There are two fundamentally opposed views on the subject of Creation. The older, Eastern Traditions of Yoga, Hinduism and Buddhism say that the World was made out of the Creator Himself. The World therefore consists of the same substance as the Creator (that is, Intelligence or Consciousness). By contrast, the newer, Western Traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam maintain that the World is made out of nothing. How can these two apparently contradictory views be reconciled?

First, we must understand that there is a difference between what people believe and what Scripture says. Second, a further distinction must be made between what Scripture appears to be saying and what it really says on closer examination. In the case of the Eastern view (Creation out of the Creator), the situation is very clear. Eastern Scriptures say that "All this was born of God", "God became all this", "This whole World is pervaded with beings that are part of Him", "He is hidden in all things" "All this is perceived (or projected) by Shiva within Himself", "This World, which is a mass of thought, is thought by Him, and in Him it disappears" (see Shvet., Maitri Upanishads, Shiva Purana, etc.), and this is also interpreted as such by their followers.

In the case of the Western view (Creation out of Nothing) the situation is rather more obscure. The fact is that neither the Jewish, nor the Christian, nor the Muslim Scriptures actually say that the World was created from nothing.

And yet, in the year 1215, the Christian Church declared Nothing to be the substance out of which God created the World: "We firmly believe and openly confess that there is only one true God, the one principle of the Universe, Creator of all things visible and invisible, spiritual and corporeal, Who from the beginning of time and by His omnipotent power made from nothing  creatures both spiritual and corporeal, angelic and human" (Fourth Lateran Council, Canon 1).

That this cannot be so, even a child can see. A Spiritual creature such as an Angel, for example, is, by definition, made of Spirit and not of Nothing. To maintain that Spirit can rise out of nothing is to divest it of its true value and meaning. Moreover, since Angels are admitted to be God's own Powers, how can anyone say that they were created from nothing? Such a stance, therefore, is manifestly wrong because it is contrary to Truth and because it creates confusion in the mind of sincere Seekers of Truth.

Strictly speaking, Nothing means no-thing, that is to say, an inconceivable "something" that is non-existent. And if it doesn't exist, then it has no substance, no value, no meaning, and nothing whatsoever can be said about it, let alone create things from it.

If we were to accept - for the sake of argument - that God created the World out of Nothing, this would mean that the Nothing existed prior to the World. If that is so, then the question arises as to whether the Nothing (a) has always existed or (b) was only created prior to the Creation of the World. If (a), then it must be Eternal. But this cannot be since the only Eternal Reality is God. If (b), then it must be explained how or from what the Nothing was created. Was it created from another Nothing, perhaps? If so, where did that other, earlier Nothing come from?

Thus the proponent of Nothing drives himself into a corner from where there is no escape. He must either openly admit defeat and accept the fact that the World is God's Own Projection or Extension into manifest existence, or he may attempt to avoid defeat by interpreting "from Nothing" as intended to mean a stage at which nothing was yet created. However, this interpretation would refer only to a state of being prior to Creation without describing the substance from which the World was created. Hence it does not constitute proof for the purposes of our investigation.

In short, the Out-of-Nothing position is untenable and it must be admitted that the World cannot have been created from Nothing but must have been created from Something. All we need to establish is what that Something is. There are two conditions that must be fulfilled in this process. Firstly, the investigation must be conducted on the basis of Scriptural evidence and secondly, the result must be acceptable to rational people.

Beginning with the first condition, we may observe that all major religions or their Scriptures, admit that (1) in the beginning, God alone existed and (2) everything comes from God.

Now, if nothing else existed apart from God (not even the Nothing discussed above) then He must have created the World out of Himself.

To say that the World was created from something other than God, would give rise to a whole string of problems of which we may enumerate a few: (1) it would demand an explanation as to what that Something is, where it comes from, what are its attributes, etc.; (2) it would amount to denying the Unity of Life; (3) it would force God to assume a limited position to make place for a second Reality; (4) it would make God dependent on external factors and undermine His Omnipotence; (5) it would make the Creation fundamentally different from God and hence incapable of experiencing Unity with the Creator. And last, but not least, such a position would contradict the Scriptures and thereby disqualify itself as Scriptural teaching.

On the other hand, if we admit that the World was indeed created by God out of Himself, then the following will happen: (1) we will remain true to the evidence of Scripture; (2) we will be true to the Unity of Life; (3) we will be true to the Supremacy and Omnipotence of God; (4) we will be true to Reason which was given to us by God for the purpose of finding Truth; (5) we will rest assured that, being consubstantial with, or essentially of the same substance as, God we are capable of experiencing Unity with Him. Finally, we will establish harmony between all the various religions of the World. All this would be a formidable accomplishment indeed, and an unparalleled contribution to Unity and Peace on Earth!

We have already observed that nowhere do the Scriptures state that God created the World out of Nothing. So let us see what the Scriptures really say. Says the Bible: "God is Light and in Him is no darkness at all" (1 John, 1:5); "All things were made by Him; and there was nothing without (outside of, beside) Him. In Him was Life and the Life was the light of men" (John 1:3-4). The Essenes of Qumran, an important faith originated in pre-Christian Palestine with close links to Christianity, taught that: "From the God of Knowledge comes all that is and shall be" (The Community Rule, IQS 3,15). The Bible says: "All things are of Him and through Him and for Him" (Rom. 11:36).

The Quran says: "All things in Heaven and on Earth are from Him and to Him all things return" (3:109); "Whichever way you turn there is the Face of God: He is Omnipresent and All-Knowing" (2:115). And again the Bible: "There is but One God, the Father (Creator), from Whom are all things and we in Him" (1 Cor. 8:6); "In Him all things hold together" (Col. 1:16-17); "In Him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts. 17:28), etc. The great puzzle which is Mankind's diverse religious heritage begins to fall into place when all the key passages in the various Scriptures are put together to form a harmonious whole!

That God created the World out of Himself is even more clearly expressed in the Scriptures of the Ancient Egyptians, where it is said: "I am a Spirit who came into being and was created out of the Body of God, I am one of the Gods who dwell in the sunshine, whom God created from His Own Flesh (that is, out of Himself)", etc. (The Chapters of Coming-forth by Day).

Since the Egyptian is the oldest among Western traditions, it is also the closest to the Original Revelation which today is most faithfully represented by the Eastern (Indian) faiths, having only survived in a diluted and often misinterpreted form in the West. This Original Revelation (Adi Dharma) teaches that God created the World out of Himself, there being nothing else beside Him.

The fact is that God is Light: the Light of Knowledge, of Consciousness, of Intelligence. And there is nothing else beside. Since we are created out of that Light, this means that Man and the World are consubstantial with God, that is, consisting of essentially the same substance as God. Are we not intelligent beings and the Creation of the One Supreme Intelligence? We are lights from the Light of God. Or, as Scripture declares, we are "sparks from the Divine Light".

The Scriptures of Ancient Egypt likewise say: "I am a Great One, the son of a Great One, I am a Flame, the son of a Flame. I indeed am the Great God, Lord of Eternity". Again, since nothing exists apart from the Light of God, it follows that all created things come into being, exist and pass away, within that Light. Is God not Omnipresent? Is He not everywhere? Wherever we look, there is God, manifested as a multitude of things.

This position is in full agreement with Eastern, Dharmic (Dharma-based) traditions such as Yoga, Hinduism and Buddhism which teach the Unity and essential Identity of Man, World and God. As we have just shown, it is also in agreement with the Scriptures of the Western faiths. Those who claim that God created the World out of Nothing or from a substance other than Himself or that we exist somewhere outside of God, contradict not only reason but also their own Scriptures and create problems that are as unnecessary as they are impossible to solve.

Now the purpose of true religion is not to create problems but to solve them. And this is exactly what Yoga with its insistence on Absolute Unity does. Even modern Science is beginning to accept the essential Unity of everything. Indeed, Reality can only be known from the perspective of Unity. A divisive, fragmentary perspective can only result in fragmentary knowledge of Reality. Therefore, the perspective of Unity alone enables us to correctly understand all religious traditions of the World and recognise the One Eternal Truth behind their superficial differences.

The Unitive Perspective of Yoga even makes sense of the Western Creation-out-of-Nothing view. From the perspective of Yoga, this view simply represents a corruption of the Yogic teaching of Emptiness which says that the state immediately preceding Creation was Emptiness (Shunyata): in the same way as a lake without fish and other forms of visible life may be said to be empty even though it is full of water, or as a hall may be said to be empty (of people and objects) even though it is full of light and air, or as the human mind may be said to be empty prior to the conception of a thought even though it is full of intelligence, that is, the power to know and to think, so also the Universe prior to Creation may be said to be empty of created things even though it is full of the Light of God.

In Yoga, Emptiness has another sense also, namely, that from the perspective of God the World is empty of things other than Himself Who experiences all things as One with Himself and hence "empty" or devoid of separate existence. An admission to this fact is found even in the Western Scriptures such as the Bible, where it is said that in the beginning, "the Earth was without form and empty" (Genesis 1:1).

Thus, far from being "Nothing", Spiritual Void or Emptiness (Shunyata) is really Objectless Consciousness. It is a Higher Form of Intelligence devoid of created or manifested things yet containing in itself the potentiality of all conceivable and inconceivable things. It is God's Own Undifferentiated, Formless Intelligence out of which anything and everything may be born or produced according to His Own Free and Independent Will.

This apparent Emptiness when incorrectly understood can give rise to the negative and erroneous notion of Nothing. In reality, however, there is no such thing as a Nothing out of which the World could have been Created.

Finally, the expression Out of Nothing can also be taken metaphorically as an illustration of God's Infinite Power and a reminder of the creature's absolute dependence upon Him: Creation is Nothing without the Creator. This is a fact which nobody can reasonably deny.