Lord Brahma

Wisdom Teachings
Sublime Beings

The soul is a traveller through the spiral paths of evolution and enters the mother’s womb at a particular stage at the time of fertilisation. There the creator-consciousness finds itself induced by the pair of creators (father and mother) to create its own frame in the fashion of the parents. The space and place of this occurrence present a globe of space which gives the stimulation to the child in the mother’s womb.

What the mother’s physical body is to the child, the space globe is to the soul: to serve as a model according to which the child is to be developed. The head centre is the highest point and the first to form at the time of fertilisation; it corresponds with the first house of the horoscope. The vertebral column is created second in the foetus; it contains the essence of our self. Master EK says that the hollow barrel in the vertebral column is the narrow passage in which space exists as Man.

The navel manifests as a lower space centre. It corresponds with the 7th house and the descendent. The two points work as two poles to distribute the tissue-matter that forms the physical body. The head centre works as the positive pole and the solar plexus as the negative pole, as the centre of expression into objectivity. The navel unites the mother and the child. It symbolises the link between nature as the mother and the Lord as the child with the unfolding consciousness.

During the formation of the spinal tube, the creator-consciousness is thrown down and makes a sojourn through this channel to investigate the downward path. The third book of Bhagavatam describes this as the journey of Brahma, the creator, into the barrel of the lotus stalk upon which he is seated. Brahma is the four-faced manifestation of the Lord and presides over the creation of the universes. The four faces represent the four stages of creation which we know as existence, awareness of existence, thinking and action and which we also encounter in the four kingdoms of nature: mineral, plant, animal and man.

Brahma is born in a lotus which sprouts from the navel of the cosmic person. The lotus is the ever unfolding principle of space as its content. The ancient scientists called it “Space Mind” or in Sanskrit “Mahat”; our mind being a part of it.

Brahma questions himself, “Where am I and wherefrom this lotus sprouts?” Then he makes a journey down the barrel to know the depth of the ocean upon which he is floating. Then he ponders as to how to create this unit creation. From the yonder skies of the cosmic existence he receives the feeling that he is not an entity separated from the rest; that he is a part of the whole and he is a world within a world and a creator within the creator. Thus, he comes to understand that he is not the creator but a creator.

The subtle stalk of the lotus is also called Brahma Danda, the rod of the creator. We hold it inside our vertebral column as the Sushumna, from which the centres or chakras emerge. To hold an outer rod, as do kings or bishops, is symbolic for this vertical life of the serpent fire.

The masculine form of “Brahma”, the four-faced creator, is different from the absolute One who is also named with the neutral form “Brahman” or Narayana, Para-Brahman and “the background”. The creation began with an impulse which emerged from the absolute One who is the basis for all in creation. With the emergence of this impulse, time and nature are formed. This impulse is described as an egg which emerges from Brahman and is therefore also called Brahmananda, the Cosmic Egg.

The symbolism of the egg and the circle form one of the major keys of the ancient wisdom. “The Lord made the egg out of the waters and made the seed of creation out of the water in the egg. As a seed he entered as his own presence, I AM”, says the Bhagavatam.

The self-effulgent golden egg of Brahma’s manifestation is also the “golden navel”. Since he comes out of the background along with the egg, the four-faced Brahma is also regarded as the Lord himself in the capacity of his son. The Rig Veda describes the parent personality of the background a s eternal while the child personality is periodical in his emerging and merging. The period between an emerging and merging is called one span of creation which is called a Day of Brahma in the Puranas. It is divided into fourteen equal parts called Manavantaras. Each Manvantara is presided over by a great consciousness which is called a Manu. There are 14 Manus which belong to the children born out of the mind of Brahma. A Manu is the prototype of each human race in creation. The present humanity belongs to the 7th Manu called Vaivasvata Manu.

The creative principle, Brahma, is also called the 3rd Logos, Intelligent Activity or Fire by Friction, besides the 1st Logos of Divine Will and the 2nd Logos of Love-Wisdom. Brahma is not so much worshipped as the two other Logoi or the Divine Mother. In India there are only very few temples for him. This is because the work of the 3rd Logos is nearly completed; we now try to express Love and Wisdom, and then the Will of God. In his books Master DK says that during the first systemic existence the physical form was created. We now are in the second systemic existence, of Love and Wisdom, and in the next systemic existence there will be only the 1st Logos of Will. The work of Brahma is like building a house. Once it is built the inhabitants move into it and the construction activities are widely finished.

The Puranas belong to the oldest scriptures; they describe how at the beginning of creation the cosmic intelligences and beings came out into the creation through Brahma. In this he is just a medium of the Lord. Each time he considered himself to be the creator and forgot the absolute Lord, failures arose. As Brahma, when seated in the lotus, contemplated upon “Who am I?”, he didn’t get an answer. When the question came, “What am I to do?”, he received the answer from the background that he should turn inward. And he understood that he is none other than THAT. When again the question came “What am I to do?” the answer from inside said: “Create”. The creation happened through him as long as he was in the presence of THAT.

First the 4 Kumaras came out of him. They are described as the eternal youth and are also called Manasa Putras, Sons of the Cosmic Mind. They were born from Brahma without him wanting it.

The same happens with us as well. When we are linked with the Divine, thoughts emerge from us which are in accordance with it. Even if we have the feeling that we are thinking, the thoughts come from higher circles. When the creator advised the Kumaras to cooperate with him for creation they just smiled and remained silent. Their purpose was different from what the creator thought. They knew their task, and so they refused to create. Brahma got angry and cursed them to be buried in the matter of the whole creation. This allegory explains the birth of mind and the birth of the Masters in all planes as well as their work for the benefit of the beings. They are not personalities, but principles working in the cosmos and in us.

Other beings came forth through Brahma and manifested in the universe - Rudra, the vibrations in space; the Prajapatis, the progenitors of the beings of creation, Lords of power, form and matter; Saraswathi, the divine Word born out of Brahma… The Word emerges from the subjectivity of the speaker and travels through sound in space, from the speaker to the listener. When Brahma saw the beauty of Saraswathi, he forgot his duty and run after her. It says that the Prajapatis laughed at him when they saw his desire. Marichi, the mind of Brahma, told him that it is not good to have desire for her. Brahma realised his mistake and felt shame. He realised that he should use Saraswathi for the welfare of creation, but not for his own selfish desire for her.

This allegory of Brahma creating Saraswathi from within himself and following her to impregnate explains the mystery of how the creation emerges into objectivity, similar to the biblical story of the creation of Eva out of Adam. This mystery also points out the power of the Word. We lose ourselves when running after the thoughts and they pour out from us as words and actions. We can easily fall if we don’t use the speech correctly, and thus hurt ourselves and others. Let not our thoughts be guiding us; but that we guide always our thoughts. We are the master and should direct the thoughts in accordance with our duties. However, it is not a crime to commit mistakes. Even the creator made mistakes. What is important is to realise the mistakes, to correct them and to learn the lesson.

Sources: K.P. Kumar: Doctrine of Eternal Presence / notes from seminars. E. Krishnamacharya: Science of Symbolism. The World Teacher Trust - Dhanishta, Visakhapatnam, India.