Lord Brahma
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The Creator
Role in creation
Rajyogi BK Brijmohan, January 21, 2025: The Times of India
In Hindu cosmology, Brahma is the creator of the universe. He stands out in the pantheon of Hindu deities by virtue of his depiction as a whitebearded elderly figure. However, despite his foundational role and the fact that most Hindu religious rites involve praying to Brahma, very few temples are dedicated to his worship.
Brahma, it is said, created the world with a thought. Physical reality is a manifestation of subtle truths. The world we live in, with all its myriad characteristics, reflects people’s state of mind. Creating a new world order needs the creation of a new consciousness first. The tool for that is spiritual wisdom.
The Bhagwad Gita describes the transformative power of knowledge: “Even if you are the most sinful of all sinners, yet you shall verily cross all sins by the raft of knowledge.” It further states that there is no purifier in this world like knowledge.
Brahma is the medium through whom the Supreme Soul, Shiv, gives us spiritual knowledge to create an enlightened consciousness and, thereby, a better world. Shiv, who is incorporeal and is therefore worshipped in the form of a lingam, needs a corporeal medium to perform His divine tasks of creation of the new world, its sustenance, and finally, when the world degenerates, destruction of evils and renewal of old-world order into a new virtuous one.
The subtle deities Brahma, Vishnu, and Shankar are the mediums through whom God carries out this work. Shankar, commonly shown in a meditative pose with a Shiv lingam in front of him, is distinct from Shiv. This is why Shankar is referred to as ‘Mahadev’, or the greater deity, while Shiv alone is prayed to as ‘parmatma’, or the Supreme Soul. ‘Om Shiv Paramatmaye Namah’ acknowledges Shiv’s formless divine light image and His supreme salutary nature. Brahma’s connection with knowledge is depicted in how he is always portrayed.
Unlike other Hindu deities, Brahma is not shown holding weapons. In his four hands, he holds a Veda, symbolising wisdom; a rosary, exemplifying the cyclical nature of existence; a pot of water, indicating creation of life, and a lotus flower representing purity. He rides a swan, which illustrates the ability to discern truth.
Through Brahma, God reminds us that we are souls, children of the Supreme Soul. When souls recognise their identity and relationship with God, they can forge a connection with Him through meditation, whereby they receive His powers and virtues and are cleansed. When a critical number of souls are thus purified, the Iron Age, characterised by sin, sorrow, and suffering, disintegrates, paving the way for the dawn of a new Golden Age.
Brahma is credited with creating the first beings – the ‘prajapatis’, progenitors of human race. They are none but those who thoroughly imbibed spiritual knowledge received from God through Brahma and became virtuous. Their virtuous and righteous world is remembered in different religious texts and traditions as paradise, Sat Yug, jannat, and bahisht.
Perhaps it is in keeping with his sage image that the venerable Brahma retains a very low profile in the minds of Hindu devotees despite his pivotal role in creating heaven on earth.
Taraka Brahma
Shri Shri Anandamurti, Taraka Brahma’s Consolation To Humanity, February 9, 2018: The Times of India
Taraka Brahma emerges to expedite the welfare of the collective body. Under such circumstances, we say Parama Purusha has become Taraka Brahma, coming here on a particular date, and leaving this earth also on a particular date. When He comes within the jurisdiction of these relative factors, temporal, spatial and personal, He no longer remains an impersonal entity. He becomes something personal, something closer, something closely related, and that is our Taraka Brahma.
Why does He come within the jurisdictions of the temporal-spatialpersonal factors, these three fundamentally related factors? What’s the cause? There are two reasons. One is, the human intellect may get satisfaction after coming in psychic contact with the Impersonal Entity, but the human heart is not satisfied with that Impersonal Entity. The human heart wants something closer, something more sentimental, something more pleasing. And that’s why, to satisfy, to give pleasure to, us He comes within the scope of these relative factors.
The second reason is that…human beings must have sufficient intellectual stamina to move forward, fighting against all those obstacles. When human intellect fails to do something new in helping society to move forward, Parama Purusha finds no alternative but to appear here.
In our philosophical treatise,Ananda Sutram, it has been enunciated, ‘Bhava bhavatiitayohsetuh Tarakabrahma’ – “The common point bridging together the empirical state of saguna and the metempirical (beyond or outside the field of experience) state of nirguna is called Taraka Brahma.”
He comes on earth when there is too much sin and it is difficult for virtuous people to live on earth. When dharma declines and adharma gets the upper hand; when the virtuous and pious are tortured and the dishonest and evil-doers tyrannise the good; in a word, when human intellect is guided along degraded and destructive channels – Taraka Brahma forms a desire to come on earth with a specific mission of restoring dharma by launching a ceaseless fight against all injustice and sin.
There are a few notable criteria by which to distinguishTaraka Brahma from other mahapurushas: He Himself is a born guru and has no spiritual guru.· He comes with a specific mission, which is to restore morality and dharma. Entire society becomes divided between moralists and immoralists. A fight between them is inevitable, and ultimately dharma emerges victorious.· His emergence means a new era of peace and dharma. He needs no sadhana, but just to set an example to others, He performs sadhana with the masses.And this personal God is the Singular Entity, the Taraka Brahma. Taraka Brahma literally means a special manifestation of Parama Purusha which ensures emancipation to the microcosms. The word Taraka means ‘liberator’, one who shows the correct way, one who loves as well as punishes, on who makes the microcosms His own. In this sense, Taraka Brahma is not only the liberator, the object of adoration, but also the loving parent.
Taraka Brahma calls everyone towards Himself: “Come, come, come to Me. I have come here for you and you alone. I am verily yours. Come and surrender to Me without any hesitation, without any reservation. I will take care of your future.” Taraka Brahma provides this great assurance to humanity.
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