On the third day God commanded the ‘water under the sky to be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear’. God named the dry ground that formed ‘Land’ and the water that had gathered he named the ‘Sea’. Next he commanded that the land produce vegetation that bears fruit and seeds. God created the Sun and the Moon and the Stars on the fourth day. He said ‘Let there be an expanse of sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years’. God made the Sun, ‘the greater light to govern the day’, and the moon, ‘the lesser light to govern the night’. God also created the stars to give light to the Earth.
On the fifth day God created the sea creatures and birds and then blessed them and said ‘Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas and let the birds increase on the Earth’. The sixth day, Gods last day of work, God created animals to live on dry land and then he created man and woman in his own image to rule over all of the animals in the sea, in the air, and on the land. He told both man and woman to ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the Earth and subdue it’. God rested on the seventh day when the ‘Heavens and the Earth were completed in all their vast array’, and God had finished his work.
The Hindu Cosmology however is very different. The story goes that before time began there was no Heaven or Earth there was only a large expanse of water that stretched to the ends of the world. On the sea floated a large Cobra which carried the Lord Vishnu carefully in its coils. Suddenly a loud ‘Aum’ sound filled the air and spread out across the water with a throbbing energy that turned night to day. As night fell a large lotus flower grew from the Lord Vishnu’s navel. It slowly opened up and sat inside was Vishnu’s servant, Brahma. Vishnu then commanded his servant to create the world.
Vishnu and the cobra disappeared and Brahma took the lotus flower and split it into three parts. With the first part he created the Heavens, with the next he created the Earth and with the last he created the skies. The Earth was very bare so Brahma created vegetation, plants and flowers to which he gave feeling. He then created insects, and animals to live on the land, and birds to fly in the sky and fish to swim on the sea. He gave all of these creatures the power to feel and move and the senses of touch and smell. Then Brahma closed his eyes and the lotus flower once again closed over him and the world returned to the endless ocean upon which Lord Vishnu floated on his cobra.
There are many Hindu beliefs that are portrayed in this story. Hindus believe the cyclical motion of things such as the cycle of the seasons, the cycle of day and night and the cycle of reincarnation. The cycle in this story is of destruction and creation. The story also specifically points out the belief that every single living creature has a soul or an Atman when it says that he gave every animal the power to feel and move and all of the senses, which gives a reason for the Hindu belief of reincarnation.