Brahma-pada
Brahma-pada · brahma-pada, “the state of Brahmā”
Vishṇupada has other meanings too: see all meanings of Vishṇupada.
Grammar: neuter noun, a compound of brahma and pada (state, abode).
Meaning: the state of Brahmā, also written Brahmapada.
In the scriptures: Sumantu Muni teaches King Śatānīka that one who serves the guru until the end of the body reaches the eternal Brahma-pada (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 4). He who performs the pratishṭhā of Brahmā lifts twenty-one generations of his mother’s line, his father’s line and his wife’s line, and reaches Brahmapada (Brahma Parva, Chapter 17). It is also reached by these rites of Chapter 18:
- one fasts on Pūrṇimā and on Pāḍyami offers pūjā to Brahmā by this rule;
- one lights lamps in the temple of Brahmā on the Amāvāsyā of Kārtika;
- on Pāḍyami one gives brāhmaṇas lamps mixed with jaggery and new white cloth with borders, and honours them;
- on that same Pāḍyami one adorns oneself with new clothes, gandha, flowers and the like.
Sumantu tells Śatānīka that his grandfather Parīkshit gave up the serpent form and went to Candra-loka and Sūrya-loka, then Svarga-loka, then Kailāsa, then Vishṇu-loka, and after that attained Brahma-pada (Brahma Parva, Chapter 32).
Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Yudhishṭhira that one who practises yoga in the four months reaches Brahmapada (Uttara Parva, Chapter 70). In the first Brahmavrata one gives a golden brahmāṇḍa of more than three palas with sesame to a brāhmaṇa, and attains Brahmapada, free of rebirth. In the Vaiśvānaravrata one gives fuel in Hemanta and Śiśira and at the end a brāhmaṇa ghee and a cow, and attains health, lustre, radiance and Brahmapada (Uttara Parva, Chapter 121).
Related terms: Brahmaloka · Pratishṭhā · Brahmāṇḍa-pratimā
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapters 4, 17–18, 32; Uttara Parva, Chapters 70, 121