Brahma
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- This article concerns the Hindu creator god, Brahma. For similar terms with different meanings, see Brahman (disambiguation).
Brahma (written Brahmā in IAST transliteration) is the Hindu creator god, and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to Puranas he is self-born (without mother) in the lotus which grows from the navel of Vishnu at the beginning of the universe. He is the husband of Sarasvati. However, being the Creator, all of his "sons" are "manas-putras", or mind-sons, indicating their birth from Brahma's mind and not from his body.
Brahma only occasionally interferes in the affairs of the gods, and even more rarely in mortal affairs. He did force Soma to give Tara back to her husband, Brihaspati. He is considered the father of Dharma and Atri. Brahma lives in Brahmapura, a city located on Mt. Meru.
Brahma is an agent of Brahman, the Supreme Being or Absolute of Hinduism.
Brahma is traditionally depicted with four heads and four faces and four arms. Each head recites one of the four Vedas. The hands hold a water-pot used in creating life, a string of rosary beads used to keep track of the Universe's time, the text of the Vedas, and a lotus flower.
The acquiring of Brahma's heads makes for an interesting legend. When Brahma was creating the universe, he made a female deity known as Shatarupa (one with a hundred beautiful forms). Brahma was immediately infatuated. Shatarupa moved in various directions to avoid the gaze of Brahma. But wherever she went, Brahma developed a head. Thus, Brahma developed five heads, one on each side and one above the others. In order to control Brahma, Shiva cut off the top head. Also, Shiva felt that Shatarupa was Brahma's daughter, being created by him. Therefore, Shiva determined, it was wrong for Brahma to become obsessed with her. He directed that there be no proper worship in India for the "unholy" Brahma. Thus, only Vishnu and Shiva continue to be worshipped, while Brahma is almost totally ignored. Ever since the incident, Brahma has been reciting the four Vedas in his attempt at repentance.
Another legend of the lack of worship of Brahma is as follows: Once, both Vishnu and Brahma approached Siva and requested to find his beginning and end. Vishnu was appointed the end, and Brahma the beginning. Each took their journey, and neither could find their appointed destination. Vishnu, satisfied, came up to Siva and bowed down to him as a swarupa of Brahman. Brahma did not give up so easily. As he was going up, he saw a kaitha flower, dear to Siva. His ego forced him to ask the flower to bear false witness of Brahma's finding Siva's beginning. When Brahma told his tale, Siva, the all-knowing, was angered by the former's ego. Siva thus cursed him that no being in the three worlds will worship him.
There is another legend which relates Brahma's not being worshipped 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 Brahma, he was so immersed in the music played by Saraswati that he could hardly hear Bhrigu's calls. The enraged Bhrigu then cursed Brahma that no person on Earth would ever invoke him or worship him again.
Brahman Jnana is a word used in the Hindu religion. It means knowledge of the supreme or knowledge of Brahman. A person who has this type of knowledge can be considered a highly enlightened person. He may see God in every object he sees, he can talk to God. Brahma gyan can be found in books like Gita, Vedas etc. Brahman Jnana is considered as supreme knowledge in Hindu religion.
See also
External links
- Lord Brahma - The first member of the Brahmanical triad (http://www.rudraksha-ratna.com/hindu_trinity.php)
- Living Brahma and his art (http://www.brahma.tv)da:Brahma
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