॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
Wednesday, 5 October 2022 - III.12 - Brahma, Saraswati and his other creations.
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We read before that Brahma, the creative aspect of Ishwara, is full of Rajas. Rajas is required for activity and desire. It has a downside- it provokes passions. We have already seen how Brahma was enraged by the intransigence of the Sanatkumaras. Now we see another side of his.
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वाचं दुहितरं तन्वीं स्वयम्भूर्हरतीं मनः। अकामां चकमे क्षत्तः सकाम इति नः श्रुतम्॥
तमधर्मे कृतमतिं विलोक्य पितरं सुताः। मरीचिमुख्या मुनयो विश्रम्भात्प्रत्यबोधयन्॥
नैतत्पूर्वैः कृतं तद्ये न करिष्यन्ति चापरे। यत्त्वं दुहितरं गच्छेरनिगृह्याङ्गजं प्रभुः॥
तेजीयसामपि ह्येतन्न सुश्लोक्यं जगद्गुरो। यद्वृत्तमनुतिष्ठन्वै लोकः क्षेमाय कल्पते॥
तस्मै नमो भगवते य इदं स्वेन रोचिषा।आत्मस्थं व्यञ्जयामास स धर्मं पातुमर्हति॥
T: Maitreya says:
'We have heard that Lord Brahma had created the goddess of speech, “Vak” or Saraswati. She was so beautiful that Brahma’s mind was captivated. He wanted to cohabit with her! She refused, but he did not relent in his desire.”
“Seeing Brahma’s immoral incestuous desire, his worthy sons headed by Marichi at once dissuaded him, respectfully.”
“Oh Father, Lord, never before or never in future will such an act happen according to Dharma. You wish to cohabit with your own daughter being unable to control the force of Kama (Cupid)!? Oh, Guru of the world, such an act would not suit someone like you! After all, the world is going to follow in your steps as the guide for righteous welfare.”“Indeed, it is only Bhagavan (Ishwara, Maha Vishnu), who has illumined all existence with His radiance, who can uphold Dharma in this moment (of your weakness). We, therefore, pray to Him!”
“Brahma at once realised his great folly. He was so ashamed that he gave up his body! After all, it is the body that expresses feelings like lust. That body disintegrated and cast a gloomy dullness in the skies, filled with fog. That was the beginning of darkness.”
(Note: Saraswati, the goddess of learning, memory, intelligence, knowledge, and fine arts, is called even the source of Vedas as she carried the Vedas as a river to the rishis. She is, to say the least, an esoteric goddess. She is known as Brahma’s wife. Various Puranas cover that part of her story.)
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“At one point, (this narrative is used to divert our minds from what happened), Brahma decided to restore the knowledge to existence as before (in previous aeons). Therefore from his four faces emerged the four Vedas along with the Upavedas. Brahma created the ritual disciplines, the four feet of Dharma, the four Ashramas and their duties.”
(The Ashrama here refers to the phase of a human life - Brahmacharya, Grihasta, Vanaprastha and Sannyasa.)
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At this point, Vidura wants to know from Sage Maitreya what specifically emerged from which face of Brahma.
“Vidura, Brahma created from his eastern face, the Rigveda, from his southern face, the Yajurveda, from his western face, the Samaveda, and from his northern face, theAtharvaveda. In the same order, the detailed disciplines of performing Yajnas, Yajna material specifications, the specific chants for the chanter, and even the details of Prayashchitta (atonement) for lacunae in Yajnas.”
“In the same way, Brahma created Ayurveda (medicine), Dhanurveda (the science of archery), Gandharvaveda (the science of music), and Sthapatyaveda (architecture). He created these in the same order of directions.”
“As the fifth Veda, Brahma created the Puranas and Itihasas. They emerged from all his faces. Several Homas like Shodashi and Vajapeya came from his eastern face.”
“The phenomena of Vidya (education), Dana (charity), Tapas (austerity), and Satya (truth) were created as the four legs of Dharma.”
Maitreya went on to specify details of the activities of each Ashrama mentioned before. Similarly, the science of administration and rulership, the science of agriculture and commerce, and so on were created.
“From Brahma’s heart came the “Om”. The various Vedic metres (Chandas) came from his body. From his hairs (Ushnik), from his skin (Gayatri), from his flesh (Trishtup), from his nerves (Anushtup), from his bones (Jagati), from his fat (Pankti), and from his Pranas (Brihati). His life force became the consonants (Vyanjanas) of Sanskrit, and his body became the vowels (Swaras) of Sanskrit.The letters Ya, Ra, La, Va (Antastha) are his physical power and his senses are the sha, Sha, sa and ha (Ushmana).” That is why Sanskrit (संस्कृतम्) is called the Devabhasha.
स्वरा: सप्त विहारेण भवन्ति स्म प्रजापते: ।
शब्दब्रह्मात्मनस्तस्य व्यक्ताव्यक्तात्मन: पर:।
ब्रह्मावभाति विततो नानाशक्त्युपबृंहित: ॥
T: “The seven notes of the musical scale emerged from Brahma’s sport. The original sound called Shabdabrahma expresses both the manifest and unmanifest sound of Brahma’s soul or creation. Thus the Supreme Being is expressed through the various created forces and phenomena and the deities that rule these phenomena.”
Note: The seven notes in Indian music have positions based on precise ratios. This scale is called the natural scale and yields the 22 Shrutis mentioned in Natyashastra. This is not the case with Western music as practised in the recent period. (See here.) They use the equitempered scale that maintains a space between two notes. The precise natural ratios of frequency positions in Indian music give rise to a resonance which has the same effect as Om. We use a Tambura or Tanpura in our music for this purpose. All Indian music is an expression of Om.
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Wait. Did we not read that Brahma gave up his body in atonement? Then how come all these are listed as created from his body? The answer is provided by Sage Maitreya when he says that indeed Brahma had assumed a new body to progress the act of creation.
Brahma felt that the speed of populating creation was not fast enough, despite the efforts of the various Rishis he had created. (By the way, the lineage of the Rishis is called the Gotra system.)
Perhaps it was all according to the Lord’s will, mused Brahma.
Just then his body split into two parts. Brahma is also called Ka and the splitting is referred to as Kaya (Sanskrit for body). The two parts were male - Svayambhuva Manu and the female- Shatarupa. They cohabited and produced five children - two sons Priyavrata and Uttanapada, and three daughters, Akuti, Devahuti and Prasuti. The daughters were given in marriage to the prajapatis created before - Ruchi, Kardama and Daksha.
This significantly accelerated the process of populating the world.
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॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
