Hindu Mythology: The Creation of the Universe #Part 3

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     The whole universe personified to form the great goddess Adi Shakti. She was so lovely that Brahma became attracted to her and began to chase her everywhere. When she turned into a doe, he turned into a stag. When she turned into a swan, he turned into a gander. He kept turning into the male counterpart of her female form. This is one of the reasons he isn't worshipped today because he is so busy chasing the physical world. Little did he know that she wasn't any ordinary lady, she was THE supreme goddess. She is nature, energy, and life. She was the universe herself, hence Brahma's daughter. But Brahma just couldn't see that because he was so distracted by her beauty.

     Lord Shiva had emerged into existence on his own and was disgusted and infuriated at the sight of Brahma chasing his own daughter. Shakti was his soulmate, and he didn't like that she was being chased simply because of her beauty without any respect at all. So, he threw one of his nails at Brahma and his nail turned into Lord Bhairav. Bhairav is an incarnation of Shiva and is as innocent as he is scary. Bhairav then used his nail to chop off Brahma's 5th head, leaving him with just four as a punishment. Bhairav and Shiva forever used Brahma's skull as a drinking bowl. This gave him the name Kapalika, the skull-bearer. Brahma's 5th head signifies the evil that tries to control you when you try to do bad things.
     After seeing all this, the sons of Brahma asked him why he did this. If he was a supreme being, then why could he not control his desire? Ashamed at hearing this, Brahma cast off his body before returning. This body became the darkness that spreads everywhere, making outer space look black.

     Lord Brahma made Manu the king of the earth. But, Manu asked Brahma to bring the earth out of the cosmic ocean. Brahma didn't know what to do.
     Lord Vishnu has a boar incarnation. His boar incarnation (or Varaha) has 2 forms. One is the red-boar incarnation, and the other is the white-boar incarnation.
     So, Lord Vishnu became the White Boar and came out through Brahma's nose. He then grew until he was the size of the biggest elephant. He dove into the ocean and lifted the earth to the surface with his tusks. He gently placed the earth on the surface of the Garbhodakasayi Ocean. One form of Shakti is the goddess Varahi. She has the head of a boar, just like Varaha. She was tasked with keeping the earth floating and making sure that it never sank into the ocean.
     Lord Vishnu then went to his heavenly abode, known as Vaikuntha, and all living and non-living things bowed to him.

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Hindu Mythology: the Creation of the Universe #Part 2

   Brahma then created passion, which took the form of a woman. the demons became entranced by her. From her body and moonlight, Brahma created Gandharvas (nature spirits), and Apsaras (nymphs/fairies). From his laziness came living ghosts. from his yawning came the Bhutas (undead ghosts), and Pishachas (zombie cannibals). From his navel came the Sadhyas (prayer deities), and the Pitas (Hindu astral deities). From invisibility, Brahma created the Vidyadharas (air demigods), and the Siddhas (sages). From his reflection, he created the Kinnaras (celestial musicians) and the Kimpurusas (half-lion men).

   After creating in this way, Brahma became very depressed and gave up his body. From that body's hair came snakes, and from the rest of the body came the Nagas (serpent-people).
   Brahma then created six immovable entities, animals, and humans. He then created four sages named Santana, Sananda, Sanaka, and Sanata-kumara. Brahma asked them to have children and continue the next generation. But the four Kumaras didn't want to accept household life because they wanted to worship God and become liberated.

    As you can guess, Brahma got angry at their refusal and arched his eyebrows. From his arch came a blue and red-skinned baby, who cried out and asked Brahma for a home and a name. Brahma calmed him and since he had cried out so worriedly, he was named Rudra (The Roaring god). He became the god of hunting, storms, and terror. His home would be within the moon, sun, fire, sky, water, earth, the heart, the senses, and meditation. He was also given eleven wives known as Rudranis. Their names were Diksha, Svadha, Iravati, Ambika, Ila, Sarpi, Niyut, Dhriti, Dhi, Rasala, and Uma.

   Since he was one of the Prajapatis, Rudra listened to his father and began to increase the population by a lot, with children and grandchildren who resembled him in looks and furious nature. with fire coming from their eyes, they tried t destroy the universe and Brahma became frightened. He told Rudra that he must not create children like this and that he must meditate to purify himself. Rudra obeyed and went off into the forests to begin penance.

   From his senses, Brahma created more of his children, who instantly became wise sages. They were named Kratu, Angira, Pulaha, Atri, Bhrigu, Pulastya, Marichi, Vashishta, Daksha, and Narada Muni.
   Desire and lust came from Brahma's heart; greed came from between his lips; religion came from his chest, while irreligion came from his back. Anger came from between his eyebrows; the oceans came from his lower body, as well as evil activities. Rishi Kardam emerged from his shadow and the goddess Vak, goddess of speech, came from his mouth. From his 5 mouths, the Vedas and Puranas (holy books/scriptures) were created.

   Brahma created a second body for himself and while he was thinking about what to create next, a man and woman emerged from his body and fell in love with each other. The woman was Shatarupa and the man was Swayambhuva Manu. They had 5 children. 2 sons named Uttanapada and Priyavrata, and 3 daughters named Prasuti, Devahuti, and Akuti. Prasuti married Daksha, Akuti married sage Ruchi, and Devahuti married Rishi Kardam. In this way, the universe became populated.

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The Creation of the Vedic Universe #Part 1

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When Brahma's lifetime ended, Lord Shiva opened his third eye to destroy the universe. The universe was also destroyed due to a great fire coming from the mouth of Lord Sheshnag. Because of the heat, the great sages in the planet Maharlok retreated to the higher planet of Janalok.

The fire burned for 100 celestial years, which is equal to 36 thousand earth years. After that followed another 100 celestial years of undescribable rain with powerful strong winds. It flooded and began filling up the universe with water until the three worlds were completely inundated. Lord Narayan lay at the bottom of the universe on the white coils of Lord Ananta Sheshnag, as Garbhodakasayi Vishnu. He half-closed his eyes and went into a state of deep yoga-nidra, which is sleep meditation.

After one thousand yuga cycles, Lord Narayan focused on karma which is sprouted from his navel as a lotus flower. Then Virat-rupa appeared in his glowing form, which dried up all the water. Finally, the lotus flower bloomed, bringing Brahma into being. Because he couldn't see any cosmic manifestation, he looked all around him and upwards, creating 5 heads.

Brahma then wondered where he had come from. Surely there must have been a source for his lotus flower. But no matter how close he got to Vishnu's navel, he still couldn't figure out where the lotus came from. After going past his chakra, Brahma returned to his lotus and began to meditate. After 100 celestial years, he could see Garbhodakasayi Vishnu, whose body was the full length of the 3 worlds.

After seeing the magnificent divine at the bottom of the ocean, he came to the conclusion that he was seeing his creator. He asked him about the construction of the universe, which he was worried about. Lord Narayan advised him to always be fixed on him and he won't be nervous about populating the universe.

After Narayan vanished, Brahma did as he was told and meditated on him for another 100 celestial years. Brahma became both powerful and knowledgeable. Narayan entered Brahma's body as Kshirodakasyi Vishnu, which made him want to create. Brahma went into the whorl of his lotus and split it into 3 parts and later into 14.

Lord Narayan had already created 6 things, which were: knowledge, the forces of nature, sense perceptions, false ego, the controlling deities, and the ignorant darkness. Brahma then created 5 things for people to live through: the fake conception of life, sense of death and fear, self-deception, sense of ownership, and frustration.
     Brahma felt bad after creating these things, as he felt that they caused people to be sinful. So, he meditated, focusing on Narayan in order to purify himself before continuing to create.
     He then created attachment, death, madness, anger, ignorance, and envy. Disgusted, he took off that body of ignorance, which possessed some impure creatures. These creatures chased him and cried out "Eat him!" and, "Don't spare him!" Brahma couldn't teach his own creations, his sons, to protect him and not eat him. So, those who said that he should be eaten became Yakshas (demonic spirits of wealth), and those who said that he shouldn't be spared became Rakshasas (demons, evils, devils, monsters).

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