your father and mother. Under the uncontrolled senses and outwards looking mind-etani, the role of spirit in all animate and inanimate things/life disappears and thus matter becomes the supreme in all activities, thoughts and desires. This is the origin of materialistic philosophy and outlook in the human being. Howev­er, for the realisation of higher real self, one has to cross gunas and reach a stage described in Bhagavad Gita when joy and sorrow, clod of earth, stone, silver, gold look similar in value and pleasant and unpleasant are taken in the same spirit. One remains calm, tranquil and balanced in both conditions of censure and praise (B.G 14-24). In the absence of these characteristics, one tends to become his/her own enemy. Accordingly, Bhagavad Gita advises act, think and desire on the path of moderation and get established in your real self.

           

By the fertilisation of God's power in Prakrti in the form of His spirit, the gunas or the characteristic qualities which pervade in all animate and inanimate things/life, come into being and form part of one's ego, intellect, mind, senses and all other parts of gross body. There after these gunas move in all directions and create the entire psychosis of human beings, relat­ing to pleasure and pain, desire, detachment, vice and virtue. Bhagavad Gita further brings out that these gunas create a group of psychosis with their eight-fold nature. While the mani­fested soul as higher Purusa in the human body, is independent of gunas, the spirit of God which comes through Prakrti lives side by side with these gunas and eight fold group of psychosis and thus experiences and enjoys the material world of senses but still guides all animate life towards right directions. Rta, satya and dharma being divine qualities are always present in the spirit. Prakrti's role as a guide through the spirit of God is mentioned in Yajur Veda 21-4. In this hymn, Prakrti is described as Aditi, the queen of eternal order, never decaying, wide expanding, the protectoress and gracious guide. Thus, most of Vedic hymns describe Prakrti as a female element and supreme mother as Devaki- mother of 33.devas and devis who are formless beings of light. God is the male element and is the primordial seed. Vedic metaphysics leave no doubt that God is the supreme Father and Prakrti is the supreme Mother. In various other Vedic hymns par­ticularly A.V.4-2-1 to 8, Y.V 36-17, R.V X-8-7, Prakrti is also described as Trita (trinity) with three bodies gross, subtle and causal. The gross Universe is also therefore, part of Prakrti. Her other two subtle and causal bodies are invisible to human senses. She is thus both visible and invisible. She herself is engaged constantly in a kind if "Yoga" (spiritual technique to get united with God) and trying to achieve perfection so that she could finally unite with Divine Reality who is Perfect and is deeply involved in her. In fact, creation of the Nature, universe and the world is due to His cosmic word- OM that is "Shabad Brahma"in the Vedas. The Pralaya or cosmic dissolution is the Yoga of Prakrti as she is ever keen to be united with Him and become one with formless and ineffable Brahma.

      

Owing to Prakrti Yoga, the subject of Creation and Dissolution- Sristi and Pralaya, has been given sufficient impor­tance in the six schools of Indian philosophy. For the Advait Vedantists- both pure and objective idealists and monists, this subject relating to Prakrti is part of Maya. For them Prakrti is not eternal and not absolutely real as she is created and dissolved. Since human senses with only material and intellectual knowledge find her gross form universe as real and normally do not recognise her other two subtle and causal forms, these idealists on the authority of Vedas, examines the subject of Sristi and Pralaya in greater details. However, the Dvait Vedantists whether objective or qualified duelists consid­er Prakrti as real and eternal, so the subject of the Yoga of Prakrti to get herself dissolved and is united with Him is not a major subject with them. For proper understanding of Vedic metaphysics in this regard, some brief details are given. Chhandogya Upanishad says, "from this engenderment beam of light, shot up and down and gross matter was formed. Prakrti expanded in all directions as the Sentient One spread Himself, every where high, low, here and beyond." According to Rig-Veda 1-115-2, all worlds except the abode of God described as Brahmalok to downwards, are subject to ap­pearance and disappearance, creation and withdrawal. The term used for creation or appearance is Srsti and for withdrawal two terms are mentioned - Pralaya and Samhara. The importance given to Srsti and Pralaya vary considerably in six schools of Indian philosophy.

The Mimamsa school did not accept her creation or dissolution and perhaps did not come across the relevant Vedic hymns on the subject or ignored those as not getting harmonised with their philosophy of rituals and ceremonies based on Vedic Brahamanas. It is a separate matter that the dreaded ancient materialists Charavkas also refuted this concept but for different reasons as they based their philosophy of eat, drink and be merry, by totally ignoring Vedas. Vedic school  Nyaya Vaisheshika is silent on this concept in their later sutras, they perhaps tend to accept without giving much importance to the concept.. May be it needed special efforts to overlook or ignore the Vedic hymns. R.V 1-130-1, 2. links the cosmic Creation to a weaver's job. This weaver is God Himself as Lord Prajapati who spread out the Web with His threads in all sides, upwards, downwards, forward and backward. Again He rolls it up and spreads it up in the heaven." Chhandogya Upani­shad and Rig-Veda leave no doubt that Prakrti and gross universe come from Him and go back to Him. It is a divine phenomenon simi­lar to the plants, which take material from the earth and finally go back to the earth. The same phenomenon is also observed about all animate life. The law of Nature is uniform for all.

In the times immemorial beyond the physical sciences to find out, the Supreme Lord Brahma spoke some cosmic Word. The Vedic rsis, munnies, metaphysicists and savants named it as O M or A.U.M and explained it as "shabada Brahma". Through this “Word” the spirit of God first entered in space (dis) and led to first in the creation of divine and subtle Nature. According to Vedas, both space and time live in God and these are eternal and existed before the origin of Nature. This cosmic energy caused through shabada Brahma with the passage of time changed into subtle, extremely finer and grosser particles. Gradually these particles formed atoms (anu and kanu) with the merging of sub a­tomic particles (tan matras) and the combination of these building blocks formed five mahabhutas-ether, air, water, fire and earth. This process continued and from these five mahabhutas -three gross and visible and two alloys though not visible but perceivable i.e. ether and air, a large number of bhutas (elements) were formed. Before this cosmic Word, there was neither existence nor non-existence, nor any realm or region, there was no sky (akash), no air, no sign of day and night. Darkness was concealed in darkness- it was more a plasmic continuum. In this void (shuniya) God spoke A.U.M and the spirit of God entered. Thus, Brahma -the supreme Reality manifested through the light of Tapas (spiritual fire) (R.V X-129-1 to 3). The believers in the plasmic continuum as Void or shuniya popu­larly known as Shuniya Vadins, still consider that the spirit of God even now is found in the void of all subtle and gross atoms, particles, tanmatras, cells etc. It provides constant energy and specific characteristics and properties to all animate and inanimate life/things.

    

From the inanimate life with no indriyas (senses) and with the help of spirit- energy principle and one sense, first animate trees, plants emerged in water- sea, oceans and then on the earth. Plants and trees have one predominant sense of touch and when the number of senses went on increasing, gradually germs, bacteria, protozoa, cells, ants- big and small, fishes, birds, animals appeared. All the five senses entered in animals. According to this theory of spirit of God in shuniya (void) and metaphysics of shuniya vadins, the human beings emerged last on this earth with five senses and one divine soul. When the human beings evolved to a stage when knowl­edge could be provided to them, the soul entered in them directly from the God who is also supreme Soul ( Parmatma). Thus, man became a divine animal capable of getting a-priori knowledge from the  largely omniscient soul as well as spirit. Only Parmatma is omniscient. It entered the human beings as His particle (ansh). It can therefore, also be described as Brahmansh. When it was manifested in human body, rsis of yore named it Jivatma-the soul caged in the gross body. Thus, soul is omniscient principle and sprit is life or energy principle. While Prakrti with the help of spirit provides five senses of touch, taste, sight, hearing and smell to all human beings, God provides His particle as soul directly and ordains the human beings to achieve perfection, self realisation and come back to Him. This according to pure    idealists and monists is His divine sport (Lila). Holy Bible's says, "God created man in His own image." If Vedic interpretation is accepted, it would only mean that God is supreme soul, so the image of God is only through His soul. Since man is made in His Own image i.e. soul, so only the human beings have the soul and not other animate or inanimate life. Thus, the real "self" of the human beings is atman and its realisation is self-realisation. The spirit (jiva) provides only body-self, which is also local or phenomenal “self”.

    

Vedas give more details about soul and spirit in the human beings. First one cell having two senses enter the womb of the mother, which leads to 2-4-8-16-32-64 cells when these split into 40 + 24.The heavier part of 40 cells gets lower in the womb owing to effect of gravity and energy in these living cells. Thereafter formation of living cells continues and more and more energy enters the body until millions of cells are formed. These cells form various senses, sense organs and all parts of gross body of the infant. Thus, God is present through His spirit in the entire procreation process. The agent is Prakrti as lord Krishna tells noble and gallant Arjuna in Bhagavad Gita. The spirit enters with the first cell and this energy goes on increasing with the formation of millions of cells as the spirit reaches all the cells. However, the divine soul enters later, which brings consciousness in the infant still in mother's womb. Later rsis and munnies tried to explain this Vedic concept of human birth in the form of mytholo­gy. In the mythological epic Mahabharta, Maharsi Vyasa created a noble character of a gallant prince Vir Abhimanyu. In this epic, he was the son of Arjuna. Abhimanyu learnt the art of military science relating to the entry in a highly fortified and invincible army of soldiers describd as "Chakra Viyhu", when the great warrior Arjuna was explaining the same to his wife and the infant Abhimanyu was still in her womb. Since Arjuna’s attention was diverted owing to some urgent message, he could not explain how to get out of this fortification of the enemy camp. This part of knowledge relating to military science the infant could not get while in the womb. Mahabharta thus conveys that a person could acquire knowledge only after the entry of soul and consequent consciousness in him/her. Later after about two decades as a young and gallant warrior, Abhimnyu participated in the great Mahabharta war between Pandavas and Kauravas at Kurukshetra. He could enter the invincible Chakra Vihu of the Kaurvas-the enemy camp and fought valiantly like a gallant prince and brave soldier, but could not come out of the fortification of the soldiers and was finally killed.

Rig-Veda 3-54-8 tells us that with the cosmic word OM, multi­form creation came into existence. The sages thus discovered by their wisdom the non existent (the unmanifested) and existent (manifested). Nature's bounties appeared later on step by step (R.V. X-129-6). He only knows when Prakrti was first created as Time is eternal and beyond Prakrti (R.V X-129- 7). However, Prakrti, universe with stars, planets and galaxies came into existence like a cluster of yarn beads formed by knots on a thread. All these are threaded to Brahma- the supreme Reality (B.G. 7-7). The supreme Lord created Prakrti and the universe for the enjoyment and fulfillment of tiny little souls for their actions, knowledge and Bhoga (both spiritual and material enjoy­ment). Thus was created the phenomenal world of Maya along with Prakrti also described as Svadha.

        

A few hymns in the Vedas particularly, R.V 1-121- 1, Y.V 25-10, A.V 4-2-7, link creation of Prakrti with Hiranya Garbha-cosmic Golden Egg where Lord manifested in His splendor as the sole Lord of creation. The cosmic word OM when created enormous cosmic energy, it formed a cosmic golden Egg as Hiranya Garbha. This was the first stage of energy getting converted into some kind of mass. Thus the permanent truth of relationship of energy and mass and vice versa emerged. This relationship of mass and energy, the physical scientists could prove in laboratory only in the 20th century. When the Cosmic Egg opened/busted, the subtle Prakrti was first formed and the process continued with the formation of gross universe and it continues to expand. The gross creation when starts evolving from cosmic Word OM and hira­nya garbha, it starts getting differentiated from Prakrti. In the process, Brahma- the supreme Lord continues to remain whole. During the stage of differentiation the primordial matter in the form of gunas, categories, tanmatras, anu, kanu and other grosser matter start emerging. The subtle sattavic, rajasic and tamasic gunas join in different proportion and constant properties of various ele­ments and other matter are formed. Spirit of God spreads in all gross, fine and subtle particles and leads to formation of Mahat, which is cosmic intelligence. Thereafter, some intelligence also comes to senses and sense organs.

        

After the origin of Prakrti and creation of universe, both these pass through four Celestial periods of Krita, Treta, Dwapar and Kali yugas. It is not only the Vedas which refer to these four celestial periods, even the ancient Greek metaphysicists had also mentioned about these periods as golden, silver, copper and iron ages. Bhagavad Gita in the verse 8-16 gives the duration of this total period of four Yugas as 43,80,000 years and describes this one complete Cycle as one Kalpa or Maha yuga. The longest duration/period is that of Krita or golden age which is over 16,00,000 years and shortest is Kali yuga or iron/dark age and its duration is about 4,00,000 years. One day of Brahma is equal to 1000 Kalpas/maha yugas i.e. over four billion years and one night of Brahma is another 1000 maha yugas. The description of these celestial periods going upto almost infinite number of years as mentioned in Bhagavad Gita could be symbolic, indicating that the process of creation and dissolution/withdrawal of Prakrti and gross universe takes abnormally long periods. The Vedic dualists like seer Kapila even after going through Vedas were inclined to conclude that Nature is eternal. Perhaps abnormally long periods of crea­tion and dissolution was considered as providing eternity to Prakrti. Atharva rsis  did not agree with Kapila rsi and reiterated that only God is eternal and Prakrti is created by Him. Atharva Veda 4-1-3 reiterated "from the bosom of the cosmic Word OM, He brought forth the world, universe and Prakrti. On high, below, He abides by His own Laws."