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hindu-devotionWe're still mapping where this idea was first discussed. Key passages and related ideas below.

Emission / Creation (Sṛṣṭi)

The pouring-forth — when a world, or just a thought, flows out of consciousness into appearance.

Sṛṣṭi is the act of bringing forth — the moment a world, or even a single experience, flows out of consciousness into appearance. In the Trika picture this is not a craftsman shaping inert matter from outside but awareness spontaneously expressing itself, the way a feeling rises or an image springs to mind. On the personal scale, every fresh perception or thought is a small sṛṣṭi, a flowing-forth of experience from the perceiver's own depths.

Key passages(20)

Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Very high

He knew, 'I indeed am this creation, for I created all this.' Hence he became the creation, and he who knows this lives in this his creation.

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Chāndogya Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

'It thought may I be many, may I grow forth. It sent forth fire. 'That fire thought, may I be many, may I grow forth. It sent forth water. 'And therefore whenever anybody anywhere is hot and perspires

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Aitareya Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Bhagavad-gītā · Vyāsa (Yoga-bhāṣya commentator)

High

Know that these (two Prakritis) are the womb of all beings. I am the origin and dissolution of the whole universe.

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Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Tantrasāra · Abhinavagupta

High

Tantrasāra · Abhinavagupta

High

Chāndogya Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Pragâpati brooded over the worlds, and from them thus brooded on he squeezed out the essences, Agni (fire) from the earth, Vâyu (air) from the sky, Âditya (the sun) from heaven.

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Śiva-stotrāvalī · Utpaladeva

High

Aṣṭāvakra-gītā · Aṣṭāvakra

High

Spanda-kārikā · Bhaṭṭa Kallaṭa

High

Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

That one god, having his eyes, his face, his arms, and his feet in every place, when producing heaven and earth, forges them together with his arms and his wings .

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Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

In that field in which the god, after spreading out one net after another in various ways, draws it together again, the Lord, the great Self , having further created the lords , thus carries on his

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Stotraratna · Yāmunācārya (Ālavandār)

High

Śiva-stotrāvalī · Utpaladeva

High

Paramārthasāra · Abhinavagupta

Moderate

Praśna Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Moderate

He replied: "Pragâpati (the lord of creatures) was desirous of creatures (pragâh). He performed penance, and having performed penance, he produces a pair, matter (rayi) and spirit (prâna), thinking th

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Vijñāna-bhairava · Anonymous (Bhairava Āgama / Tantra)

Moderate

Haṭhayoga-pradīpikā · Svātmārāma

Moderate

Praśna Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Moderate

Then Kabandhin Kâtyâyana approached him and asked: "Sir, from whence may these creatures be born?"

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