Fw: [shirdibabasaisharan] Brahma

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shirdibabasaisharan

Saturday, November 15, 2003 12:07 AM

[shirdibabasaisharan] Brahma

AUM SAI SRI SAI JAYA JAYA SAIBrahma is the god first represented in the Hindu

Triad. He isthe creator of the universe and all living beings are said to have

evolvedfrom him. Brahma is depicted as red in color with four heads, bearded

faces, and fourarms. His hands hold a karmandalu, his bow or a rosary, a

sacrificial ladle,and the Vedas. Brahma is sometimes depicted as sitting on a

lotus. The fourVedas are said to have originated from his head. The four castes

are

also believed to have originated from Brahma: the Brahmin's from his headthe

Kshatriyas from his arms, the Vaishyas from his thighs, and the Shudrasfrom his

feet. Brahma was assigned the work of creating the universe by Brahman,

theSupreme Being to assist him in this endeavor, Brahma created 10

Prajapatis,who are believed to be the fathers of the human race. Their names,

accordingto the Manusmriti are Marichi, Atri, Angirasa,Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu,

Vasishtha, Prachetas or Daksha, Bhrigu, and Narada.These Prajapatis are believed

to be born from the mind of Brahma. He is alsobelieved to have created the

Saptarishi, or seven great sages, to help himcreate the universe. The world is

said to exist for one kalpa, or one day in the life of Brahma.At the end of a

kalpa, the whole world is destroyed. Brahma is then believedto go to sleep for

one night, which is as long as a kalpa. When he awakens,he recreates the world.

This process is repeated for 100 years ofBrahma, which is the life span of one

Brahma. Then everything dissolves intoits constituent elements. This whole

process is repeated unendingly.Brahma's abode is known as Brahmaloka, which is

said to contain all thesplendors of earth and of the heavens of the other gods.

His vehicle orvahana is a white swan or goose, which has magical abilities: it

canseparate soma and milk from water. Therefore this bird is also a symbol

ofsifting good from evil. Unlike other deities, Brahma does not have a

weapon.Being the lord of sacrifices, he is identified with a scepter in the

form ofa spoon. However, some sources say that his weapon is the bow, which he

issometimes shown with. His consort is Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom and

science, the mother ofthe Vedas, and the inventor of the Devanagari script. She

is represented asa fair woman with four arms, dressed in white and seated on a

white lotus.As goddess of the arts, she is shown playing, or holding, a veena.

In one ofher right hands, she holds a book of palm leaves, and in the other, a

lotus.In her left hands, she has a string of pearls, and a damaru. Although

Brahma is considered equal to Vishnu and Shiva, he is currently notwidely

worshiped. There are only two temples in India dedicated to him, oneat Pushkar

near Ajmer in Rajasthan, and the other at Khedabrahma in Kerala.However, he is

only worshiped by sanyasi. Apart from these temples,

there are also some verses describing which are chanted by Brahmin'severy

morning. There are several reasons that Brahma is no longer worshiped. One

belief isthat being the creator, his work is complete, at least for the time

being.Therefore he is not as revered as the other two gods of the triad.

Another reason is based on a legend in the Skanda Purana. Attempting toprove

his superiority, Brahma lied to Vishnu, while the ketaki flower stoodfalse

witness for him. For this, Brahma was cursed by Shiva that he wouldnever be

worshiped on earth, nor would the ketaki ever be offered inworship. And so it

is, since time immemorial. Some of Vishnu's

incarnations, like Matsya, Kurma, and Varaha, were earlier

described to Brahma, for both Vishnu and Brahma were described as Narayana', one

who moves on the waters. However, as Brahma's importancedeclined and Vishnu's

rose, these avatars were transferred to Vishnu. According to Manu and the

Shatapatha Brahmana, Brahma emergedfrom Brahman, the Supreme Being. Brahman

wanted to create the universe. Tothis end, he first created water, into which

he deposited his seed. Thisseed became a golden egg, and from this egg, he was

born as Brahma orHiranyagarbha, born of the golden egg. Another account of

Brahma's origin isfound in the Mahabharata. It says that Brahma arose from a

1,000-petaledlotus that grew out of Vishnu's navel. According to the Puranas,

Brahma issaid to be the son of the Supreme Being and his female energy, Maya.

Othersources however, state that Maya is the wife or daughter of Brahma.

Originally, Brahma is said to have five heads. The Matsya Purana explainsthe

reason for this. It states that Brahma created a woman, known bydifferent

names: Satarupa, Saraswati, Sandhya or Brahmi. Because of herbeauty, he fell in

love with her and stared at her longingly. To avoid hisgaze, she moved to his

left, then behind him, and then to his right. But ahead sprang up wherever she

moved to enable Brahma to continue looking ather. In desperation, she jumped

into the air, but a fifth head appeared ontop. Brahma then asked her to help

him create the universe. He lived withher for 100 divine years at the end of

which Manu was born. There are different explanations for why Brahma only has

four heads now, asopposed to his original five. According to the Puranas,

Brahma and Vishnuwere once arguing over who was superior of the two. They

discovered from theVedas that Shiva was the Supreme Being. Brahma however,

spoke disparaginglyabout Shiva. In anger, Shiva cut off the head, which had

spoken, andtherefore Brahma was left with four heads. BOW TO SRI SAI - PEACE BE

TO ALLMAY BABA BE ALWAYS WITH YOUSAI KA LAADLANARESH

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