Brahmā’s Yajña of Creation (Brahma Purāṇa)
Brahma Sṛshṭi Yajña · brahma sṛshṭi yajña, “Brahmā’s yajña of creation”
Kuśa has other meanings too: see all meanings of Kuśa. Akshayavaṭa has other meanings too: see all meanings of Akshayavaṭa.
Brahmā’s yajña of creation is the first yajña, by which the universe came forth, told by Brahmā himself to Nārada in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa. Born in the lotus with nothing yet around him, Brahmā heard an Ethereal Voice, the speech of Vishṇu, which told him to create by yajña in the Karmabhūmi, the land of holy rites south of the Vindhya and the Sahya. There, on the mountain then called Devayajana, he remembered the Purusha Sūkta, prepared the yajña as it teaches, made half his body into his wife, and, having no paśu (the animal of the yajña), bound the supreme Purusha himself, his own progenitor, to the post that is Time with the three guṇas as the halter. From the Purusha the whole universe came forth. When the yajña was done, Vishṇu appeared in the three fires; the water of the Praṇītā vessel became the river Praṇītā, the kuśa grass fell at Kuśatarpaṇa, and the yūpa became the undecaying banyan, Akshaya Vaṭa. The mountain became Brahmagiri, and the place of the yajña is the Daṇḍaka forest.
Devayajana becomes Brahmagiri
Telling Nārada of the Gautamī, Brahmā recalls: “Formerly, wishing to create the moving and unmoving beings, O dear son, I performed a yajña on the mountain Devayajana. Thereafter that mountain became well known as Brahmagiri, named after me.”
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 5
The tīrtha and its secret
Later Brahmā tells Nārada of the tīrtha known in the worlds as Kuśatarpaṇa and Praṇītā-saṅgama, which gives both bhukti and mukti. South of the Vindhya is the great mountain Sahya; from its feet arise the Godāvarī, the Bhīmarathī and other rivers, and the place where the river Ekavīrā rises is Virajā, whose greatness no one can describe. What happened on that mountain, Brahmā says, is the secret of secrets, declared by the Vedas, unknown even to ṛshis, devas, pitṛs and asuras; hearing it gives every cherished thing.
Brahmā in the lotus
The supreme Purusha is to be known as Avyakta (the unmanifest) and Akshara (the imperishable); the lower is Kshara (the perishable), joined with Prakṛti. From the formless was born the Purusha with limbs; from him the waters, and from the waters the Purusha; from both a lotus, and in that lotus Brahmā was born. Earth, wind, ākāśa, water and fire had arisen before him together. Brahmā saw only these elements and no other being. The Vedas were not yet present; he could not see even the lotus from which he was born. As he remained silent, he heard an excellent voice.
The Ethereal Voice
“O Brahmā, perform the creation of the universe, of moving and unmoving beings,” said the Voice. Brahmā asked: “How shall I create this universe? With what?” The Voice answered: “The mother of the universe is called Prakṛti, and she works under the guidance of Vishṇu. Perform yajña, and you will surely gain the power. The eternal Śruti says, ‘Yajña is Vishṇu.’ What cannot be achieved by those who perform yajña, in this world and the next?”
Brahmā asked the devī of the Voice, who was the Oṃkāra, one with the universe and mother of all, where and with what the yajña should be performed. She said: “Here in the Karmabhūmi worship the master of yajñas, the Yajña-Purusha. He alone shall be your means and your instrument; worship him with him. Hari alone is all this: the yajña, svāhā and svadhā, the mantras, the brāhmaṇas and the havis. Everything comes from Vishṇu.”
At that time, Brahmā tells Nārada, there was no Bhāgīrathī, no Narmadā, no Yamunā, no Tāpī, no Sarasvatī and no Gautamī; there was no sea, no river, no lake and no clear pool. When he asked where the Karmabhūmi lay, the Voice said: “South of Sumeru and of Himavān, south of the Vindhya and south of the Sahya is the Karmabhūmi, which gives rising fortune to all at all times.” Brahmā left Meru and came to that place, and the Voice guided him: “Go this way. Stay on this side. Sit here alone. Make the saṅkalpa (resolve) of the yajña, and it will be completed. Then perform what the Vedas prescribe.”
The preparations
The Itihāsas, the Purāṇas and all the sacred word came of their own accord to Brahmā‘s mouth and memory, and in that moment he understood the meaning of the Vedas. He remembered the Purusha Sūkta, prepared the requisites of the yajña named in it, and made the yajña vessels as it describes. The place where he purified himself and took the dīkshā became a land of brāhmaṇas, glorified by his name; the holy place of his yajña is remembered as Brahmagiri, and it extended twenty-four yojanas to the east of Brahmagiri. In the middle of the vedi he set up the three sacred fires, the Gārhapatya, the Dakshiṇa and the Āhavanīya.
A yajña cannot be completed without the wife, says the Veda. So Brahmā divided his body in two: the former half became his wife, for the fulfilment of the yajña, and the latter half was Brahmā himself. “Half of oneself is one’s wife,” says the Śruti.
The parts of the yajña
The seasons became the materials: Vasanta (spring) was the ājya (ghee), Grīshma (summer) the idhma (fuel), Śarad (autumn) the havis, and the rainy season the barhis (kuśa grass). The Vedas were the seven paridhis, the enclosing sticks round the fire. Kalā, Kāshṭhā and Nimesha, the units of time, are remembered as the samidh, the vessel and the kuśa. Kāla, Time without beginning or end, took the form of the yūpa, and the three guṇas beginning with sattva became the means of binding the paśu. But there was no paśu.
The Purusha as paśu
Brahmā said to the unembodied speech of Vishṇu, “Without a paśu this yajña cannot be completed.” The eternal Voice answered: “Praise that supreme Purusha with the Purusha Sūkta.” Saying “So be it,” Brahmā began with devotion to praise Janārdana, Deveśa, ruler of the devas and his own progenitor, with the Purusha Sūkta. Then Brahmā understood that the unchanging Purusha, his progenitor, was to be the paśu. He placed him beside the Kāla-yūpa, the post that is Time, and bound him, his father, with the guṇa-pāśas, the three guṇas as the halter; and the Purusha stood before Brahmā.
Creation from the Purusha
Then the whole universe came forth from the Purusha:
- the brāhmaṇas from his mouth, the kshatriyas from his arms, the vaiśyas from his thighs, and the śūdra and the earth from his feet;
- Indra and Agni from his mouth, vāyu from his prāṇa, the quarters from his ear, svarga from his head;
- the moon from his mind, the sun from his eye, the antariksha (mid-space) from his navel;
- the ṛshis from the pores of his skin and the healing herbs from his hair;
- domestic and wild animals from his nails, and worms and insects from his lower parts.
Some of the moving and unmoving beings, seen and unseen, were born of him, and the devas were born of Brahmā.
The close of the yajña
The Voice said: “All is completed; the creation you desired has taken place. Now consign all the vessels to the fire. Cast off the yūpa, the Praṇītā vessel and the kuśa; cast off the forms of the ṛtvijas and of the yajña, what is intended and what is meditated upon; the sruva (ladle), the Purusha and the halters: cast off all these, O Brahmā.” Brahmā began to offer into the three fires, meditating on the Purusha, the cause of the universe, sanctified by the mantras.
Then the pure Yajñapati, master of the yajña and of the worlds, one with the universe, maker of all, appeared near the fire-pits. Vishṇu took a white form in the Āhavanīya fire, a dark form in the Dakshiṇa fire and a yellow form in the Gārhapatya. Vishṇu was present everywhere at all times; there was nothing without Vishṇu, the cause of the universe.
The river Praṇītā and Kuśatarpaṇa
Repeating the mantras, Brahmā carried forward the Praṇītā vessel, and its water became the splendid river Praṇītā. He emptied the vessel after wiping it with kuśa grass, and the drops that fell in many places all became tīrthas of great puṇya. The river gives the fruit of yajñas to one who bathes in it; it is ever adorned by the deva who bears the Śārṅga bow, and it is the stairway by which all ascend to Vaikuṇṭha. The spot where the wiped kuśa fell is called Kuśatarpaṇa: “All these were satisfied (tarpita) by the kuśa, so the place is called Kuśatarpaṇa.” Later, for another reason, the Gautamī joined the Praṇītā, and that became the Praṇītā-saṅgama.
Akshaya Vaṭa and the Daṇḍaka forest
The yūpa that Brahmā had made was cast off with due rite, and it became a resort of Vishṇu, worthy of the pūjā of the worlds. Because that glorious post became free from decay, the banyan became Akshaya Vaṭa, the undecaying vaṭa; in the form of Time it is eternal, and remembering it gives the merit of yajñas.
The place of Brahmā’s divine yajña is called the Daṇḍaka forest. When the yajña was concluded, Brahmā propitiated Vishṇu, bowed, and with due rite took leave of the ruler of the chief of devas, called Virāṭ in the Vedas, from whom the acts of dharma were born, from whom Brahmā was born, and whose creation this universe is. The holy ground of the yajña extends over twenty-four yojanas, and the three kuṇḍas (fire-pits) are there even today, in the form of Yajñeśvara, Vishṇu who bears the cakra. Even worms and insects that die there attain moksha. The Daṇḍaka forest is called the seed of dharma and the seed of moksha, and above all the part that touches the Gautamī.
Phalaśruti
- One who bathes and gives dāna at the Praṇītā-saṅgama or at Kuśatarpaṇa goes to the supreme abode.
- Remembering, reading or hearing this narrative with devotion fulfils every cherished desire and gives bhukti and mukti.
- The learned say there are eighty-six thousand tīrthas on both banks.
- Kuśatarpaṇa is more excellent even than Vārāṇasī; no tīrtha in the world equals it. Merely remembered, it destroys the pāpa of brahmahatyā and every other pāpa, and it is called the gate to svarga on the surface of the earth.
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapters 5, 91