Brahmā’s Tapas and the Vision of Vaikuṇṭha
At the start of a new kalpa (age of creation), Brahmā rose on a lotus from the navel of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa. He did not know how to begin the work of creation. A voice told him to do tapas (austerity). After a thousand divine years of tapas he was shown Vaikuṇṭha, the supreme home of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa, and Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa taught him. This is told in Chapter 9 of the second skanda of the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa.
The voice at the dawn of creation
Brahmā was alone on his lotus over the first waters. He had no companions and no earlier creation to guide him. He thought: “I am to create the universe, but I do not know how. What is the right way? What should I create first? In what order?”
He looked in every direction and saw only endless water and sky. His mind was in confusion. He could not begin.
In that still and uncertain moment he heard a sound. It was a voice that spoke no sentence and gave no long instruction. It said one word twice:
“Tapaḥ. Tapaḥ.” (Tapas. Tapas.)
Brahmā looked everywhere for the source of the voice. No one could be seen. He searched with care and found no speaker. Then, sitting on his lotus, he reasoned: “This voice has guided me even without showing itself. Even a daridrī (a person who has nothing) has at least tapas. I have been given the one path. I shall follow it.”
The tapas of a thousand years
Brahmā held all his karmendriyas (organs of action) and jñānendriyas (organs of knowing) in control. Through prāṇāyāma (breath control) and dhāraṇā (steady holding of the mind) he mastered his breath and his mind. He fixed his one-pointed attention (ekāgra-citta) in samādhi (deep absorption). He kept this tapas for one thousand divine years.
Śuka says that Brahmā is the greatest tapasvin (doer of tapas) among all who do tapas. Even the first creator and father of the whole universe had to begin with tapas and with nothing else. So no jīva (living being) can say it is free from tapas because of some natural greatness.
By the power of this thousand-year tapas, the knowledge needed for creation became clear in Brahmā’s mind. This was the whole cosmic intelligence for ordering the universe.
The vision of Vaikuṇṭha
When his tapas was complete and his mind was pure, Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa was pleased. He showed Brahmā his supreme home, Vaikuṇṭha.
This is what Brahmā saw:
- A realm where the five kleśas (afflictions of the mind), that is avidyā (not-knowing), asmitā (the sense of “I”), rāga (attachment), dvesha (dislike) and abhiniveśa (clinging to life), have no entry.
- No place for viparyaya (wrong knowing), no moha (delusion) and no bhaya (fear).
- A world of pure sattva, where even the sattva-guṇa is not mixed with rajas or tamas.
- Kāla (time) has no power to destroy here. The reach of māyā ends at the threshold of Vaikuṇṭha.
- The great pārshadas (the eternal attendants of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa). The chief among them are Sunanda, Nanda, Prabala and Arhaṇa. All are four-armed and dark like blue-black clouds. They wear dazzling ornaments of gems, golden crowns, earrings and garlands, and spotless yellow robes.
- Lakshmī Devī on a swing, singing the glories of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa. Cuckoos, parrots and bees joined in harmony.
- At the centre, Bhagavān Śrī Hari himself. He sat on the supreme throne. He had four arms. He wore the divine kirīṭa (crown), kuṇḍalas (earrings) and yellow garments, and the śrīvatsa mark on his chest. Lakshmī shone on his breast like a golden line. On all sides the twenty-five tattvas (principles of creation) served him. The six guṇas (aiśvarya, vīrya, yaśas, śrī, jñāna, vairāgya, that is lordship, power, fame, beauty, knowledge and detachment) were in him as his natural qualities. He was ātmārāma, wholly at rest in his own svarūpa (true nature).
When Brahmā saw this, his heart overflowed with joy (ānanda). Tears ran from his eyes and the hair on his body stood up. He fell flat at the lotus feet of Bhagavān Śrī Hari in full surrender. Bhagavān Śrī Hari looked at him with loving eyes, held his hands, smiled and gave the great upadeśa (teaching).
Bhagavān Śrī Hari’s teaching to Brahmā
The teaching given to Brahmā in Vaikuṇṭha is one of the shortest and deepest statements of the Bhāgavatam. These are its main parts.
On the one reality
“Before creation, I alone existed. When creation begins, this world that is seen is also I. In the pralaya (the dissolving of the world), what remains is also I alone. Whatever is seen in the three times, past, present and future, I am that. And I remain as the unmanifest ground beyond all of it.”
The teaching of māyā
Bhagavān Śrī Hari showed how this one reality appears as if it were many.
“In the sky there is no second moon. But when a person presses the corner of the eye, two moons appear. In the same way, in Brahman there is no manyness. But through the working of my māyā, manyness is seen.”
He gave another example. A golden earring and a golden bangle seem different in name and form, but both are gold. The base material (upādāna) is the same gold. The difference is only in name and form. In the same way the whole universe, differing in name and form, has one base: Bhagavān Śrī Hari himself.
How māyā stands in relation to Brahman
Bhagavān Śrī Hari explained that the five gross elements differ from one another, yet they are present in all their effects as the cause beneath them. A pot is made of clay. The clay is in the pot. Yet the clay is more than the pot. It was there before the pot and will remain after the pot is broken. In the same way, Bhagavān Śrī Hari is present in all things as their sat (being) and sphūrti (light). Yet no single thing uses him up or limits him.
On tapas
“Tapas is my heart, the thing most dear to me. Tapas is my own svarūpa. By tapas I make this world, keep it, and take it back. Tapas alone is my śakti (power).”
The command to create
After these teachings, Bhagavān Śrī Hari told Brahmā to do the sṛshṭi (creation) that had been given to him. He told him to use the creative understanding that was now clear in him. He told him not to be troubled by kartṛtva, the sense “I am the maker”. Brahmā creates only as the empowered agent of Bhagavān Śrī Hari. Holding this ātmajñāna (knowledge of the Self), he was to create without bondage.
Brahmā’s reply and request
Brahmā was glad and humbled. He spoke from where he lay prostrate. He said that Bhagavān Śrī Hari is the sākshi (witness) who lives in the buddhi (intellect) of all beings, and so had always known his confusion. He admitted that he is the master of the Prajāpatis and is honoured by all, yet he could not grasp the nature of the One from whom he himself arose.
He then made two requests:
- Give him the power to do the sṛshṭi.
- Show him both the sthūla (gross) and the sūkshma (subtle) forms of Bhagavān Śrī Hari, the cosmic form and the form beyond the world, so that he might truly understand what he was creating within and for.
Bhagavān Śrī Hari granted both. He showed the cosmic frame, the matter of the rest of the second skanda’s teaching on Virāṭ Purusha. Then he vanished from Brahmā’s sight, and Brahmā was equipped and inspired for the work of creation.
Brahmā’s creation and sādhana
After Bhagavān Śrī Hari had vanished (antardhāna), Brahmā had full creative wisdom and went back to his work. He kept the five yamas (rules of conduct): ahiṃsā (no harm), satya (truth), asteya (no stealing), brahmacarya (self-control) and aparigraha (no grasping). He kept the five niyamas (rules of discipline): śauca (purity), santosha (contentment), tapas, svādhyāya (study) and Īśvara-praṇidhāna (surrender to Parameśvara). With this tapas and this firm base of right conduct, he then did the sṛshṭi. It was the same creation as in earlier kalpas, as the earlier chapters describe.
Sources
- Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 2nd Skanda, Chapter 9