Brahma - the truth
Brahma (Sanskrit: ब्रह्मा,
IAST: Brahmā) is a creator god in Hinduism. He has four faces. Brahma is also
known as Svayambhu (self-born),Vāgīśa (Lord of Speech), and the creator of the
four Vedas, one from each of his mouths. Brahma was consort of Saraswati and he
is father of Four Kumaras Narada and Daksha.
Brahma is sometimes identified with the Vedic god Prajapati,
he is also known as Vedanatha (god of Vedas), Gyaneshwar (god of Knowledge),
Chaturmukha (having Four Faces) Svayambhu (self born), Brahmanarayana (half
Brahma and half Vishnu), etc, as well as linked to Kama and Hiranyagarbha (the
cosmic egg). He is more prominently mentioned in the post-Vedic Hindu epics and
the mythologies in the Puranas. In the epics, he is conflated with Purusha.
Although, Brahma is part of the Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva Trimurti, ancient Hindu
scriptures mention multiple other trinities of gods or goddesses which do not
include Brahma.
Several Puranas describe him as emerging from a lotus, connected
to the navel of Lord Vishnu. Other Puranas suggest that he is born from Shiva
or his aspects, or he is a supreme god in diverse versions of Hindu mythology.
Brahma, along with other deities, is sometimes viewed as a form (saguna) of the
otherwise formless (nirguna) Brahman, the ultimate metaphysical reality in
Vedantic Hinduism. In an alternate version, some Puranas state him to be the
father of Prajapatis.
Brahma does not enjoy popular worship in present-age
Hinduism and has lesser importance than the other members of the Trimurti,
Vishnu and Shiva. Brahma is revered in ancient texts, yet rarely worshiped as a
primary deity in India India ;
the most famous being the Brahma
Temple India ,
such as at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok
Origin and meaning
The origins of Brahma are uncertain, in part because several
related words such as one for Ultimate Reality (Brahman), and priest (Brahmin)
are found in the Vedic literature. The existence of a distinct deity named
Brahma is evidenced in late Vedic text. A distinction between spiritual concept
of Brahman, and deity Brahma, is that the former is a genderless abstract
metaphysical concept in Hinduism, while the latter is one of the many masculine
gods in Hindu tradition. The spiritual concept of Brahman is far older, and
some scholars suggest deity Brahma may have emerged as a personal conception
and visible icon of the impersonal universal principle called Brahman.
In Sanskrit grammar, the noun stem brahman forms two
distinct nouns; one is a neuter noun bráhman, whose nominative singular form is
brahma; this noun has a generalized and abstract meaning.
Contrasted to the neuter noun is the masculine noun brahmán,
whose nominative singular form is Brahma.This singular form is used as the
proper name of the deity, Brahma.
History
Vedic literature
One of the earliest mentions of Brahma with Vishnu and Shiva
is in the fifth Prapathaka (lesson) of the Maitrayaniya Upanishad, probably
composed in late 1st millennium BCE. Brahma is first discussed in verse 5,1,
also called the Kutsayana Hymn, and then expounded in verse 5,2.
In the pantheistic Kutsayana Hymn, the Upanishad asserts
that one's Soul is Brahman, and this Ultimate Reality, Cosmic Universal or God
is within each living being. It equates the Atman (Soul, Self) within to be
Brahma and various alternate manifestations of Brahman, as follows, "Thou
art Brahma, thou art Vishnu, thou art Rudra (Shiva), thou art Agni, Varuna,
Vayu, Indra, thou art All."
In the verse (5,2), Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are mapped into
the theory of Guṇa, that is qualities, psyche and innate tendencies the text
describes can be found in all living beings.This chapter of the Maitri Upanishad
asserts that the universe emerged from darkness (Tamas), first as passion
characterized by action qua action (Rajas), which then refined and
differentiated into purity and goodness (Sattva). Of these three qualities,
Rajas is then mapped to Brahma, as follows:
Now then, that part of him which belongs to Tamas, that, O
students of sacred knowledge (Brahmacharins), is this Rudra.
That part of him which belongs to Rajas, that O students of
sacred knowledge, is this Brahma.
That part of him which belongs to Sattva, that O students of
sacred knowledge, is this Vishnu.
Verily, that One became threefold, became eightfold,
elevenfold, twelvefold, into infinite fold.
This Being (neuter) entered all beings, he became the
overlord of all beings.
That is the Atman (Soul, Self) within and without – yea,
within and without!
Maitri Upanishad 5.2,
While the Maitri Upanishad maps Brahma with one of the
elements of Guṇa theory of Hinduism, the text does not depict him as one of the
trifunctional elements of the Hindu Trimurti idea found in later Puranic
literature.
Post-Vedic, Epics and
Puranas
The post-Vedic texts of Hinduism offer multiple theories of
cosmogony, many involving Brahma. These include Sarga (primary creation of
universe) and Visarga (secondary creation), ideas related to the Indian thought
that there are two levels of reality, one primary that is unchanging
(metaphysical) and other secondary that is always changing (empirical), and
that all observed reality of the latter is in an endless repeating cycle of
existence, that cosmos and life we experience is continually created, evolved,
dissolved and then re-created. The primary creator is extensively discussed in
Vedic cosmogonies with Brahman or Purusha or Devi among the terms used for the
primary creator, while the Vedic and post-Vedic texts name different gods and
goddesses as secondary creators (often Brahma in post-Vedic texts), and in some
cases a different god or goddess is the secondary creator at the start of each
cosmic cycle (kalpa, aeon).
Brahma is a "secondary creator" as described in
the Mahabharata and Puranas, and among the most studied and described. Born
from a lotus emerging from the navel of Vishnu, Brahma creates all the forms in
the universe, but not the primordial universe itself. In contrast, the
Shiva-focussed Puranas describe Brahma and Vishnu to have been created by
Ardhanarishvara, that is half Shiva and half Parvati; or alternatively, Brahma
was born from Rudra, or Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma creating each other cyclically
in different aeons (kalpa). Thus in most Puranic texts, Brahma's creative
activity depends on the presence and power of a higher god.
In the Bhagavata Purana, Brahma is portrayed several times
as the one who rises from the "Ocean
of Causes
The Puranas describe Brahma as the deity creating time. They
correlate human time to Brahma's time, such as a mahākalpa being a large cosmic
period, correlating to one day and one night in Brahma's existence.
The stories about Brahma in various Puranas are diverse and
inconsistent. In Skanda Purana, for example, goddess Parvati is called the
"mother of the universe", and she is credited with creating Brahma,
gods and the three worlds. She is the one, states Skanda Purana, who combined
the three Gunas - Sattva, Rajas and Tamas - into matter (Prakrti) to create the
empirically observed world.
The Vedic discussion of Brahma as a Rajas-quality god
expands in the Puranic and Tantric literature. However, these texts state that
his wife Saraswati has Sattva (quality of balance, harmony, goodness, purity,
holistic, constructive, creative, positive, peaceful, virtuous), thus
complementing Brahma's Rajas (quality of passion, activity, neither good nor
bad and sometimes either, action qua action, individualizing, driven, dynamic).
Iconography
Brahma is traditionally depicted with four faces and four
arms. Each face of his points to a cardinal direction. His hands hold no
weapons, rather symbols of knowledge and creation. In one hand he holds the
sacred texts of Vedas, in second he holds mala (rosary beads) symbolizing time,
in third he holds a sruva or shruk — ladle types symbolizing means to feed
sacrificial fire, and in fourth a kamandalu – utensil with water symbolizing
the means where all creation emanates from. His four mouths are credited with
creating the four Vedas. He is often depicted with a white beard, implying his
sage-like experience. He sits on lotus, dressed in white (or red, pink), with
his vehicle (vahana) – hansa, a swan or goose – nearby.
Chapter 51 of Manasara-Silpasastra, an ancient design
manual in Sanskrit for making Murti and temples, states that a Brahma statue
should be golden in color.The text recommends that the statue have four faces
and four arms, have jata-mukuta-mandita (matted hair of an ascetic), and wear a
diadem (crown). Two of his hands should be in refuge granting and gift giving
mudra, while he should be shown with kundika (water pot), akshamala (rosary),
and a small and a large sruk-sruva (laddles used in yajna ceremonies). The text
details the different proportions of the murti, describes the ornaments, and
suggests that the idol wear chira (bark strip) as lower garment, and either be
alone or be accompanied with goddesses Sarasvati on his right and Gayatri on
his left.
Brahma's wife is the goddess Saraswati. She is considered to
be "the embodiment of his power, the instrument of creation and the energy
that drives his actions". In some texts Gayatri is considered as second
wife of Lord Brahma.
Very few temples in India
are primarily dedicated to Lord Brahma and his worship.The most prominent Hindu
temple for Brahma is the Brahma
Temple
Brahma is also worshipped in temple complexes dedicated to
the Trimurti: Uthamar Kovil, Ponmeri Shiva Temple ,
in Tirunavaya, the Thripaya Trimurti Temple
and Mithrananthapuram
Trimurti Temple Kumbakonam ,
in Kodumudi and within the Brahmapureeswarar
Temple
There is a temple dedicated to Brahma in the temple town of Srikalahasti Bangalore village
of Carambolim
A famous icon of Brahma exists at Mangalwedha, 52 km from
the Solapur district of Maharashtra and in Sopara near Mumbai. There is a
12th-century temple dedicated to him in Khedbrahma, Gujarat and also a Brahma Kuti Temple in Kanpur Temples
southeast asia
A shrine to Brahma can be found in Cambodia Indonesia
A statue of Brahma is present at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok , Thailand Thailand
The name of the country Burma
Brahma is a popular deity in Chinese folk religion and there
are numerous temples devoted to the god in China
and Taiwan
Brahma is known in Chinese as Simianshen (四面神,
"Four-Faced God"), Tshangs pa in Tibetan and Bonten in Japanese.
Difference between Brahma, Brahman, Brahmin and Brahmanas
Brahma (Sanskrit: ब्रह्मा, brahmā) is distinct from Brahman. Brahma is a male deity,
in the post-Vedic Puranic literature, who creates but neither preserves nor
destroys anything. He is envisioned in some Hindu texts to have emerged from
the metaphysical Brahman along with Vishnu (preserver), Shiva
(destroyer), all other gods, goddesses, matter and other beings. In theistic
schools of Hinduism where deity Brahma is described as part of its cosmology,
he is a mortal like all gods and goddesses, and dissolves into the abstract
immortal Brahman when the universe ends, then a new cosmic cycle (kalpa)
restarts. The deity Brahma is mentioned in the Vedas and the Upanishads but is
uncommon, while the abstract Brahman concept is predominant in these texts,
particularly the Upanishads. In the Puranic and the Epics literature, deity
Brahma appears more often, but inconsistently. Some texts suggest that god
Vishnu created Brahma, others suggest god Shiva created Brahma, yet others
suggest goddess Devi created Brahma, and these texts then go on to state that
Brahma is a secondary creator of the world working respectively on their
behalf. Further, the medieval era texts of these major theistic traditions of
Hinduism assert that the saguna (representation with face and attributes)
Brahma is Vishnu,Shiva, or Devi respectively, and that the Atman (soul, self)
within every living being is the same or part of this ultimate, eternal
Brahman.
Brahman (Sanskrit: ब्रह्मन्, brahman) is a metaphysical concept of Hinduism referring
to the ultimate reality. According to Doniger, the Brahman in the Hindu thought
is the uncreated, eternal, infinite, transcendent, the cause, the foundation,
the source and the goal of all existence. Brahmin (Sanskrit: ब्राह्मण, Brahmin) is a varna
Posts
No comments