Saturday 2 July 2011

Brahma Appearance

Appearance
A handcoloured engraving of Brahma.

The complexion of Lord Brahma is red.[citation needed] He is clad in red clothes. Brahma is traditionally depicted with four heads, four faces, and four arms. With each head, He continually recites one of the four Vedas. He is often depicted with a white beard (especially in North India), indicating the nearly eternal nature of his existence. Unlike most other Hindu Gods, Brahma holds no weapons. One of His hands holds a scepter. Another of His hands holds a bow. Brahma also holds a string of prayer beads called the 'akshamālā' (literally "garland of eyes"), which He uses to keep track of the Universe's time. He is also shown holding the Vedas.

Another story in connection with Brahma's four heads is that when Brahmā was creating the Universe, He made a female deity known as Shatarupā (one with a hundred beautiful forms). Brahmā became immediately infatuated with Her.

Shatarupā moved in various directions to avoid the gaze of Brahmā. But wherever She went, Brahmā developed a head. Thus, Brahmā developed five heads, one on each side and one above the others. In order to control Brahmā, Shiva cut off one of the heads. Also, Shiva felt that Shatarupā was Brahmā's daughter, having been created by Him. Therefore, Shiva determined it was wrong for Brahmā to become obsessed with Her. Shiva directed that there be no proper worship on earth for the "unholy" Brahmā. Thus, only Vishnu and Shiva continued to be worshiped, while Brahmā is almost totally ignored. Ever since this incident, Brahmā has been believed to be reciting the four Vedas in His attempt at repentance.

However, there are many other stories in the Purānas about the gradual decrease Lord Brahmā's importance, such as in the Shiva Purana. The omission of Brahmā from most temples regarding worship is a serious concern in the orthopraxis of Hinduism. Ignoring the Supreme Creator also sidelines the importance of Saraswati, the goddess of learning, in temples. A British viceroy and admirer of Hinduism[who?] reportedly remarked in philosophical reflection that India cannot afford to lose the blessings of Brahmā and Saraswati, without whom the populace would lack creativity, knowledge, and education.

 Symbols

The Four Hands - Brahmā's four arms represent the four cardinal directions: east, south, west, and north. The back right hand represents mind, the back left hand represents intellect, the front right hand is ego, and the front left hand is self-confidence.

The Rosary - Symbolizes the substances used in the process of creation.

The Book - The book symbolizes knowledge.

The Gold - Gold symbolizes activity; the golden face of Brahmā indicates that He is actively involved in the process of creating the Universe.

The Swan - The swan is the symbol of grace and discernment. Brahmā uses the swan as his vāhana, or his carrier or vehicle.

The Crown - Lord Brahmā's crown indicates His supreme authority.

The Lotus - The lotus symbolizes nature and the living essence of all things and beings in the Universe.

The Beard - Brahmā's black or white beard denotes wisdom and the eternal process of creation.

The Four Faces - The four Vedas (Rik, Sāma, Yajuh and Atharva). The Vedas Symbolises his four faces, heads and arms

 Vehicle

Brahmā'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 swan signifies that all creatures deserve justice, however entwined they might be in challenging situations. Also, this virtue indicates that one should learn to separate the good from the bad, accepting that which is valuable and discarding what is worthless.

 Temples
 Deity inside the Brahma temple at Pushkar, Rajasthan

The four-faced Brahma (Phra Phrom) statue

Though almost all Hindu religious rites involve prayer to Brahmā, very few temples are dedicated to His worship. Among the most prominent is the Brahma temple at Pushkar. Once a year, on Kartik Poornima, the full moon night of the Hindu lunar month of Kartik (October - November), a religious festival is held in Brahmā's honour. Thousands of pilgrims come to bathe in the holy Pushkar Lake adjacent to the temple.

Temples to Brahmā also exist in Thirunavaya in Kerala; in the temple town of Kumbakonam in the Thanjavur District of Tamil Nadu; in Kodumudi, Tamil Nadu;in Asotra village in Balotra taluka of Rajasthan's Barmer district, known as Kheteshwar Brahmadham Tirtha; and in Goa, in the small, remote village of Carambolim in the Sattari Taluka in the northeast region of the state. Regular pujas are held for Lord Brahmā at the temple in Thirunavaya, and during Navrathris this temple comes to life with colourful festivities. There is also a shrine for Brahmā within the Brahmapureeswarar Temple in Thirupatur, near Trichy, and a famous murti of Brahmā exists at Mangalwedha, 52 km from the Solapur district of Maharashtra. Statues of Brahmā may be found in Khedbrahma, Gujarat, and in Sopara near Mumbai. There is a temple dedicated to Lord Brahmā in the temple town of Sri Kalahasti near Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh. The largest and most famous shrine to Lord Brahmā may be found in Cambodia's Angkor Wat. There is a statue of Brahma at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok. The golden dome of the Government House of Thailand also contains a statue of Phra Phrom(Thai representation of Brahma).

In Carnatic music
Brahma is also the name of the 9th chakra (group) of Melakarta ragas in Carnatic music. The names of chakras are based on the numbers associated with each name. In this case, there are nine Brahmas and hence the ninth chakra is Brahma.

 In literature
In 1856-1857, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a poem titled "Brahma". Also a poet named James Dean wrote a poem about brahma in 20

Satyaloka - abode of Brahma

Satyaloka is by 120,000,000 yojanas above Tapoloka. Thus the distance from the sun to Satyaloka is 233,800,000 yojanas, or 1,870,400,000 miles. The Vaikuṇṭha planets begin 26,200,000 yojanas (209,600,000 miles) above Satyaloka. "In the Padma Puranam it has been definitely stated that on the four sides of the spiritual sky there is four different transcendental abodes occupied by Vasudeva, Samkarshan, Pradyumna and Aniruddha respectively. So also in the material sky also they are similarly placed on all the four sides. The Vaikuṇṭha sphere which is covered with spiritual water is inhabited by Vasudeva and this Vaikuntha is known as Devavatipur. Above the Satyaloka there is Vishnuloka where Sankarshan resides. In the middle of the Ocean of Milk there is an island called Swetadwipa which is resided in by Aniruddha lying on the bed of Ananta."(Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila

Duration of day of Brahma
"Lord Brahmā's day, consisting of his 12 hours, lasts 4 billion 320 million years, and his night is of the same duration."(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 12.8.2-5) [2]

 Brahma sampradaya
Main article: Brahma sampradaya
Brahma has his own sampradaya. Brahma appeared on lotus flower which sprout from navel of Garbhodakashayi Vishnu. After meditation Brahma created 14 planetary systems and many living beings came there in 8400000 kinds of material bodies according to their past desires. Brahma received Vedas from Vishnu, and this Brahma-sampradaya is transmitting knowledge from Vishnu Himself (Narayana, Krishna) to Earth. As our Brahma is devotee of Vishnu unlike some other Brahmas in other material universes, we have this Brahma sampradaya.

Brahma samhita
Main article: Brahma Samhita
Brahma's prayers are recorded in Brahma-samhita. From this scripture we know that Brahma is devotee of Vishnu, and what is structure of both material and spiritual universes. According to Brahma's authority we can know that Krishna is the Supreme God. Brahma says: "īśvarah paramah krsnah, sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahah anādir ādir govindah, sarva-kārana-kāranam" which means: Krishna who is known as Govinda is the Supreme God. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes. Brahma lets us know that Krishna expands Himself as Baladeva, as caturvyuha (Aniruddha, Pradyumna, Sankarsana, Vasudeva), as Narayana and then as another caturvyuha, from which (Sankarsana) comes Mahavishnu. So our Brahma is one of many Brahmas who is one of many material universes which appear from Mahavishnu's breathing out. Som Brahma samhita is important scripture of Brahma-sampradaya which lets us know about material and spiritual from Brahma, who is first lving being in this material world. Brahma created material planets in this material world on order of Vishu, and we can know that still Brahma is not topmost personality in this universe, as even he worships Vishnu. Brahma lives for his 100 years of Brahma, however even after Brahma has to leave his material body, Vishnu remains always in His eternal spiritual body also after dissolution of material universe. Even when all material universes become unmanifested and Mahavishnu breathes in, still he, Mahavishnu remains untouched by material nature. Brahma lets us know that supreme abode in spiritual world is Goloka Vrindavana, and that abode is always manifested even though material world is sometimes not manifested. So Brahma worships Krishna: "govindam adi-purusham tam aham bhajami" I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord. So Brahma says that Krishna Govinda is source of countless eternal spiritual universes and temporary (which means they are either manifested or unmanifested) material universes.

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