Hindu cosmology

Hindu cosmology is the description of the universe and its states of matter, cycles within time, physical structure, and effects on living entities according to Hindu texts.
Matter.
All matter is based on three inert "gunas" (qualities or tendencies):
There are three states of the "gunas" that make up all matter in the universe:
"Pradhana", which has no consciousness or will to act on its own, is initially agitated by a primal desire to create. The different schools of thought differ in understanding about the ultimate source of that desire and what the "gunas" are mixed with (eternal elements, time, "jiva-atmas").
The manifest material elements (matter) range from the most subtle to the most physical (gross). These material elements cover the individual, spiritual "jiva-atmas" (embodied souls), allowing them to interact with the material sense objects, such as their temporary material bodies, other conscious bodies, and unconscious objects.
Manifested subtle elements:
Manifested physical (gross) elements ( pancha bhoota or 5 great elements) and their associated senses and sense organs that manifest:
Time.
Time is infinite with a cyclic universe, where the current universe was preceded and will be followed by an infinite number of universes. The different states of matter are guided by eternal "kala" (time), which repeats general events ranging from a moment to the lifespan of the universe, which is cyclically created and destroyed.
The earliest mentions of cosmic cycles in Sanskrit literature are found in the "Yuga Purana" ( 1st century BCE), the "Mahabharata" ( 3rd century BCE – 4th century CE), and the "Manusmriti" ( 2nd – 3rd centuries CE). In the "Mahabharata", there are inconsistent names applied to the cycle of creation and destruction, a name theorized as still being formulated, where "yuga" (generally, an age of time) and "kalpa" (a day of Brahma) are used, or a day of the Brahman or of Brahma, the creator god, or simply referred to as the process of creation and destruction, with "kalpa" and day of Brahma becoming more prominent in later writings.
"Prakriti" (primal matter) remains mixed for a "maha-kalpa" (life of Brahma) of 311.04 trillion years, and is followed by a "maha-pralaya" (great dissolution) of equal length. The universe (matter) remains manifested for a "kalpa" (day of Brahma) of 4.32 billion years, where the universe is created at the start and destroyed at the end, only to be recreated at the start of the next "kalpa". A "kalpa" is followed by a "pralaya" (partial dissolution, night of Brahma) of equal length, when Brahma and the universe are in an unmanifested state. Each "kalpa" has 15 "manvantara-sandhyas" (junctures of great flooding) and 14 "manvantaras" (age of Manu, progenitor of mankind), with each "manvantara" lasting for 306.72 million years. Each "kalpa" has 1,000 and each "manvantara" has 71 "chatur-yugas" (epoch, "maha-yuga"), with each "chatur-yuga" lasting for 4.32 million years and divided into four "yugas" ("dharmic" ages): "Satya Yuga" (1,728,000 years), "Treta Yuga" (1,296,000 years), "Dvapara Yuga" (864,000 years), and "Kali Yuga" (432,000 years), of which we are currently in "Kali Yuga".
Life.
The individual, spiritual "jiva-atma" (embodied soul) is the life force or consciousness within a living entity. The "jivas" are not created, and are distinctly different from the created unconscious matter. The "gunas" in their manifest state of matter, cover the "jivas" in various ways based on each "jiva's" "karma" and impressions. This material covering of matter allows the "jivas" to interact with the material sense objects that make up the material universe, such as their temporary material bodies, other conscious bodies, and unconscious objects.
The material creation is called "maya" ("that which is not") due to its impermanent (non-eternal), temporary nature of sometimes being manifest and sometimes not. It has been compared to a dream or virtual reality, where the viewer ("jiva") has real experiences with objects that will eventually become unreal.
Through these interactions, a "jiva" starts to identify the temporary material body as the true self, and in this way becomes influenced and bound by "maya" perpetually in a conscious state of nescience (ignorance, unawareness, forgetfulness). This conscious state of nescience leads to "samsara" (cycle of reincarnation), only to end for a "jiva" when "moksha" (liberation) is achieved through self-realization or remembrance of one's true spiritual self/nature.
The different schools of thought differ in understanding about the initial event that led to the "jivas" entering the material creation and the ultimate state of "moksha".
Creation and structure.
According to Richard L. Thompson, the "Bhagavata Purana" presents a geocentric model of our Brahmanda (cosmic egg or universe), where our Bhu-mandala disk, equal in diameter to our Brahmanda, has a diameter of 500 million "yojanas" (trad. 8 miles each), which equals around 4 billion miles or more, a size far too small for the universe of stars and galaxies, but in the right range for our solar system. In addition, the "Bhagavata Purana" and other Puranas speak of a multiplicity of universes, or Brahmandas, each covered by seven-fold layers with an aggregate thickness of over ten million times its diameter (5x1015 "yojanas" ≈ 6,804+ light-years in diameter). The Jyotisha Shastras, "Surya Siddhanta", and "Siddhānta Shiromani" give the Brahmanda an enlarged radius of about 5,000 light years. Finally, the "Mahabharata" refers to stars as large, self-luminous objects that seem small because of their great distance, and that our Sun and Moon cannot be seen if one travels to those distant stars. Thompson notes that Bhu-mandala can be interpreted as a map of the geocentric orbits of the sun and the five planets, Mercury through Saturn, and this map becomes highly accurate if we adjust the length of the "yojana" to about 8.5 miles.
Brahma, the first born and secondary creator, during the start of his "kalpa", divides the Brahmanda (cosmic egg or universe), first into three, later into fourteen "lokas" (planes or realms)—sometimes grouped into heavenly, earthly and hellish planes—and creates the first living entities to multiply and fill the universe. Some Puranas describe innumerable universes existing simultaneously with different sizes and Brahmas, each manifesting and unmanifesting at the same time.
"Rigveda" on creation.
The "Rigveda" presents many speculative theories of cosmology. For example:
According to Henry White Wallis, the "Rigveda" and other Vedic texts are full of alternative cosmological theories and curiosity questions. For example, the hymn 1.24 of the "Rigveda" asks, "these stars, which are set on high, and appear at night, whither do they go in the daytime?" and hymn 10.88 wonders, "how many fires are there, how many suns, how many dawns, how many waters? I am not posing an awkward question for you fathers; I ask you, poets, only to find out?" To its numerous open-ended questions, the Vedic texts present a diversity of thought, in verses imbued with symbols and allegory, where in some cases forces and agencies are clothed with a distinct personality, while in other cases as nature with or without anthropomorphic activity such as forms of mythical sacrifices.
The "Rigveda" contains the Nasadiya sukta hymn which does not offer a cosmological theory, but asks cosmological questions about the nature of the universe and how it began:
Three lokas.
Deborah Soifer describes the development of the concept of lokas as follows:
Fourteen lokas.
In the "Brahmanda Purana", as well as "Bhagavata Purana" (2.5), fourteen "lokas" (planes) are described, consist of seven higher ("Vyahrtis") and seven lower ("Patalas") "lokas".
However, other Puranas give different version of this cosmology and associated myths. The Puranas genre of Indian literature, found in Hinduism and Jainism, contain a section on cosmology and cosmogony as a requirement. There are dozens of different Mahapuranas and Upapuranas, each with its own theory integrated into a proposed human history consisting of solar and lunar dynasties. Some are similar to Indo-European creation myths, while others are novel. One cosmology, shared by Hindu, Buddhist and Jain texts involves Mount Meru, with stars and sun moving around it using "Dhruva" (North Star) as the focal reference. According to Annette Wilke and Oliver Moebus, the diversity of cosmology theories in Hinduism may reflect its tendency to not reject new ideas and empirical observations as they became available, but to adapt and integrate them creatively.
Multiverse.
The Hindu texts describe innumerable universes existing all at the same time, some larger than others, each with its own Brahma administrator with a comparable number of heads. Our universe is described as the smallest with a Brahma of only four heads. The Hindu concept of innumerable universes is comparable to the multiverse theory, except nonparallel where each universe is different and individual "jiva-atmas" (embodied souls) exist in exactly one universe at a time. All universes manifest from the same matter, and so they all follow parallel time cycles, manifesting and unmanifesting at the same time.