Anda

Anda

अण्ड, aṇḍa

Anda is translated as "egg" or "seed", in scriptures of Hinduism it acts as an epithet of the Universe – Brahmanda. “Chandogya Upanishad” (3.19) explains the creation of the world from an egg in this way:

“1. The sun is Brahman, this is the instruction. Here is his explanation. In the beginning, this [world] was non-existent. It has become existing. He began to grow. He turned into an egg. It has been lying for a year. It split. Of the two halves of the eggshell, one was silver, the other – golden.

2. The silver [half] is this earth, the golden one is the sky, the outer shell is the mountains, the inner shell is clouds and fog, the vessels are rivers, the liquid in the embryo is the ocean.

3. And what was born is the sun.”

In the first book of “Mahabharata”, Suta, a disciple of Vyasa, told Muni in Naimisaranya about the creation of the universe:

“In the beginning, in the dense universal darkness, the first seed of life (anda) appeared.”

“Matsya Purana” says:

“The golden egg-shaped anda arises from Ishvara’s seed and reaches yoni (prakriti), who is the embodiment of Narayana, over a period of a thousand years. Further, the creation appears in the form of heaven and earth, and akasha in the middle of them.”

Metaphysics of Kashmiri Shaivism

Kashmiri Shaivism views the universe as consisting of four spheres (andas), each of which includes a number of primary substances (tattvas). The four andas are manifested through the deployment of Shiva’s divine inner forces. Beyond all andas is shiva-tattva, which is the basis and essential nature of the rest of tattvas.

nija-śakti-vaibhava-bharād aṇḍa-catuṣṭayam idaṃ vibhāgena । 

śaktir māyā prakṛtiḥ pṛthvī ceti prabhāvitaṃ prabhuṇā 

Overflowing with splendor and power [inherent to Him] Nija-sakti, the almighty Lord divided this [universe] into four andas: shakti, maya, prakriti and prithvi.

“Paramarthasara”, 4

For the sake of knowing the fullness of his potential, Shiva begins to open outward from the state of the unmanifested Absolute (emptiness) until the formation of a dual Universe – the material world. This process can be described in the following steps:

• Shakti-anda, which is called "pure creation." Shiva’s divine nature is not yet obscured by the grosser manifestations of his creative power – Shakti. At this stage, duality appears only conceptually. Shakti here gradually unfolds from ananda-shakti (bliss) to iccha-shakti (will power), jnana-shakti (knowledge power) and kriya-shakti (action power), thus producing the basis for dual creation. This anda contains all the shuddha-tattvas (except the first, shiva-tattva): shakti-tattva, sadashiva-tattva, ishvara-tattva and shuddha-vidya-tattva.
• Maya-anda, here the original purity of Shiva’s divine nature, existing at the stage of Shakti-anda, is covered by five restrictions (kanchuka). Thus, the infinite, eternal, self-perfected, omniscient and omnipotent God’s nature becomes limited in space (niyati) and time (kala), conditioned by desires and attachments (raga), bound in knowledge (vidya) and power of action (kalA). This anda contains seven tattvas: from maya-tattva to purusha-tattva.
• Prakriti-anda characterizes the world as it is perceived at the level of consciousness familiar to us. Purusha (a separate subject) is already manifested here, including: prakriti, buddhi (intellect), ahamkara (ego), manas (sensual mind), jnanendriya (five sense organs), karmendriya (five organs of action), tanmatra (five subtle elements ) and mahabhutas (four physical elements, excluding earth: akasha-tattva, vayu-tattva, tejas-tattva and jala-tattva).
• Prithvi-anda is solid matter, the finale of creation. There is only one tattva in this anda: prithvi-tattva (earth, one of the five mahabhutas). This tattva is special because it contains all the other tattvas and is the dwelling place of Kundalini-shakti.