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Brahmā
Brahmā is the Hindu deva of
Creation
and one of the
Trimurti.
He is the father of
Mānu, from whence all human beings are
descended.
Saraswati is
Brahmā's
primary wife,
Savitri is his second and
Gayatri his third. All his wives are
Vedic Goddesses and are revered as Vedamata
meaning “Mother
of the Vedas”.
At the beginning of the process of creation,
Brahmā
created eleven
Prajapatis, who serve as fathers of the
human race. The Manusmriti lists them as
Marici, Atri, Angiras,
Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratuj,
Vashishta, Pracetas/Daksha,
Bhrigu, and Nārada.
Brahmā
also created the seven great sages (Saptarishi)
to help him create the infinite Universe. As
all his sons were born out of mind, they are
called
Manas Putras
(mind-spirits).
In the
Puranas,
Brahmā
is self-born within the
lotus flower
and is also born in water (Kanja),
a seed that became the golden egg, from
whence
Brahmā the Creator
emerged as Hiranyagarbha. The golden egg
expanded into the Brahmanda (Universe).
Brahmā
is also the son of the Supreme Being,
Brahmān,
and the female energy known as Prakrti (Maya).
Brahmā
is clad in
red clothes
and is traditionally depicted with four
heads, four faces and four
arms.
Brahmā
continually recites one of the four Vedas
with each of his four heads. He is often
depicted with a white beard, indicating the
eternal nature
of his existence. In his hands,
Brahmā
holds a sceptre and a bow.
The Four Hands
-
Brahmā's
four arms represent the
four cardinal directions:
North, East, South, and West. 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 Prayer beads
- Symbolize the substances used in the
process of creation called “akshamālā” (garland
of eyes).
The Book
– Is the eternal symbol of
Knowledge.
The 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
(carrier/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/white beard denotes
wisdom
and the eternal process of
Creation.
The Four Faces
– Symbolize the four Vedas (Rik,
Sāma, Yajuh and Atharva).
Vishnu
Vishnu
is the form of Paramatma (supreme
Soul)
and Parameshwara (supreme
God),
the all-encompassing essence of Beings in
the
multiverse,
the master of
eternal Time,
past, future and present.
He is the One who supports,
sustains
and governs the Universe, developing and
nurturing all elements within and without.
Vishnu
is known as the “Preserver
of the Universe”.
In the Puranas,
Vishnu
is cloaked with the divine colour of
water filled clouds,
has four arms, and holds a lotus,
mace, conch (shankha) and
chakra (wheel).
Vishnu
is blessed with having “Universal
Form”
representing vision
beyond the limits
of perception and imagination.
Vishnu
comes from the root
viś,
meaning “presence
everywhere”
and also holds within his divine form the
action “to
enter”.
Thus,
Vishnu
is not limited by space, time nor substance,
as his infinite sparkle shines as a glowing
auric rainbow, penetrating all the layers of
the
realms of the Beholder.
The following six qualities of
Vishnu
are of
utmost importance:
Jńāna (Omniscience)
- the power to know about
all beings
simultaneously.
Aishvarya (Sovereignty)
- derived from the
word
Ishvara, unchallenged
rule over all.
Shakti (Energy)
- the power to make the
impossible possible.
Bala (Strength)
- the capacity to
support
everything by will, without fatigue.
Vīrya (Vigor)
- indicates the power to
retain immateriality
as the supreme Being as well as being the
material cause of mutable creations.
Tejas (Splendour)
- expresses
self-sufficiency
and
spiritual
effulgence.
There are ten avatars (dashavatara)
of
Vishnu
considered as the most prominent:
Matsya
- the fish that kills
Damanaka to save
the
Vedas and mankind.
Kurma
- the
turtle
that helps the Devas and
Asuras churn the ocean for the nectar of
immortality.
Varaha
- the
boar
that rescues the
Earth
and kills
Hiranyaksha.
Narasimha
- the One (half-Lion half-Human)
who defeats the demon
Hiranyakashipu
(Nara - man, simha - lion).
Vamana
- the
dwarf
that grows into a
giant
to save the world from
King Bali.
Parashurama
- the
Sage,
Rama with the axe,
who appeared in the
Treta Yuga.
Rama
-
Ramachandra, the prince and king
of
Ayodhya who kills the Demon Lord
Raavana.
Balarama
- is the avatar of
aadi sesha,
the
serpent
on which supreme Lord
Vishnu
sleeps.
Krishna
- (dark coloured and all attractive
within the existence of Bliss), who appears
in the
Dwapara Yuga along with his brother
Balarama.
Kalki
- (eternity,
timeless and destroyer of time and “The
Destroyer of Foulness”),
who is expected to appear at the end of
Kali Yuga, the present time period.
Śhiva
Śhiva
(auspicious one) is the
Destroyer god
and
Transformer,
living the form of a yogi who has perception
of the infinite strands of the Universe and
exists as the main facet of Life, who with
great power lives the
Life of a Sage
at
Mount Kailash.
Lord Śhiva
is represented as a handsome young man
immersed in deep meditation and dancing the
Tandava upon Apasmara,
the demon of ignorance in his manifestation
of
Nataraja, the Lord of the dance,
goodness, humility, and
all essence of divinity.
Śhiva
lives the embodiment of an
eternal youth
because of his authority over death, rebirth
and immortality. He is the father of
Ganesha and
Murugan.
The Sanskrit word
Śhiva
means “auspicious,
kind
and
gracious” and originates from the
Sanskrit śaiva (relating to the god Śhiva).
He has been identified with a host of Vedic
deities, including
Agni,
Indra,
Prajāpati
and
Vāyu.
Śhiva
wears a deer in the left-upper hand,
and faces South. He has a
Trident
in the right-lower arm, with a crescent
moon on his head. He is said to be fair
like camphor and akin to an ice-clad
mountain. He possesses
fire
and Damaru/Malu which is used for
protection
and
channelling.
He wears five serpents as ornaments and
wears a
garland of skulls.
With his feet he presses on the demon
Muyalaka, a dwarf holding a cobra.
Third eye:
Śhiva
is depicted with a
third eye,
with which he burned Desire (Kāma) to
ashes, called “Tryambakam”. In Sanskrit, the
word ambaka denotes “an eye”, and in the
Mahabharata,
Śhiva
is depicted as
three-eyed, so his name can be translated as
“having three eyes”. In Vedic Sanskrit, the
word ambā/ambikā means “mother”, and this
early meaning of the word is the basis for
the translation “three mothers”. The three
mother-goddesses are collectively called the
Ambikās.
Crescent moon:
Śhiva
wears on his head the
crescent moon.
The origin of this flow is due to the
identification of the moon with
Soma, and there is a hymn in the Rig
Veda where Soma and Rudra are jointly
implored. The waxing and waning passage of
the moon symbolizes the time cycle through
which creation evolves from the beginning to
the end. Since
Lord Śhiva
is the
eternal Reality,
He is beyond time.
Ashes:
Śhiva
smears his body with ashes (bhasma)
symbolizing the
return to the Earth
and Nature of all form and substance.
Matted hair:
Śhiva's
distinctive hair style is noted in the Jatin
epithets, “the one with matted hair”, and
Kapardin, “endowed with matted hair” and
also “wearing his hair wound in a braid in a
shell-like (kaparda) fashion”. A
kaparda
is a cowrie shell, symbolizing the
eternal flow of Life.
Blue throat:
Relates to the fifth Chakra,
Vishuddha, representing the Gateway
through consciousness in the forms of
ether, sound, vibration,
communication and the ever-flowing
beauty of Creativity.
Sacred Ganges:
The Ganges river flows from the matted hair
of
Śhiva.
The flow of the Ganges also represents the
nectar of immortality.
Tiger skin:
He is often shown seated upon a
tiger skin.
The Tiger is the Universal Archetype of
Fear, thus
Lord Śhiva
has
mastered all aspects of Fear.
Serpents:
Śhiva
is often shown flowing with snake medicine,
denoting
wisdom
and
eternity.
Deer:
Śhiva
holding deer on one hand indicates that He
has removed the Chanchalata (tossing) of the
mind. Deer
jumps from one place to another swiftly.
The mind also jumps from one object to
another.
Trident:
Śhiva's
particular weapon is the
Trident.
His Trisul that is held in His right hand
represents the three Gunas - Sattva,
Rajas and Tamas. This is the
emblem of sovereignty.
He rules the world through these three
Gunas. The
Damaru in His left hand represents the
Sabda Brahman. It represents
OM
from which all languages are formed. It is
He who formed the Sanskrit language out of
the Damaru sound.
Drum: A small drum shaped like an hourglass
is known as a damaru. This is one of the
attributes of
Śhiva
in his famous dancing
representation known as
Nataraja.
A specific mudra called damaru-hasta is used
to hold the drum, where the
beat of Nature
echoes His
divine rhythm.
Nandī: Is the name of the bull that serves
as
Śhiva's
mount. The bull has always been known for
strength
and
stability,
ploughing forward with
determination
and
objective.
Gana:
The Ganas are attendants of
Śhiva
and live in Kailash. They are referred to as
the bhutaganas (ghostly
hosts)
on account of their nature. Generally
benign, except when their lord is
transgressed against, they are often invoked
to intercede with the Lord on behalf of the
Beholder of Life.
Ganesha was chosen as their leader by
Śhiva,
hence Ganesha's title gana-īśa -
gana-pati, “Lord
of the ganas”.
Mount Kailāsa:
Mount Kailash in the
Himalayas is
Śhiva’s
traditional abode. In
Hindu mythology, Mount Kailāsa is conceived
as resembling a
Linga, representing the
center of the Universe. |
