MYTHOLOGY (noun.)
1. a collection of myths, especially one belonging to a particular religious or cultural tradition.
2. the study of myths
─ IN WHICH THE ADMINS GIVE YOU INFORMATION PERTAINING TO THE MANY BELIEFS OF MULTIPLE MMYTHOLOGIES
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THE STORY OF CREATION
Hinduism has a vast, wide range of customs and beliefs of many, many communities, dating back through several periods of history, and therefore, there is not one decided single story of creation - there are numerous ones. The origins of creation range from the Vedas, from the Brahmanas, and even some from the Puranas. There is a great deal of variations in each story - some are philosophical that are based on concepts, while others are narritaves based on characters - but, by reading all of them, you can sense they each have something in common with the other.
Unlike other religions, Hinduism views the world as eternal, going through changes both creative and destructive. To them, the creation of the world is a line that is eternal and repetitive. Most don't believe there was a single God that brought the world into existence, like numerous religions do. They believe that the word 'beginning' refers to a beginning of a phase, not beginning of the world itself. Almost like a new cycle or era, if you will.
According to early Vedic hymns, four different kinds of humans came together to create an organism that later became a society. The first kind of humans were the land-controllers that formed the human arms; the second kind were the market controllers that made up the tree trunk; and the third were service-providers that made up the feet.
Culture - which, when we refer to Brahama as the creator, we are referring to the birth of human culture, through the ritual of culture - goes through four phases: childhood (Krita), youth (Treta), maturity (Dvapara), old age (Kali), and then death (Pralaya), and after there is a rebirth. Pictured and described as a flood, the only thing that survives the death is the first human, Manu, and the Vedas, saved by Vishnu.
From Brahama's (also known as Prajapati, the father of all living creatures) mind, he created 'mind-born' sons, the sages, and it has been referred to as asexual reproduction. The sons go on to marry women, though it is never clear where the women come from or how they were created. One of Brahama's sons, Rishi Kashyapa, weds several women who, according to the Puranas, give birth to different kinds of creatures. One gives birth to fishes, another gives birth to snakes, and the other gives birth to birds. It seems like all male forms, including The Brahama, are metaphors for the mind that is planted in matter (the women) to create embodied life.
After the rise of Tantra, the male and female union of mind and matter becomes a reoccurring theme in Puranic tradition. Shiva starves without Shakti, and he cannot create the world without her. Shiva and Shakti's world is nature, but this duality denied in the Gita, where Krishna claims he is the only source of life, and that he has two 'wombs' (yoni) which are of mind and matter.
The question of whether mind or matter came first was sought to be answered for years until later, in Tantras, it is said that matter came first as the Goddess. Brahma, the priest; Vishnu, the king; and Shiva, the ascetic, all came from the Goddess's mind, each taking male forms. But Brahma wanted to control the Goddess and she beheaded him, which is the reason he is not worshipped. Shiva wanted to reject the Goddess' advances but she enchanted him and they got married. Vishnu became the caretaker and beloved of the Goddess.
However, in Puranas, where they claim that the mind came first, the world comes into being when Vishnu awakens and a lotus rises from his navel in which Brahma sits, feeling alone and afraid. Unknowing of where he originated, he began to create various other living creatures, and it is because he assumed he was the creator that he is not worshipped. People who worshipped Vishnu became dominant over 1,000 years ago and claimed the world comes into being when Vishnu awakens and ceases to be when he sleeps.
Shiva worshippers rejected this, and tell us about the pillar of fire, embodiment of consciousness, that does not have a beginning or an end. Brahma could not find the tip of the pillar when he changed into the form of a swan, and Vishnu could not find the base when he took on the form of a boar.
There is still to this day no absolute one creation story, there are many of them and each teach us that bit more about the origins and the metaphors of Hindu mythology.
