How Did the Universe Begin?
The origin of the universe has fascinated humanity for as long as we’ve had the capacity to ask big questions. Where did we come from? What started it all? Was it a divine act or a cosmic accident?
Modern science and ancient Vedic philosophy offer very different answers but if you see the both aim to illuminate the greatest mystery of all creation itself.
Let’s we travel through time, physics, and metaphysics to explore how these two worldviews describe the birth of are universe and everything.
The Scientific Story: The Big Bang
In the modern cosmology, the prevailing theory is the Big Bang. Roughly it 13.8 billion years ago event, the universe exploded into existence from a single, unimaginably hot and dense point called a singularity.
This moment marked the beginning of space, time, matter, and energy. Before that, there was no, means nothing was “before” because time itself didn’t exist.
As the universe expanded, matter cooled, galaxies formed, stars ignited, and eventually, our loved little blue planet came to life. It’s a breath taking, math driven model supported by cosmic background radiation, redshift data, and quantum physics.
But despite all our equations and telescopes, science still can’t explain why the Big Bang happened or what came “before.” The cause is a mystery. A silence. An unanswered question.
The Vedic View: Creation Through Consciousness
Long before Hubble discovered the expanding universe, the ancient Vedas texts written over 5,000 years ago offered a strikingly different origin story. One that doesn’t begin with matter, but with consciousness.
In the Vedic philosophy, the universe arises from Brahman the infinite, formless, eternal source. Brahman is not a god in the traditional sense. It is pure awareness, beyond space and time, beyond creation and destruction.
From Brahman comes Māyā, we can tell “The Matrix” the divine creative force that projects the illusion of the universe space, time and individuality. Creation, in this view, is not an event, but a cosmic unfolding.
If we see in Vedas the Nasadiya Sukta of the Rig Veda the “Hymn of Creation” beautifully captures this uncertainty:
“न सदासीन्नो सदासीत्तदानीं नासीद्रजो नो व्योमा परो यत् ।”
“Then was neither non existence nor existence: there was no realm of air, no sky beyond it… Even the sages admitted: the origin is mystery. Maybe even the gods don’t know.
Creation as a Cycle: Not a One-Time Event
Unlike the Big Bang’s one shot origin, The Vedic cosmology sees creation as cyclical with endless cycles of birth, preservation, and dissolution.
These cycles are governed by the trinity of:
- Brahma – the creator
- Vishnu – the preserver
- Shiva – the destroyer
Each universe (or Kalpa) lives for billions of years, then dissolves into Brahman only to be born again. In this view, there’s no “start” or “end,” just eternal rhythm journey of Universe.
The modern physics has started to play with similar ideas like the cyclic model, or multiverse theory, where multiple universes rise and fall eternally.
Science Meets Spirit: Are They So Different?
At first glance, the science and Vedanta seem worlds apart. One speaks in equations of the other in metaphors. One focuses on how, the other on why.
But look deeper—and they start to rhyme.
Science says time and space began at the Big Bang. Vedanta says time and space are illusions projected by Māyā.
Science struggles to define the singularity. Vedanta calls it Brahman—indescribable, formless, beyond logic.
Science sees order emerge from chaos. Vedanta sees the cosmos arise from the stillness of consciousness.
Maybe they’re two languages trying to describe the same truth—a mystery both mathematical and mystical.
Leaf Reflection
Whether you resonate with the cold elegance of physics or the poetic depth of the Vedas, one thing is certain: we come from something vast, unknowable, and awe-inspiring.
We are born from silence, from star-stuff, from sacred sound.
Maybe from all of them at once.
Because the question isn’t just how the universe began—but how we begin to see it.
