---
type: Concept
bundle: cosmology-creation
bundle_version: "0.7.0"
id: hiranyagarbha
title: "Hiraṇyagarbha — हिरण्यगर्भ"
iast: "Hiraṇyagarbha"
devanagari: "हिरण्यगर्भ"
description: "The 'golden womb' or 'golden embryo': the first manifestation from the unmanifest Avyakta; the subtle-cosmic body of the universe; the totality of all subtle existences before gross differentiation; the Ṛg Vedic cosmic principle named in RV 10.121; equated with Brahmā-as-cosmic-egg in Purāṇic accounts and with Sūtrātman (the thread-ātman) in Vedāntic analysis."
darshana:
  - Vedic
  - Purāṇic
  - Vedānta
school_scope: "RV 10.121 as the oldest named reference; Upaniṣadic identification with Prāṇa and cosmic breath (Chāndogya 3.19; Muṇḍaka 2.1.2); Purāṇic identification with Brahmā-in-the-egg (Virāṇḍa / Brahmāṇḍa); Advaita identifies Hiraṇyagarbha with the subtle-cosmic level between Brahman and Virāṭ"
text_source: "Ṛg Veda 10.121; BhP 3.8.15; Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 2.1.2; Chāndogya Upaniṣad 3.19"
tags: [cosmology, hiranyagarbha, cosmic-egg, brahma, avyakta, srishti, vedic, puranic]
not:
  - term: "equivalent to Brahmā the creator deity"
    why: "Hiraṇyagarbha is the cosmic-subtle totality that pre-exists Brahmā's differentiation function. In Purāṇic accounts, Brahmā emerges from within the Hiraṇyagarbha (the cosmic egg) and then differentiates it. They are sequential stages: Hiraṇyagarbha is the seed, Brahmā's activity is the germination. Some texts use 'Hiraṇyagarbha' as an epithet for the four-faced Brahmā (since he emerges from the golden egg), creating terminological overlap -- but the cosmological concept is the pre-differentiated subtle-cosmic totality."
    instead: "Distinguish Hiraṇyagarbha as 'the cosmic golden embryo (subtle-cosmic totality)' from Brahmā as 'the differentiating creator operating within that totality.'"
  - term: "purely mythological / metaphorical"
    why: "The RV 10.121 Hiraṇyagarbha Sūkta is a genuine cosmogonic inquiry -- the oldest layer of the v0.7 bundle's source texts. The systematic identification of Hiraṇyagarbha with Prāṇa (cosmic breath), Sūtrātman (thread-self), and the subtle-cosmic level in the Upaniṣads and Vedānta shows that the concept was philosophically developed over centuries as a serious cosmological category, not merely a mythological image."
  - term: "the Big Bang singularity"
    why: "Hiraṇyagarbha is the subtle-cosmic body (not a physical singularity), and it is not the absolute beginning -- Avyakta, Māyā, and Brahman precede it. The analogy to a cosmic singularity is tempting given the 'first emergence' framing but is structurally incorrect: the Big Bang singularity has no consciousness; Hiraṇyagarbha is the first form of cosmic consciousness (Cit) at the manifest level."
related:
  - /concepts/srishti.md
  - /concepts/virat.md
  - /concepts/avyakta.md
  - /concepts/brahma-the-creator.md
  - /concepts/brahmanda.md
timestamp: "2026-07-01"
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Hiraṇyagarbha -- हिरण्यगर्भ

**Not:** identical to Brahmā, a Big Bang analogue, purely mythological

## From the Ṛg Veda to the Purāṇas

The oldest reference is RV 10.121 -- the Hiraṇyagarbha Sūkta -- which opens: "In the beginning was the Golden Embryo; being born, he was the sole lord of all that exists..." (hiraṇyagarbhaḥ samavartatāgre bhūtasya jātaḥ patireka āsīt). This is a Vedic cosmogonic hymn that posits a first manifestation -- luminous, unified, the "lord of all that exists" -- as the origin of the manifest world. The repeated refrain "kasmai devāya haviṣā vidhema" ("to which deity shall we offer oblation?") suggests the Sūkta is itself an inquiry into the name of the first principle.

By the Upaniṣadic period:
- **Chāndogya 3.19**: Hiraṇyagarbha as the cosmic egg hatched by the sun -- the first differentiation
- **Muṇḍaka 2.1.2**: identifies Hiraṇyagarbha with Prāṇa (cosmic breath / life-principle at the cosmic scale)

By the Purāṇic period:
- **BhP 3.8.15**: Brahmā (Caturmukha) emerges from within the Hiraṇyagarbha -- the golden egg (Brahmāṇḍa) -- which has manifested on the cosmic waters at the beginning of a Kalpa

## The Sṛṣṭi Sequence: Hiraṇyagarbha's Position

Within the layered Sṛṣṭi framework:

1. Brahman (absolute) + Māyā-Śakti + Kāla (time-activation)
2. **Avyakta** (the Unmanifest: total cosmic potential, undifferentiated)
3. **Hiraṇyagarbha** (the subtle-cosmic: the first emergence, the totality of subtle existences before gross differentiation; also called Sūtrātman -- the "thread-ātman" that strings together all individual subtle bodies like beads on a thread)
4. **Virāṭ** (the gross-cosmic: the expanded, differentiated universal form)
5. **Brahmā** (the differentiating agent who populates the Virāṭ with species, lokas, and beings)

Hiraṇyagarbha is Stage 3: the first moment of manifestation, prior to grossness, prior to differentiation.

## Sūtrātman: Hiraṇyagarbha at the Subtle-Cosmic Level

In Vedāntic analysis, Hiraṇyagarbha = Sūtrātman ("thread-self"): the subtle-cosmic intelligence that coordinates all individual subtle bodies (prāṇamaya and manomaya kośas of all beings simultaneously). Just as a thread passes through all beads in a necklace, Sūtrātman passes through all individual subtle existences as their common subtle substrate.

This is one of the most technically precise uses of the concept: Hiraṇyagarbha is not a separate being but the cosmic-subtle totality that individual subtle bodies are aspects of.

## Audience Metaphor

Hiraṇyagarbha is like the code before it compiles: all the logic of the program is present, structured, interconnected -- but not yet rendered into running processes. Virāṭ is the compiled program running as processes. Brahmā is the programmer who wrote the user-space applications on top of the OS. Hiraṇyagarbha is the OS kernel before any application is loaded: complete, structured, luminous in its own way, the foundation for everything that comes next.

## Citations

1. Ṛg Veda 10.121 -- Hiraṇyagarbha Sūkta; the oldest cosmogonic treatment; see references/rigveda-hiranyagarbha-sukta.md
2. Chāndogya Upaniṣad 3.19 -- Hiraṇyagarbha as the cosmic egg; first differentiation by the sun
3. Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 2.1.2 -- identification with cosmic Prāṇa
4. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 3.8.15 -- emergence of Brahmā from Hiraṇyagarbha (the golden egg on the cosmic waters); see references/bhagavata-purana.md
