Brahmā at Sannihita

Chapter 28 of the Saro Māhātmya in the Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa tells how Brahmā, the four-faced creator, came to have four faces. It then tells how he went to Sannihita Sarovara, the sacred lake at Kurukshetra, to be freed of pāpa (sin). There Bhagavān Śiva appeared to him, and Brahmā set up four liṅgas, one for each yuga. This chapter closes the whole Saro Māhātmya.

Mārkaṇḍeya’s question

The chapter opens with Mārkaṇḍeya asking how the Caturmukha Brahmā came to have exactly four faces, no more and no less. The answer begins with Brahmā’s fifth head, the pāpa of desire, and the freeing of that pāpa at Sannihita.

Brahmā creates a maiden

At the beginning of creation Brahmā set about making the world and bringing forth beings. In the course of this work he made a very beautiful young woman. She had eyes like blue lotus petals, a slender waist, and a form that pleased the eye. Brahmā became attached to this being of his own making and invited her to union (maithunakrīḍā).

This was a grave wrong: the creator desired his own creation. The result came at once. Brahmā’s fifth head, the uppermost one, was cut off. The text calls this the terrible fruit of his own pāpa (ghora pāpaphala). Brahmā was now four-faced instead of five-faced, and the weight of the pāpa stayed upon him.

Brahmā goes to Sannihita Sarovara

Carrying this pāpa, Brahmā went to the Sānnihita Saras, the sacred lake at Kurukshetra. The text calls it sarva-tīrthottama (the best of all tīrthas) and mukti-pradāyaka (giver of liberation). At Sannihita he found Sthāṇu-tīrtha, which is attended by ṛshis and makes the one who comes pure. It lies on the northern bank of the Sarasvatī. There he set up a Caturmukha (four-faced) liṅga of Śiva.

Every day he worshipped with dhūpa (incense), dīpa (lamps), gandha (scent) and naivedya (food offering), and he recited the Rudrasūkta. The text calls him śivapūjā-dhurandhara, the foremost bearer of Śiva’s worship. He kept this up until Bhagavān Nīlalohita, the blue-throated form of Śiva, appeared before him.

Brahmā’s stotra to Śiva

When Śiva appeared, Brahmā lay flat on the ground in sāshṭāṅga-praṇāma (the full prostration) and sang a stotra (hymn of praise). Its names for Śiva cover the whole range of his nature:

  • Bhūta-bhavya-bhavāśraya: the support of past, present and future
  • Triloka-pālaka: guardian of the three worlds
  • Pāvita-deha: one whose body purifies
  • Sarva-kalmasha-hara: remover of all impurities
  • Hara: the one who takes away
  • Carācara-guru: teacher of all that moves and does not move
  • Vaidya-asādhya-roga-nāśaka: destroyer of diseases that physicians cannot treat
  • Śoka-rahita: free from grief
  • Vārikallola-saṅkshubdha-mahābuddhi-vighaṭaka: the one who stills the great mind shaken by the waves of worldly delusion
  • Nityānitya-loka-pāla, Śaṃkara, Aprameya-vyādhi-nāśaka: eternal guardian of the worlds, Śaṃkara, destroyer of afflictions beyond measure

The phalaśruti (promise of fruit) of this stotra says that those who recite it before Śiva will not be caught in saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death).

Śiva speaks: the origin of the Sthāṇu liṅga

Pleased with Brahmā’s worship, Śiva spoke to him: “O Pitāmaha! You need not grieve about what is to come. In the Varāha Kalpa it was I who destroyed one of your heads. You were left with four heads. They will never fall again.”

Śiva then told the origin of the Sthāṇu liṅga at Sannihita, which had not been told before. In ancient times Brahmā asked Śiva to create and urged him to begin the work. Śiva agreed. He entered the waters of Sannihita Sarovara to perform tapas, and Brahmā waited. Brahmā waited for a very long time.

A being born of Brahmā’s mere saṃkalpa (resolve) then reported that he had seen Śiva under the water. This being declared that he was the greatest among beings. Brahmā told him: “There is no one greater than you here, except Sthāṇu, who is under the water. Go and make peace with him, for only he can truly help you.”

Then creation unfolded. The newly made beings, as soon as they came into the world, were struck by hunger. They ran toward their creator to eat him. The creator-being was terrified and ran to Brahmā. Brahmā then set up the order of food: plants for the beings that do not move, and for the beings that move, the rule that the strong eat the weak. With this order in place, all beings went back to their places and the world went on in peace.

Meanwhile Śiva came up out of the waters of Sannihita. Full of the fierce anger born of his tapas, he pulled out his own liṅga and threw it into the middle of the lake. The liṅga stood perfectly upright in the water. From that moment it was known as the Sthāṇu liṅga, the liṅga of Sthāṇu, the Immovable One. Śiva then declared: “Whoever sees this liṅga even once, all their kilvishas (impurities) are destroyed. They gain the priceless moksha from which there is no return.”

The four Brahma liṅgas, one for each yuga

Brahmā received Śiva’s grace and was freed from his pāpa. He worshipped the Caturmukha liṅga, which is the four-faced Bhava (Śiva). Then he set up four sacred liṅgas at four places around Sannihita Sarovara, one for each yuga:

  1. Brahmasaras liṅga: set up beside Hari (Vishṇu) at the lake. It is to be worshipped in the Kṛtayuga.
  2. Brahmasadana liṅga: set up inside Brahmā’s own āśrama. It is to be worshipped in the Tretāyuga.
  3. The eastern liṅga: set up to the east of Brahmasadana. It is to be worshipped in the Dvāparayuga.
  4. The Brahma liṅga on the Sarasvatī bank: set up on the northern bank of the Sarasvatī. It is to be worshipped in the Kaliyuga.

These four tīrthas together are called parama-pavitra (most holy). Those who fast (upavāsa) and have darśana of these four reach paramapada, the highest state.

The phalaśruti of the Caturmukha liṅga

The liṅga that Brahmā worshipped at the beginning of creation, on the northern bank of the Sarasvatī, is named the Caturmukha liṅga (the four-faced liṅga). The text promises these fruits for worshipping it:

  • A namaskāra (bow) made with faith (śraddhā) and devotion (bhakti) removes all gathered pāpa (sarva-pāpa-parihāra).
  • The pāpa of union across varṇas (varṇāntara-saṅgama), done through animal-like passion (kāma-paśu-pravṛtti), is destroyed.
  • The pāpa of eating spoiled or impure food (dūshitānna) is destroyed.
  • Worship at the āśrama tīrtha (Brahmasadana) in the Dvāparayuga destroys the faults born of rajoguṇa and the mixing of varṇas (varṇasaṃkara doshas).
  • Worship on Kṛshṇapaksha-caturdaśī (the fourteenth day of the dark half, the monthly Śivarātri) destroys the pāpa of eating food that should not be eaten (abhojyānna).
  • In the Kaliyuga, worship of the liṅga on the Sarasvatī bank, while living at Vasishṭha’s āśrama, gives the highest attainment. Those who worship with faith, without food (nirāhāra) and with their senses under control reach paramapada without any doubt.

The chapter, and with it the whole Saro Māhātmya, ends with these words: “He who hears this māhātmya will be freed of all pāpa and reach mukti.”

Sources

  • Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 28