Who began this universe?

God is dead, but that creates the question: who began this universe?

There is no need for anybody to begin it, because there is no beginning to this universe, and there is no end. This question has been exploited by all the religions, because everybody wants to know who began the universe, because your minds are so small they cannot conceive a beginningless universe, an endless universe, just eternity to eternity. Because you cannot conceive that vastness, your question arises, "Who created the universe? Who began it?" But if there was somebody already to begin it, there was a universe. Do you see the simple arithmetic? If there was somebody already to begin it, then you cannot call it the beginning, somebody was already there. If you think that God is a necessary thing... it gives you consolation that God created the world, so you have a beginning. But who created God? Again you fall into the same problem. And all the…

Question: THIS UNIVERSE, WHICH IS THE SAME FOR ALL, HAS NOT BEEN MADE BY ANY GOD OR MAN, BUT IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN, IS, AND WILL BE -- AN EVERLIVING FIRE, KINDLING ITSELF BY REGULAR MEASURES AND GOING OUT BY REGULAR MEASURES. THE PHASES OF FIRE ARE CRAVING AND SATIETY. THE SUN IS NEW EACH DAY. These two appear two to the mind because the mind cannot see through opposites. When you don't see from the mind, from the logical standpoint, when you simply look into the phenomenon itself, the totality of it, the two disappears and only one remains. That is the thing with God as creator and universe as creation. Not only are ordinary persons deceived by the mind -- great theologians, they are also deceived by it. They also say, "God created the world." This statement is juvenile, it is childish.

Kapil has asked: When did this universe, this life, begin? How did it begin?

This question is very significant in the context of Mahavira as well. It is significant because Mahavira is among those few thinkers who rejected the very notion of a beginning. Mahavira says that a beginning is simply not possible. Existence cannot have a beginning. Existence has always been, and it can never be that existence one day will not be—such a thing cannot be. He denies the very talk of beginning and end. And I agree with him. The notion of a beginning arises out of our own ignorance. Because we have a beginning and an end, we feel that everything must have a beginning and an end. But if we go deep within ourselves, we will discover that we too have neither a beginning nor an end. When we see something come into being and pass away, we conclude that whatever is born must die. That is correct, but…

Question: YOU SAID THE OTHER DAY THAT NO ONE IS INTERESTED ANY MORE IN QUESTIONS LIKE "WHO CREATED THE UNIVERSE?" BUT A RECENT EDITION OF TIME MAGAZINE DEVOTED CONSIDERABLE SPACE TO AN ARTICLE ENTITLED "IN THE BEGINNING: GOD AND SCIENCE." THE BASIC THEME OF THE ARTICLE WAS THAT SCIENCE AND RELIGION HAVE BEEN BROUGHT CLOSE TOGETHER BY THE "BIG BANG" THEORY OF CREATION IN WHICH THE UNIVERSE IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE COME INTO BEING THROUGH A VAST FIREBALL EXPLOSION, FIFTEEN OR TWENTY MILLION YEARS AGO. TIME SAYS THAT THIS SOUNDS VERY MUCH LIKE THE STORY WHICH THE OLD TESTAMENT HAS BEEN TELLING ALL ALONG, NAMELY THAT THE UNIVERSE BEGAN IN A SINGLE FLASHING ACT OF CREATION. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE HYPOTHESIS THAT THE UNIVERSE WAS CREATED, THAT IT HAD A BEGINNING? AND WHY DO YOU ASSERT THAT IT DID NOT?

It is absolute contentment, fulfillment, coming to one's realization of all the potentials that were in the seed form, now they are all have come to be flowers. A great fragrance, a tremendous insight and clarity into things, absolute silence and peace, no desire, nowhere to go... everything is so calm and quiet there is no question, no word at all -- it is a wordless blissfulness. But it is not a goal that I am describing. I hate the word goal. It is good when you are playing football, then you can have goal and goalkeepers, but don't make life a game of football. Life is not a game. This has created a great problem for human beings because whenever somebody has lived totally they had seen the beauty, the rejoicing, the peacefulness, the tremendous quality of contentment. Seeing this they have made it a goal.