86 
THE COSMOGONY 
It should be stated that Hindu Pundits do not believe 
that the Vedas contain two or more theories of the creation 
of the world. They maintain that there is only one theory 
viewed from different standpoints. Hence they explain 
*' nonentity " as a state in which name and form (nama 
and rupa) were not developed^ and not absolute nullity like 
that expressed in the phrase " a hare's horns; " and Hiranya- 
garbha born from the " golden embryo " as the abstract 
neuter Brahma assuming personality in the form of the male 
Brahma in order to transform what was neither " nonentity " 
nor " entity " into the visible universe, having names and 
forms, such as earth, sky, and water. This, however, is a 
speculation of a later age, when the simple meaning of the 
hymns had been forgotten and the Hindu mind profoundly 
affected with philosophy. 
(3) Creation, irpooho';, or a phmomenal emanation of the deity. 
When the Sages of the Upanishads had attained the 
highest philosophical unity, when they had merged all 
the elemental gods and all existences, material^ mental 
and spiritual, in one great entity, Atina, Brahma, Prana, 
Purusha, or Sat, there was no room for a real objective 
creation, such as the two we have already considered. What 
we call creation, therefore, was conceived of as a kind of 
phenomenal emanation or illusorj^ manifestation of the one 
great reality. Nothing really exists except the great spirit 
or self, and the universe is nothing more than its manifesta- 
tion, its body, which it draws from its own substance, and 
again absorbs into it as the spider spins forth and draws back 
the thread of its web. " This whole universe is filled by 
this person (Purusha) to whom there is nothing superior, 
from whom there is nothing different, than whom there is 
nothing smaller or larger, who stands alone, fixed like a 
tree in the sky." " By means of thoughts, touching, seeing, 
and passions, the incarnate self assumes successively in 
