LORD BRAHMA

Lord Brahma is the Hindu God of Creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva. Lord Brahma's consort is Goddess Saraswathi, the Goddess of Learning.


According to Purana Lord Brahma is Self -born in the Lotus flower which grew from the naval of Lord Vishnu at the beginning of the Universe. This explains his name Nabhija (born from the navel).


Another legend says that Brahma was born in water. In this he deposited a seed that later became the Golden egg. From this golden egg, Lord Brahma, the creator was born, as Hiranyagarbha. The remaining materials of this golden egg expanded into the Brahm-anda or Universe. Being born in water, Lord Brahma is also called Kanja (born in water). Lord Brahma is also said to be the son of the Supreme Being, Brahman and the female energy known as Prakrti or Maya.


Appearance : Lord Brahma is traditionally depicted with four heads and 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 near eternal nature of his existence. He is shown as having four arms, with none holding a weapon, unlike most other Hindu Gods. One of his hands is shown holding a scepter in the form of a spoon, which is associated with the pouring of holy ghee or oil into a sacrificial pyre, indicating that Lord Brahma is the lord of sacrifices. Another of his hands holds a water-pot (sometimes depicted as a coconut shell containing water). The significance of the water is that it is the initial, all-encompassing ether in which the first element of creation evolved. Lord Brahma also holds a string of prayer beads that he uses to keep track of the Universe's time. He also is shown holding the Vedas, and sometimes, a lotus flower.


Legends behind as to why Lord Brahma is not worrshipped much and why Only few Temples are built for Lord Brahma :
Although Lord Brahma is worshipped in almost all Hindu religious rites, there are very few temples dedicated to him in India, the more prominent of which is at Pushkar , in Rajasthan.


At the beginning of time in Cosmos, Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma approached a huge Shiva linga and set out to find its beginning and end. Vishnu was appointed the end, and Brahma the beginning. Each took their journey, Lord Vishnu took the form of a boar and began digging downwards into the earth while Lord Brahma took on the shape of a swan began flying upwards. But neither could find their appointed destination. Vishnu, satisfied, came up to Shiva 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(Thalamppu) flower. His ego forced him to ask the flower to bear false witness of Brahma's finding Shiva's beginning. When Lord Brahma told his tale, Lord Shiva, the all-knowing, was angered by the former's ego. Lord Shiva thus cursed him that no being in the three worlds will worship him.

According to another legend, Lord Brahma is not worshiped because of a curse by the great sage Brahmarishi Bhrigu. Once a great 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 Trimurti. 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.


Another story in connection with Brahma's four heads is that when Brahma was creating the universe, he made a female deity known as Shatarupa(one with a hundred beautiful forms). Brahma became 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 Brahmā to become obsessed with her. He directed that there will be no proper worship on earth 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 story is as follows : Once when all the preparations for his great yagya were complete, Brahma’s consort Saraswathi failed to join him. In order to complete the ritual, he married a local Gujjar girl called Gayathri and proceeded with the yagya. When Saraswathi arrived, she was furious to see Gayatri beside Lord Brahma.Since Lord Brahma did not wait for Saraswathi for this great sacrificial offering, she felt bad and she told Lord Brahma that Pushkar is the only place where he would be worshipped in this world.

This explains why we have only one Brahma temple whereas there are thousands and thousands of temples of Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu.

Lord Brahma'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 significance of this is that justice should be dispensed to all creatures, however entwined it might be in a situation. Also, this virtue indicates that one should learn to separate the good from the evil and then accept that which is valuable and to discard which is worthless or evil.