collection of different creation myths

Creation of the Universe

Another and more popular version has Vishnu playing an initiating role. This may be because Vishnu had gained prominence amongst the three supreme gods. It goes as follows. In the beginning a vast dark ocean washed upon the shores of nothingness and licked the edges of night. Vishnu was asleep on Seshnag the serpent. At the time of creation the vibrant sound of Om filled the void with energy. The night had ended and Vishnu awoke. As the dawn began to break, from Vishnu's navel grew a magnificent lotus flower. In the middle of the blossom sat Brahma. Vishnu commanded Brahma to create the world. Brahma split the lotus flower into three. He stretched one part into the heavens. He made another part into the earth. With the third part of the flower he created the skies. He filled the earth with landforms and trees and plants and animals and birds and fish.

The Creation according to Hindu mythology is not an event that happened once. Creation and Destruction follow each other without beginning and without end. Some mythologies may have only creation and then the universe continues indefinitely. Other mythologies may begin with creation and end with destruction – there would be nothing before creation and nothing after destruction.

Today even science is not certain how the universe began. Three theories predominate. The Steady State theory says the universe was always essentially as it is now and that is how it will always be. The Big Bang theory says that the universe had a specific beginning. There was nothing before that. Even time began with the birth of the universe. The Oscillating Universe theory is one in which the universe expands to a point, then contracts and collapses into a singularity which then explodes into a new universe, repeating the cycle. This has some similarity with the Hindu mythology model.

We see many cycles in nature. After every day there is a night and after every night there is a day. The same applies to the movement of tides and to seasons. The alignments of stars and planets follow a cyclical pattern. Even the ice ages have occurred periodically. It must have therefore been reasonable to assume that the universe also follows a cyclic pattern