THE COSMIC EGG

Modern theorists are uncertain as to the full extent of creation. Although there is a general consensus that the smallest scale of creation corresponds to the Planck scale (10^-33 centimeter), there is an ongoing debate as to whether the Hubble radius (10²⁸ centimeter) represents the largest scale in creation.

The ancients differed from both of these opinions. They held that the created universe is finite, but they did not associate the largest scale in creation with the Hubble radius, which corresponds to the scale of the cosmic red veil. The Hubble radius may represent the largest scale of the local or visible universe, but it does not represent the largest scale of the superuniverse taken as a whole.

In the Vedic tradition the superuniverse was called the brahmanda, “the egg of Brahman” and was viewed as the vast celestial body of the Creator, who was referred to variously as Brahma (the living embodiment of Brahman) and Prajapati (the lord of all creatures). The Vedic seers described the overall extent of the cosmic egg in two different ways:

· In relation to the metaphysical layers

· In relation to the various worlds conceived on the basis of those layers

The seers conceived the cosmic egg as being upheld by the first thirty-three layers above and below the half measure—but these thirty-three layers were viewed as upholding seven different types of worlds called the sapta lokas (seven worlds). In this regard, the seers distinguished between the first three worlds and the subsequent four worlds: The first three worlds, called the tri-loki, were viewed as the three types of mundane worlds bounded by the loka-aloka barrier: the solar worlds, the galactic worlds, and the universal worlds.

Just as the visible universe contains within itself many galaxies and stars, so the superuniverse contains within itself many visible universes, each of which was viewed as a local universal world. Further, all of these universal worlds have an internal observational limit marked by the cosmic red veil. This means that no matter where a physical observer might be located within the superuniverse, he or she will perceive the visible universe as extending no farther than 10²⁸ centimeters from the point of observation. On this distance scale, the distant galaxies become obscured by the cosmic red veil so that nothing beyond can be seen by any empirical means.

Described in terms of the loka-aloka barrier, the cosmic red veil serves to separate the three mundane worlds, the tri-loki, from the four supermundane worlds, called the four alokas, which correspond to four nonlocal worlds that exist above and beyond the cosmic red veil. Unlike the three mundane worlds, which are tied to particular locations within the superuniverse, the four supermundane worlds represent invisible, spiritual worlds tied to particular scales of consciousness within the superuniverse.

In the Vedic literature, the four supermundane worlds were designated by the terms mahah, janah, tapah, and satya. These correspond to the four spiritual heavens that exist above and beyond the lokaaloka barrier and are cognized on the basis of the thirtieth, thirty-first, thirty-second, and thirty-third layers above the half measure, respectively. The highest of these four spiritual worlds was called the world of satya, the world of truth.

According to the Vedic seers, this vast, superuniversal world has the form of a luminous sphere or cosmic egg filled with transcendental light—the type of light that illuminates the spiritual worlds throughout the universe. Although virtual light cannot be observed by any empirical means, it can be observed with the enlightened mind, or the eye of pure consciousness. The four supermundane worlds may be hidden to all unenlightened mortal souls, but they are not hidden to enlightened immortal souls. Upon ascending beyond the highest heaven within the visible universe and traversing the loka-aloka barrier, the enlightened soul has the potential to cognize the four higher spiritual worlds, which are filled with virtual forms of reality. The largest such reality takes on the form of the cosmic egg, the vast luminous sphere within which all local, visible universes abide.

According to the ancient science of the gods, the sphere of the superuniversal world is upheld by the thirty-third layer above the half measure. It follows that the radius of this sphere should be determined by the scale of the thirty-third layer above. The universal rule of thumb gives this as 10³² centimeters—which leads to a prediction regarding the radius of the cosmic egg.

Unfortunately, this scale lies far beyond the observational limit marked by the Hubble radius. If the Vedic seers are correct, the radius of the superuniverse is some ten thousand times larger than the radius of the visible universe. This immensity is mind-boggling.