THE UNBORN CREATOR
According to the Vedic texts, the seven cosmic seers do not act independently from each other; they act as a single cosmic being referred to as Svayambhu, the Self-Existent One.
Svayambhu represents the unborn Creator of the universe and the higher self of Brahma, the born Creator.
Whereas the awareness of Brahma is stationed in the lowest and most concrete of the seven shells, corresponding to the shell of cosmic earth, the awareness of Svayambhu is stationed in the highest and most abstract of the seven shells, corresponding to the shell of cosmic intelligence. Therefore, the unborn and born Creators represent two ends of the same sevenfold spectrum.Unlike the born Creator (Brahma), who conceives his cosmic body in terms of the created form of the cosmic egg manifested over the spectrum of the first thirty-two layers, the unborn Creator (Svayambhu) conceives his cosmic body in terms of the uncreated form of the cosmic egg manifested over the spectrum of the subsequent seven layers, corresponding to the seven shells. Because the body of Brahma corresponds to the created form of the universe, he was viewed as the born Creator, and because the body of Svayambhu corresponds to the uncreated cosmic shells, he was viewed as the unborn Creator. In the final analysis, however, these two aspects of the Creator are one. The Manu Smriti tells us that Lord Svayambhu himself was born as Lord Brahma:
This [universe] existed in the shape of darkness, unperceived, destitute of distinctive marks, unattainable by reasoning, unknowable, wholly immersed, as it were, in deep sleep. Then the divine Svayambhu [the unborn Creator], indiscernible, [but] making [all] this, the great [primordial] elements and the rest, discernible, appeared with irresistible [creative] power, dispelling the darkness. He who can be perceived by the internal organ [of the mind alone], who is subtle, indiscernible, and eternal, who contains all created beings and is inconceivable, shone forth of his own [will].
He, desiring to produce beings of many kinds from his own Self, first with a thought conceived the cosmic waters and placed his seed in them. That [seed] became a golden egg, in brilliancy equal to the sun; in that [egg] he [Svayambhu] himself was born as Lord Brahma, the progenitor of the whole world.4Lord Svayambhu was born as Lord Brahma while yet remaining unborn. The emergence of the cosmic egg from the fields of uncreated mind stuff does not destroy the fields of mind stuff. The uncreated cosmic shells continue to exist along with the created form of the universe, which is born from them. Although the awareness of the unborn Creator embraces all seven cosmic shells, his highest station corresponds to the shell of cosmic intelligence, which is upheld by the thirty-ninth layer above the half measure.
A similar understanding can be found in the Hebrew tradition of kabbalah in which the unborn Creator was called YHVH (Jehovah). Jehovah is likened to the cosmic lord (elohim) who presides over the thirty-ninth sephirothic emanations in the ascending direction. In other words, he represents the presiding deity of the thirty-ninth layer above the half measure. This is the highest station of the unborn Creator, who is identified primarily with the outermost shell of the cosmic egg, though the unborn Creator is actually sevenfold.
In Hebrew, the name of the unborn Creator is represented by the four Hebrew consonants y, h, v, and h (YHVH), which form the tetra-gammon (or four-lettered name of God). It is understood traditionally, however, that the tetra-gammon is actually sevenfold due to the unwritten vowels that lie between the consonants. For example, when transliterated in English, the Hebrew YHVH becomes Jehovah, which consists of seven letters. These represent the seven aspects of the unborn Creator—the seven cosmic shells upheld by the thirty-third through the thirty-ninth layers. These seven layers constitute collectively the sevenfold soul of Jehovah, the unborn Creator.