Creation

You will never get an answer that will satisfy the question:

"Why did God create the world?"

Only God know His real reason.  Just like only you know why you are reading these words.  People can only speculate.  However each religion has tried to explain Creation, according to the way It has perceived it.

I like Guru Nanak's statement:

Tumari gat-mit tumahi jaane
Nanak das sadaa kurbaani

Which roughly translated means, that only the Lord knows His ways, And that we should surrender (with love and in awe)

Some of my Readers have shown great interest in the Shrimad Bhaagvad.  One of them actually asked for my notes, since I am putting it into prose for the first time, as I write to you.  Those of you who find it 'heavy' do please read it through, at least once and appreciate the depth of 'The Information' even if you do not understand it.  The reality is, that NO ONE can really comprehend 'Creation' because our intellect, cannot possibly grasp its magnitude.

Read on:

Allow me to narrate to you the story of Creation according to the Shrimad Bhaagvad.

First let me tell you, a very simple description of the 3 qualities that pervade all Creation.

1. Sattwa or the Satvic quality: Is that which is Good and True, equanimous, distinguishes between what qualities/actions should be embraced and which ones should be dicarded.

2. Rajas or the Rajasic quality: Is the passionate activity/energy with which a certain karma is performed.

3. Tamas or the Tamasic quality is that which is lazy, inert, not yet been initiated into the Spiritual quality.

A human being should progress from the Tamas to the Rajas to the Sattwa stage.

Different combinations of these qualities account for the various varieties of humans that inhabit the world.

Actually a human goes through all these qualities throughout the day...thus in the Morning men/women are generally Sattwic...during the day...Rajasic and come evening Tamasic...

The Lord felt the desire to become 'Anek' (Many) from 'Ek' (one).  He also wished to become an integral part of 'Anek' (Creation).  So the Lord assumed Appearance in the Form of Creation, though He has no attributes in His Pure Essence.  

Since the Lord is Nirvikaar (Without any form)  He accepted the services of Sat Raj and Tam qualities.  It is under the veil of Sat Raj and Tam that the Lord hides.  The Lord now accepted the Form of : 

Time (Kaal), Action (Karam) and Nature (Svabhaav).

Action or Karam gave birth to 'MahaTatva'  The Main or Primordial attribute.  The quality of Raj (Rajogun) gave it strength.  Gyaan (knowledge) and Dravya (the essence of affluence) joined in.

Thus was born 'Ahankaar' or the Ego.

The Ego or Ahankaar is of 3 kinds.

1. Gyaan Shakti Ahankaar (Ego energy due to Knowledge and/or Wisdom)

2. Kreeya Shakti Ahankaar (Ego due to the Energy of Karma, Action)

3. Dravya Shakti Ahankaar (Ego due to the Energy of Affluence)

Kaaran (Reason for happening), and Taamas Ego gave birth to 'Aakaash' the Sky, Ether, Space. The quality of 'Aakaash' is 'Shabd' Primordial Sound or 'Word'  (The Bible states that first was the 'Word' and the 'Word was with God..)

The Aakaash gave birth to the 'Vaayu' Wind. Its quality is 'Sparsh' Touch. The Wind is the cause of all senses, as it provides 'Jeevan Shakti' in the form of the 'Breath'

Kaal (Time/Death), Karma (Action) and Svabhaav (Nature) gave rise to 'Effulgence' (Tej).

Since the origin of 'Tej' is Aakaash (Ether) and Vaayu (Wind), it enjoys the attributes of 'Shabd' (Word) and 'Sparsh' (Touch).  'Tej' gave rise to 'Jal' (Water)   

Water gave birth to 'Earth'  Its attributes are fragrance (Gandh), Shabd (Word), Sparsh (Touch), Roop (Form) and Ras (Beauty).

The imbalance of Ether, Wind, Water, Fire and Earth would result in the end of the world 'Pralay'  ie. The end of the world would come about by the waters crossing their boundaries, fires erupting etc.

We humans are also made of these 5 elements:  An imbalance in the 5 elements in the body, e.g. too much 'fire' is fever, too much water is phlegm. would result in 'Death'..

The Aatman or Soul is imperishable, but that is another story.

According to the Quran (Mohammed Elyas)

...The Holy book explains the creation of the universe by the use of the word fataq or fission and rataq or fusion. Fataq means the breaking and separation of a body and Rataq is the process of fusing and binding together of the bodies into a homogenous mass. So the heavens and the earth, in the beginning, must have been one entity and subsequently they were separated. The 'Big Bang' theory of creation of the universe corroborates the revelation of the Quran.

The Quran states:

"He comprehended in his design the heavens when it was a smoke" (Fusilat 41: 11). This verse indicates that the heavens in the beginning were just a "smoky mass" before being transformed into various galactic systems of stars and the planets. A modified Big Bang theory the "inflationary theory" describes the original condensed matter as rising from empty space. It reveals the picture of other galaxies being formed by condensation of spiralling celestial cosmic 'mist'.

The expansion of the universe: "With power did we construct the heavens verily; we are continuously expanding it'" (Zariat 51-57)

Expansion of Universe is now observed and established by radiotelescopes...

The Srimad Bhaagvad states: Truth has many aspects. Infinite Truth has infinite expressions. Though the sages speak in diverse ways, they express one and the same Truth.

Al Hallaj states: I have meditated on the different religions, endeavouring to understand them, and I have found that they stem from a single principle with numerous ramifications...

Read: Interfaith Dialogue