Source of life – The Economic Times

Hindu cosmology posits endless cycles of the universe’s creation and pralay, dissolution after a kalpa, a ‘day of Brahma‘ of approximately 4.32 bn years. Vishnu Puran and Bhagavat Puran mention these kal chakras, wheels of time. The ‘great flood’ produced by prakriti, nature, during pralay ends all life on earth. Then, after some time, a new cycle of creation begins. The phenomenon of pralay can be compared to a black hole, which forms when a massive star implodes at the end of its life cycle.In Hindu iconography, Srimad Narayan is depicted as resting on Sheshashahi, Anant Nag, also called the serpent of infinite energy and dark matter. In many ancient civilisations, the serpent has been associated with cosmic energy.

Kundalini Shakti, the dormant spiritual energy in man, is called the ‘serpent power’ in tantras. Sheshashahi represents the unborn and undying eternity. Narayan is the personification of the first ray of light in infinite darkness or the first stirring of consciousness in the unbound inconscient. The word ‘narayan’ means the prototype of man, ‘nar’ means a human being and ‘ayan’ stands for evolutionary process that shapes man. Brahma, the creator god, is depicted as an emanation from Narayan’s navel.

The concept of Narayan is like that of a white hole from which emerges energy/matter and light, substances necessary for cosmic creation. Narayan is, therefore, the ‘source of life‘.