॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
Tuesday, 4 October 2022 - III.12 - Brahma’s creations. I will cover only 28 shlokas today as the contents are quite interesting. Tomorrow will be the rest, even more interesting!
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The Srimad Bhagavatam is called the Mahapurana. It is a firm belief of Hindus that a study of the Bhagavatam and the practice of devotion to the Lord are sure to give eternal bliss. I also hold the same view. How come the Bhagavatam is so great?
By reading the Puranas, we can use our imagination to map into our own lives the follies and experiences of various protagonists in them, as well as their endeavours for betterment, and their diligent pursuit of ideals of Dharma and Satya (truth), finally leading to liberation. The basic idea is that Ishwara, here, Bhagavan Maha Vishnu, is the Supreme Being, beyond Maya. Everything else comes within the purview of Maya, or His great power of causing delusion. The result is the creation and the process of life, with its many ups and downs.
Since Ishwara is always in charge, He makes sure that good deeds are rewarded, and bad deeds punished. And when one is fed up with the cycle of birth and death and seeks the real truth behind all existence, the Lord (Ishwara) is ever ready to help, and comes Himself or sends his representative as a Rishi or a Guru to help the seeker.
Given that nobody except Ishwara is beyond Maya, we will see what happens even to Brahma and Rudra (Shiva). Those who worship Shiva can easily understand that the effort here is not to belittle Shiva but to show the interplay of Ishwara and Maya. Of course, one can study those scriptures that have a Shiva-centric theme if one so desires. They will show Him to be Ishwara. We already read that Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are but functionaries of the same Ishwara. Finally, let us remember that everything is merely the play of Ishwara!
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Maitreya speaks about the various phenomena and beings that Brahma creates.
Interestingly, the very first things mentioned in Brahma’s creation are the various negative qualities of man. It is like the Poison that came out first, before Amrita, in the churning of the ocean. The hidden message is that we should not abandon the undertaking even when there are early setbacks.
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Brahma, referred to here as Vedagarbha (who holds the Vedas within himself), first created:
ससर्जाग्रेऽन्धतामिस्रमथ तामिस्रमादिकृत्। महामोहं च मोहं च तमस्चाानवृत्तयः॥
दृष्ट्वा पापीयसीं सृष्टिं नात्मानं बह्वमन्यत। भगवद्ध्यानपूतेन मनसान्यां ततोऽसृजत्॥
T: “The very first things Brahma created were the five aspects of man’s ignorance -
Tamas - the non-remembrance of one’s true Self.
Moha - the identification with one’s body as “I”.
Mahamoha - Craving for enjoyment.
Tamisra - Anger when cravings are not satisfied.
Andhatamisra - Feeling any loss of one's possessions as losing oneself.”
When Brahma saw what he had created, he felt disappointed in himself. He went into deep meditation on the Lord, and began to create beings to counteract these negativities in man.
Thus, Brahma created the four great Kumaras - Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana, and Sanatkumara. These four were born with the highest aspirations of spirituality and had no difficulty in directing their sexual energies upwards to a higher plane of consciousness. This is a cardinal principle of Kundalini Yoga that sexual energies have to be lifted upward to defeat the lower tendencies.
Brahma then directed them to start procreating, since the universe had to be populated. But given their own spiritual aspirations, the four Kumaras politely refused, saying that this was not their cup of tea.
This enraged Brahma! His own designs were being thwarted by his own creation!
धिया निगृह्यमाणोऽपि भ्रुवोर्मध्यात्प्रजापतेः। सद्योऽजायत तन्मन्युः कुमारो नीललोहितः॥
स वै रुरोद देवानां पूर्वजो भगवान्भवः। नामानि कुरु मे धातः स्थानानि च जगद्गुरो॥
T: “Brahma tried but could not prevent the rage knitting his brows fiercely. From their midpoint, there emerged a bluish-reddish boy. He was none other than Bhava, the first of the gods that Brahma created (hence called Adideva). The boy cried out aloud, “Oh Creator Lord, oh the Guru of the world! Pray tell me what are my names, and where I should dwell!”
इति तस्य वचः पाद्मो भगवान्परिपालयन्। अभ्यधाद्भद्रया वाचा मा रोदीस्तत्करोमि ते॥
यदरोदीः सुरश्रेष्ठ सोद्वेग इव बालकः। ततस्त्वामभिधास्यन्ति नाम्ना रुद्र इति प्रजाः॥
हृदिन्द्रियाण्यसुर्व्योम वायुरग्निर्जलं मही। सूर्यश्चन्द्रश्तपश्चैव स्थानान्यग्रे कृतानि मे॥
मन्युर्मुनुर्महिनसो महानशिव ऋतध्वजः। उग्ररेता भवः कालो वामदेवो धृतव्रतः॥
धीर्वृत्तिरुशनोमा च नियुत्सर्पिरिलाम्बिका।इरावती सुधा दीक्षा रुद्राण्यो रुद्र ते स्त्रियः॥
T: “Brahma acceded to the boy’s request, and said, in words of great comfort, “Do not cry, oh, child! You are the foremost of the gods, and since you uttered your fierce cry when born, everyone will recognise you as Rudra (रुद् = cry)! I have already assigned your eleven places of dwelling. They shall be in man’s heart, in his senses, his Prana the vital force, the five gross elements (sky, air, fire, water and earth), the sun, the moon, and finally Tapas.”
“Rudra, you shall have many names, too. Manu, Mahinasa, Mahaan, Shiva, Ritadhwaja, Ugraretas, Bhava, Kaala, Vamadeva and Dhritavrata.”
“You shall have many wives - Dhi, Vritti, Usana, Uma, Niyut, Sarpi, Ila, Ambika, Iravati, Sudha, and Diksha.”
Rudra was quite happy. As ordered by Brahma, he got busy and procreated many offspring in his own image in terms of valour and nature. But his progeny became numerous and turned out to be aggressive and even violent to such an extent that Brahma was alarmed.
“Oh, Rudra! Best of gods, enough of this progeny of yours. They will soon burn down everything around including me! Therefore cease to reproduce.”
तप आतिष्ठ भद्रं ते सर्वभूतसुखावहम्
तपसैव परं ज्योतिर्भगवन्तमधोक्षजम् । सर्वभूतगुहावासमञ्जसा विन्दते पुमान्॥
T: “Go and do Tapas. It will be for your own good and for the welfare of all!”
“By Tapas alone does one attain to the Lord, the Supreme Being Adhokshaja, who dwells in everyone’s heart, but is yet hard to know for man.”
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Rudra happily went to the forest for Tapas after circumambulating Brahma out of deep reverence.
Then, endowed with the grace of the Supreme Lord, Brahma proceeded to create ten great children. They were
Marichi - from his mind,
Angirasa - from his face,
Pulah - from his navel,
Pulastya- from his ears,
Vashishtha - from his Prana/breath,
Bhrigu - from his skin,
Narada - from his thigh,
Daksha - from his thumb,
Kratu - from his hand, and
Atri - from his eyes.
From Brahma’s right breast was born Dharma who later begot Nara-Narayana. From Brahma’s back was born Adharma, which is the seat of Death, terrorising the world.
From Brahma’s heart was born desire. From his eyebrows, anger. From his lower lip, greed. From his mouth was born Vak or Saraswati. From his excretory organs were born the ocean and the evil spirit Nirritti. From Brahma’s shadow was born Kardama Prajapati.
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॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
