Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c4.2369

c4.2369

BHŪ (Ḥ). In the creation of the world, the Lord broke the beginningless “Aṇḍa” (the primal egg or seed) and from it the sound “Om” emerged. The first sound of it was “BHŪḤ”; the second was “BHUVAḤ”; and the third was “SVAḤ”. So the combination “Bhūr Bhuvaḥ Svaḥ” was formed. Then came the most adorable and superlative effulgence of the creator (Savitā). That radiance dried up all water. A little of the water became a highly viscous substance. This viscous matter gradually solidified and became the earth. Where the aṇḍa originally was the source of that supreme effulgence. As it was the first radiant light, it came to be called Āditya (ādi=first). The great procreator Brahmā seemed to emerge from the centre of the aṇḍa. The garbhajala (the water contained in the aṇḍa) became the oceans and rivers of the world. (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 43).