Cosmology is a very fascinating subject and each religious school has its own version of the creation, sustenance and dissolution. Most of them appear fanciful and speculative and really tax one's credulity. The scientists, especially, the physicists have their own version based on the astronomical observations. Needless to say, they talk only about physical cosmology. The Master says that the world has existed from time immemorial though some persons have tried to fix the Srishti era. According to the Hindu view creation and dissolution follow each other in endless cycles of the four yugas, creation occurring during Brahma's day which as per the calculations spelt out in the Vishnu Purana works out to be 4.32 billion years (1 billion=1000 million). There is dissolution during the night of Brahma, which lasts an identical duration. The Supreme Being instructs Brahma who does penance for the purpose and brings about the creation through his sankalpa sakti. According to modern cosmological theories of which the Big Bang theory seems to have more acceptance, the material Universe, created in a primeval explosion termed the Big Bang, has existed up to about 15 billion years. The astronomical observations, namely the increasing red shift in the spectrum of the receding galaxies, indicate that the universe was in a super-dense highly condensed form and was infinitely hot at the origin of time. It is held that the universe underwent an inflationary expansion, which is continuing even today though at a significantly reduced rate. An idea of the temperatures involved is gained by noting that at the age of one second it should have been 10 billion degrees hot. Matter was in the state of the primordial soup consisting of its fundamental constituents. At this epoch the elementary particles and subsequently the light nuclei like Hydrogen and Helium started forming through the process of fusion. All it took for this stage to be crossed is a mere three minutes. Further, energy existed primarily in the form of radiation in the early universe and as it cooled progressively matter started dominating. Whether the universe will continue expanding or will start contracting is a tantalizing question for the physicists to answer. The whole thing seems to depend upon the so-called missing mass or invisible matter. It is also a fortuitous affair that the so-called density parameter Omega has been so close to unity permitting not only a near flat universe but also enabling it to keep expanding and survive this long. As per the present estimates the process of contraction, if at all it is permitted by the constitution of the universe, is still another 15 billion years away. In any case the time scales involved are truly astronomical ranging in tens of billion years making very little difference to human beings whose life-span is so infinitesimally small in comparison.

The Master does not concern Himself with the material cosmology. He seems to indicate indirectly that the universe is eternal, it has been existing from time immemorial and the processes of Srishti and Laya continue to follow one another in endless cycles as believed by the Hindus. According to the vision of the Master, perfect calmness prevailed before creation came into action. Even power or force lay frozen at its origin. The only thing before creation was Divinity in its pure and original state devoid of all grossness and solidity and every object was merged in it in essence form. There was only the latent motion near the centre before the creation and the idea of creation was present in it. This may be called First Thought or Motion or Kshoba or vibration or anything for the sake of understanding. It was the ultimate cause of creation and all that was necessary for it. When the time for creation came, the idea which lay in sleeping form in the latent motion matured and churned up the whole motion and created the force or power which rushed out. The subtlest particle got heated up and the coverings started forming from the first day and grossness began to develop due to the increase in intensity and vibrations. By the effect of continuous heating the particles began to come into motion and veil after veil started forming over the Reality which got wrapped up in the coverings like a silkworm in a cocoon.

The stir or Kshoba is a sacred thing next only to God and Prakriti came into existence under its influence, i.e. due to the revolving motion around the centre. This stir, the cause of the cosmic phenomena was brought about by the will of God. At the time of creation power flowed out from the centre in the form of currents creating knots, which could be thought of as congealed or solidified power. When we see the flow of any liquid in the form of surging currents we notice there arise twists and turns with the higher becoming the lower. As the distance from the centre increases, the currents slow down as if it were and gather at one place, the accumulation forming the knots. With the gathering momentum initiated by the stir, actions and reactions continued till objects began to assume individual shapes. As the creation process came into full swing, animate and inanimate objects began to come into existence and the universe got formed. The same root force or stir entered into every being as the chief active force. In man it became the mind at the root of which there is the same dormant will, just as it is in the case of the stir. Thus the human mind is closely identical with the root force or the stir of which it is a part and the functions of the two are quite similar.

'The fire of the Divine which has been burning since the beginning of time has not yet cooled down.' We find this statement as the opening sentence in the commentary on the Ten Commandments of the Master. According to modern physics of the cosmos, the stars are the fiery furnaces in which the nuclear fusion reaction is going on continuously leading to the synthesis of the light nuclei while the heavier atoms, such as, Carbon, Nitrogen and Oxygen are being produced in the massive stars. There are 0ne hundred billion stars in our own milky- way galaxy and there are a hundred billion such galaxies in the visible universe alone. Every day more and more galaxies are being discovered thanks to space borne telescopes like the Hubble telescope. The energy, which is unceasingly at work, is unbounded and its expression in diverse modes is seen to follow strict laws. The Master has referred to the revolving motions near the centre as being responsible for creation. In fact, wherever we look, we find this revolutionary motion occurring in the universe. The galaxies revolve around the galactic centre with the sun also taking part in addition to its spinning around its own axis; the stars, most of them, revolve around each other, the planets move around the sun and so on right into the atom where we find the electrons going around the nucleus. The Master also reveals that heat is the mechanism, which produces grossness and the original state of extreme subtlety is characterized by absolute coolness. Physical science says that there is absolute stillness and no activity at the absolute zero temperature, namely, -273 deg. Centigrade. The kinetic energy is directly proportional to the temperature. When there is heat it causes agitation in matter as well as the mind, which can be considered as subtle form of matter. The Master says that thoughts too have weight depending upon their association, i.e. heavy when linked to matter and light when linked to the spirit or God, the subtlest principle. It is also interesting to note that thought is referred to as vritti or whirl pool having a revolutionary movement, i.e. going round and round the same subject until we pay attention to it and attend to the activity behind it. Manifestation is the outcome of the primary thought, or Kshoba, which has entered into all created things as the root force and predisposes them to take part in it, that is, expand and multiply. As the Upanishad puts it, it is Ekoham bahusyam. The impetus for all motion and thought comes from this root force due to the dormant will behind. The manifestation will continue till the force behind the primary will is exhausted.

The Master concludes by saying that creation was the result of the churning motion, which got activated when the time for change came about, the motion being caused by something which can be called an active force; this force in turn must have a base for itself which can be termed the Ultimate or the Base.