Brahmavidya Creation Myth

Nikhilananda:

According to Patanjali, the traditional master of the yoga doctrine, it is not the words of the Vedas that are eternal, but the Knowledge or ideas conveyed through them. This Knowledge, also called the Sphota, has existed always. 

At the conclusion of a cycle both the Sphota and the created universe merge in the undifferentiated causal state, and at the beginning of the new cycle the two together again become manifest. 

The Lord brings forth the universe with the help of the Knowledge of the Vedas. He Himself utters the words that express this Knowledge and confers upon them their appropriate meanings.

That is to say, it is the Lord, the Creator of the universe, who has determined the precise meaning that is to be attached to every Vedic word. He is the first teacher of Vedic truth.

Though the words may be different in different cycles, the ideas conveyed through them remain unalterable: no human intellect can interfere with them. According to Vedanta, the words of the Vedas come from the Lord spontaneously, like a man's breathing.

The Mundaka Upanishad commences with the statement that, in the beginning of the cycle, the Lord taught the Vedas through Brahma, the first created being. 

According to the Puranas, Brahma had been absorbed in meditation on the Supreme Lord, when, through the Lord's grace, there arose in his heart an indistinct sound. This was followed by the sound Om, the Sound-Brahman, which is the essence of the Vedic wisdom. 

Then this sacred syllable transformed itself into the various vowels and consonants of the alphabet. With their assistance Brahma uttered words, and these are what became known to the world as the Vedas. 

He taught the Vedas to his disciples Marichi, Atri, Angira, and others, and thus mankind came to possess the Vedic revelation.

Mundaka 1.1-6

BRAHMA, the Maker of the universe and the Preserver of the world, was the first among the devas. He told His eldest son Atharva about the Knowledge of Brahman, the foundation of all knowledge. 

The Knowledge of Brahman about which Brahma told Atharva, Atharva, in olden times, told Angir. Angir taught it to Satyavaha, belonging to the clan of Bharadvaja, and the latter taught it, in succession, to Angiras.

Saunaka, the great householder, approached Angiras in the proper manner and said: Revered sir, what is that by the knowing of which all this becomes known?

To him he said: Two kinds of knowledge must be known-that is what the knowers of Brahman tell us. They are the Higher Knowledge and the lower knowledge.

Of these two, the lower knowledge is the Rig-Veda, the Yajur-Veda, the Sama-Veda, the Atharva-Veda, siksha (phonetics), kalpa (rituals), vyakaranam (grammar), nirukta (etymology), chhandas (metre), and jyotis (astronomy); and the Higher Knowledge is that by which the Imperishable Brahman is attained. 

By means of the Higher Knowledge the wise behold everywhere Brahman, which otherwise cannot be seen or seized, which has no root or attributes, no eyes or ears, no hands or feet; which is eternal and omnipresent, all-pervading and extremely subtle; which is imperishable and the source of all beings. 

~tr. Nikhilananda