According to modern scientific knowledge, the beginning of material universe is traced back to elementary particles, gases and high temperature/pressure. In other words, the beginning of what we call life is “matter”. This is not surprising because “matter” can be measured and hence scientists state what they collect as physical evidence. This is what we study in school as “truth”.
According to Vedic scientific knowledge, the beginning of material universe is traced back to “false ego”. The Srimad Bhagavatam states that because of “false ego” or "ahankar", Vishnu who is lying on the causal ocean started this creation to satisfy the “false ego” of the individual atomic souls. False ego or ahankar is an indication of spirit (Brahman). According to Vedic science, life is defined as “Brahman” or “spirit soul”. The presence of false ego means the presence of Brahman. In actuality, the spirit soul (Brahman) has an original identity which is the “real and true” ego. But because the spirit soul wants to enjoy without superior order, it is placed in a make-believe world and obtains a make-believe identity. This make-believe identity is what we call false-ego or false-identity. From the creation standpoint, the false-ego of the spirit soul is the beginning of our material universe which also implies “life”. Therefore, from a Vedic perspective, the beginning of time was “life/spirit” and not necessarily “matter”.
The modern scientists are missing the clue that “matter” also implies “life” because matter cannot manifest on its own. For example, the concept of dark matter is mythology if one validates it on physical evidence. But physicists accept dark matter as fact although there is no physical evidence to prove its existence. This is because dark matter impacts things around it and that impact is measurable. So by way of impact, scientists argue there is something that is causing “impact”. Using the same logic, we can argue that matter, explosion etc cannot happen without unlimited energy. Where does that energy come from? What is its source?
From our daily experience, we can get a clue to this question. We know that matter in itself does not emit energy. When a body of matter is set in motion by external force creates momentum releases energy for sustained movement. Once the force is stopped, energy dies, body of matter eventually stops. This means that something "living" has to exert force and not something "dead" or "inert". This "living" which creates force is called "brahman". Similarly, if we extrapolate this idea to the universal scale, there has to be something "living" to assert force on such massive scale to release such massive energy for creation to take place. This explanation is more realistic and grounded in reality versus the complicated models scientists create.
The nature of "brahman" is opposite to the nature of "matter". Matter is visible and measurable. The opposite would mean "brahman" is invisible and not measurable. Therefore, in one sense, brahman represents everything matter does not, so we can also call brahman "anti-matter". But how do we realistically explain the existence of anti-matter? Just as we concluded that dark matter exists by way of its environmental impact it creates, similarly we can conclude the existence of brahman or anti-matter by the force it creates for creation to happen.
Therefore creation begins with brahman or anti-matter!
Hare Krishna
The above pictures depict the catastrophe by an earthquake in Haiti in 2010. The pictures courtesy Yahoo. 
