Lord Brahma - One of the Trinity

Is the Hindu god (Deva) of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. He is not to be confused with the Supreme Cosmic Spirit in Hindu Vedanta philosophy known as Brahman. His consort is Saraswati, the goddess of learning. Brahmā is often identified with Prajapati, a Vedic deity.

Introduction:

According to Puranas, Brahma is self-born (without mother) in the lotus flower which grew from the navel of Vishnu at the beginning of the universe. This explains his name Nabhija (born from the navel).

Another legend says that Brahmā was born in water. In this he deposited a seed that later became the golden egg. From this golden egg, Brahma the creator was born, as Hiranyagarbha. The remaining materials of this golden egg expanded into the Brahmanda or Universe.

Being born in water, Brahmā is also called Kanja (born in water). Brahmā is said also to be the son of the Supreme Being, Brahman and the female energy known as Prakrti or Maya.

Appearance and Symbolization:

Brahma is usually conceived of by Hindus as a bearded, four-faced, four-armed deity. In popular images, He carries a rosary in the upper right hand, a book in the upper left hand, a kamandalu (water pot) in the lower left hand, and bestows grace with His lower right hand.

The four faces represent the sacred knowledge of the four Vedas (Rig, Yajur, Sama, and Atharva), and this is the most prominent feature of any image of Brahma. The four faces, therefore, symbolize that Brahma is the source of all knowledge necessary for the creation of the universe.

The four arms represent the four directions and thus represent the omnipresence and omnipotence of Lord Brahma.

The four hands represent the four aspects of human personality: mind (back right hand), intellect (back left hand), ego (front right hand), and the empirical self or conditioned consciousness (front left hand).

The rosary symbolizes the time cycle through which the world moves from creation to sustenance, from sustenance to dissolution, and from dissolution to new creation. The rosary also symbolizes the materials used in the process of creation. Its position in the back right hand suggests the intelligent use of these materials in the process of creation.

A book in the back hand (symbolizing the intellect) illustrates that right knowledge is important for any kind of creative work. A water pot (kamandalu) in the front left hand symbolizes the cosmic energy by which Brahma brings the universe into existence. The hand symbolizing ego (the front right hand) is shown in the pose of bestowing grace. This conveys the idea that the Lord bestows grace and protects all sincere devotees.

The color gold symbolizes activity and thus the golden face of Brahma indicates that the Lord is active when involved in the process of creation. The white beard denotes wisdom and the long beard conveys the idea that creation is an eternal process. The crown on the head of the Lord implies that the Lord has supreme power and authority over the process of creation.

The lotus symbolizes the Supreme Reality, the essence of all things and beings in the universe. Brahma sitting or standing on a lotus indicates that He represents the creative power of the Supreme Reality. The color white symbolizes purity. Thus Brahma wearing clothes that are off-white, represents the dual nature of creation, that is purity and impurity, happiness and unhappiness, vice and virtue, knowledge and ignorance, and so on.

In Hindu mythology, a swan is said to possess a unique discriminating faculty, which enables it to distinguish pure milk from a mixture of milk and water. The swan is therefore used to symbolize the power of discrimination. Brahma uses the swan as a vehicle.

This is intended to convey the idea that although creation is pluralistic in nature, there is only one Supreme Reality that the entire universe emanates from. This knowledge can be acquired by an individual by training his mind and Intellect to acquire the power of right discrimination.

As creation is the work of the mind and the intellect, Lord Brahma symbolizes the Universal Mind. From the standpoint of an individual, Brahma symbolizes one's own mind and intellect. Since an individual is naturally gifted with the mind and intellect, he or she may be said to have already realized Brahma.

For this reason the worship of Brahma is not very popular among all Hindus. He is, however, worshipped by seekers of knowledge, such as students, teachers, scholars and scientists.

Brahma with five heads?

Well, again Legend has it; Brahma originally possessed one Head. From a part of his own body, HE created a woman Shatarupa (a face with 100 beauties).

She is also known as Savitri, Brahmi, Saraswati (Goddess of Knowledge), Gayatri (the triple hymn or the Gayatri Mantra), Sandhya. And is the Consort of Lord Brahma.

Brahma fell in love with his own female creation and could not take his eyes off her extraordinary beauty. Shatarupa felt shy and tried to evade his gaze by moving away on all sides. To follow her wherever she moved, Brahma created his 5 heads.

According to the Puranas, Brahma and Vishnu were once arguing over who was superior of the two. They discovered from the Vedas that Shiva was the Supreme Being. Brahma however, spoke disparagingly about Shiva. In anger, Shiva took a form of Mahan kaal (also said as Kaal Bhairab) off Brahma's head, the one at the top.

Why Lord Brahma is less popular/worshiped?

At the beginning of time in Cosmos, Vishnu and Brahmā approached a huge Shiva linga and started to find its beginning and end. Vishnu was appointed the end, and Brahma the beginning.

Each started their journey, Vishnu took the form of a boar and began digging downwards into the earth while Brahma took the shape of a swan and began flying upwards. But neither could them finalize their journey. Vishnu, satisfied, came up to Shiva and bowed down to him as a swarupa of Brahman.

Brahmā did not give up so easily. As he was going up, he saw a kaitha(Parijat)flower that is dear to Shiva. His ego forced him to ask the flower to bear false witness of Brahmā's finding Shiva's beginning.

When Brahmā told his tale to Shiva he was angered by the former's ego. Shiva thus cursed him that no being in the three worlds will worship him.

According to another legend, Brahmā is not being worshipped due to a curse by the great sage Brahmarishi Bhrigu. Once a great fire-sacrifice yajna was being organised on Earth with Bhrigu being the high priest.

It was decided that the greatest among all Gods would be made the presiding deity. Bhrigu then set off to find the greatest among the Trinity. When he went to Brahmā, he was so immersed in the music played by Saraswati that he could hardly hear Bhrigu's calls.

The enraged Bhrigu then cursed Brahmā that no person on Earth would ever invoke him or worship him again.

The most common belief :

The "officially" accepted legend of the temple at Pushkar says that in the process of a hindu rite, Brahma was forced to marry his second wife "Gayatri" because his first wife, "Savitri" had been hoodwinked to come late by their son. Savitri thus cursed the Creator to be worshipped only there.

Vechile (Bahan) :

Brahma's vehicle is a divine Swan. This divine bird is bestowed with a virtue called Neera-Ksheera Viveka or the ability to separate milk and water from a mixture of the two.

The significance of this is that justice should be dispensed to all creatures, however entwined it might be in a situation. Also, this virtue indicates that one should learn to separate the good from the evil and then accept that which is valuable and discard that which is worthless or evil.

Brahma's Wife Saraswati :

The Brahma wife is Sarasawadee who was created by Brahma himself.
Brahma has good disposition; cool-tempered and gives blessing to whoever asks for it. He is full of the four Dharma viz kindness, mercy, sympathy, and impartiality and extends his benevolence to all animals.

In our Buddhist story there is a mention of Brahma at the time He invited the Lord Buddha to preach the teachable animals.

At the time the Lord Buddha rose to heaven to preach his mother who lived in the seconde level heaven, it was Indra and Brahma who accosted him on his way back to earth. Sarasawadee the Brhama wife is held by brahmins as the goddess of the intellect and technical matters.

She is the mother of Phravet and invented the Thevanakree alphabets. Sarasawedee is a beautiful woman with soft-white torso. She has four hands; on her right she carries a bourquet for worshipping Brahma in one hand and a palm-leaved bible in another, on her left is a pearl necklace called Sivamala in lotus dais or a peacock back and sometimes uses hansa as her beast of burden.

Brahma together with Sarasawadee helped create everthing on this earth and Sarasawadee was the creator of Thevanakree alphabets and Sanskrit language. She also loves and supports the Arts and Sciences.