Srimad Bhagavatam #23: The creation of Brahma
Srimad Bhagavatam #23: The creation of Brahma
After describing the effects of kāla, Maitreya continues his description, narrating the creation of Brahma in more detail.
In this part:
Brahma populates the universe (chapter 3.12)
The creation of the four Kumaras
The appearance of Lord Shiva, and how the universe was almost
destroyed
Brahma creates 10 great sons
Brahma continues the process of creation
Brahma becomes attracted to his daughter and abandons his body
The creation of the Vedas
The creation of the first Manu
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Brahma populates the universe (chapter 3.12)
In the previous part, we studied the detailed description of the universal time Maitreya gives in chapter 3.11. Now, after describing the effects of kāla, Maitreya continues his description, narrating the creation of Brahma in more detail.
“Śrī Maitreya said: O learned Vidura, so far I have explained to you the glories of the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His feature of kāla. Now you can hear from me about the creation of Brahmā, the reservoir of all Vedic knowledge.” (SB 3.12.1)
It’s mentioned that Brahma started the creation by creating illusory engagements, such as self-deception, the sense of death, anger after being frustrated, the sense of false ownership, and the illusory bodily conception (that makes one forget his real identity as a soul). It’s easy to understand why such influences were created first since they constitute the basis of conditioned life in this material world. If one does not identify with the body and believes he possesses things in this material world, what is the possibility of remaining conditioned here? These are influences that affect all conditioned living beings.
Prabhupada mentions in his purport:
“Before the factual creation of the living entities in different varieties of species, the conditions under which a living being in the material world has to live were created by Brahmā. Unless a living entity forgets his real identity, it is impossible for him to live in the material conditions of life. Therefore the first condition of material existence is forgetfulness of one’s real identity. And by forgetting one’s real identity, one is sure to be afraid of death, although a pure living soul is deathless and birthless.”
The creation of the four Kumaras
Although necessary for the workings of the universe, Lord Brahma was not very pleased with such activities, therefore he decided to purify himself by meditating on Lord Vishnu before starting another term of creation. With such an elevated mentality he engaged himself in the creation of the four Kumaras, who are almost completely pure.
“Brahmā spoke to his sons after generating them. “My dear sons,” he said, “now generate progeny.” But due to their being attached to Vāsudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they aimed at liberation, and therefore they expressed their unwillingness.” (SB 3.12.5)
Brahma hoped that the Kumaras would create progeny and help him to fill up the universe, but being so pure, the Kumaras were transcendentalists who were not interested in such work. They didn’t even want to grow up, preferring to stay as small children, avoiding thus the possibility of falling under sexual urges.
It is described that the four kumaras were unwilling to adopt materialistic activities because they were highly elevated due to their semen flowing upwards. In Ayurveda, semen is described as the quintessence of food, the last transformation of the nutrients absorbed by the body and the giver of life. If one preserves his semen he can greatly increase his vitality, intelligence, duration of life, and so on. This is particularly useful for one interested in advanced study of the Vedas and renounced life, like in the case of the Kumaras. To avoid the possibility of becoming later involved in sexual activities, the Kumaras used their yogic power to remain as small children.
Prabhupada explains this point later in Srimad Bhagavatam:
“The word ūrdhva-retasaḥ in this verse is very significant. Ūrdhva-retaḥ refers to one who can control sex life and who instead of wasting semen by discharging it, can use this most important substance accumulated in the body to enrich the brain. One who can completely control sex life is able to work wonderfully with his brain, especially in remembering. Thus students who simply hear Vedic instructions once from their teacher could remember them verbatim without needing to read books, which therefore did not exist in former times. (SB 5.1.26 purport)
Because the four Kumaras were so spiritually elevated, Brahma entrusted to them the four principles of knowledge that compose the jñāna-kanda section of the Vedas:
1) Sāṅkhya: The analytical study of the material world to become free from it. This philosophy will be explained in detail by Lord Kapila later in the 3rd canto.
2) Yoga: The path of mysticism to attain liberation from the material world. “Yoga” is a generic word that can be applied to any process that helps us connect with Krsna, but here the word applies to the process of mystic yoga.
3) Vairāgya: The process of detachment from materialistic life to attain spiritual understanding.
4) Tapas: Various kinds of voluntary austerities performed to attain spiritual perfection.
The four Kumaras preside over the planetary system of Tapoloka, which is immediately under Satyaloka, the planet of Brahma. In the Brhad Bhagavatamrta, it is described that this planetary system is inhabited only by great sages, who are promoted there after being perfect Brahmacaris for many lives. They are fully renounced and spend most of their time in Samadhi, seeing Paramatma inside their hearts. They rarely talk, and when they do it is exclusively to have some philosophical discussion. The Kumaras disseminate this knowledge they received from Brahma all over the universe. Later in the Srimad Bhagavatam, it is described how they instructed King Prthu, for example. They are also the founders of the Kumara Sampradaya, one of the four Vaishnava disciplic successions.
It’s also interesting to note that although Sarasvati Devi (the Goddess of learning) is generally considered the consort of Lord Brahma, their relationship is not sexual. Sarasvati Devi is like the energy of Lord Brahma, connected with the understanding of Vedic knowledge. She is like the intelligence of Lord Brahma, we may say, helping him to understand Krsna, just like she helps other souls in the material universes to understand Vedic knowledge. We have information that in the spiritual world there are also couples, but their relationships are centered on their devotional service. In other words, in the spiritual world, the focus of the relationship is the service to Krsna, and not just mutual satisfaction like here in the material world. Although anatomically complete, they consider sexual relationships distasteful and don’t engage in them. This cooperation between Brahma and Sarasvati Devi is a good example of how relationships can be purified, even while we are still inside of this material universe.
Lord Brahma performs his service of creation by just meditating in the forms he desires to create, but other beings in this universe create progeny through the sexual act. Brahma desired that his sons, the four Kumaras would get married and help him in his service of populating the universe, but when they refused, Brahma became angry, and from between his eyebrows came Lord Shiva, in the form of a child of mixed blue and red hue.
“Brahmā spoke to his sons after generating them. “My dear sons,” he said, “now generate progeny.” But due to their being attached to Vāsudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they aimed at liberation, and therefore they expressed their unwillingness.
On the refusal of the sons to obey the order of their father, there was much anger generated in the mind of Brahmā, which he tried to control and not express.” (SB 3.12.5-6)
The appearance of Lord Shiva, and how the universe was almost destroyed
Lord Shiva is originally the look of Lord Maha-Vishnu, who carries all the souls who will take part in the material creation, as well as the time energy. He inseminates the material nature and initiates the process of creation of the material universes. This original form of Lord Shiva (Sadha-Shiva) is considered an expansion of Lord Vishnu, on the level of Vishnu-Tattva. Lord Sadha-Shiva lives eternally on his planet, Sadha-Shiva Loka, situated on the spiritual side, close to the border between the Brahmajoti and the causal ocean, where he eternally performs kirtana surrounded by his associates. His eternal consort is Ramadevi, an expansion of Laksmi. In the Brhad Bhagavatamrta, it is narrated how Gopa Kumara went there after passing through the impersonal Brahmajoti.
This original Lord Shiva incarnates as the innumerable forms of Lord Shiva present in all the different material universes. In this form, he associates with the material energy, the shadow of Ramadevi, and thus part of his transcendental qualities are covered. He is then considered Shiva-Tattva instead of Vishnu-Tattva, exhibiting just 84% of Krsna’s qualities. To explain this, the example of milk and curd is given. When milk is combined with an acid, it becomes curd. Curd is thus nothing more than a transformation of milk, but its properties change. Although curd is a transformation of milk, it doesn’t have the same properties, and can’t be used in place of milk in recipes.
When it’s mentioned that Lord Brahma created Lord Shiva from his anger, this means that from this pastime the particular incarnation of Lord Shiva for this universe appeared. It’s important thus to understand that Lord Shiva is an indirect expansion of the Lord and not a separate god as some believe.
As we studied previously, the 18 Puranas are divided into three groups, destined for people influenced by goodness, passion, and ignorance. Some verses of the Tamasic Puranas appear to indicate Lord Shiva as the Supreme Lord, but this is done just to increase the faith of his followers. In reality, the names mentioned in such verses, such as “Shiva” and “Rudra”, are mentioned as being names of Lord Vishnu, not names of the demigod. In other words, these verses just appear to refer to Lord Shiva. In reality, they speak about Lord Vishnu.
It is described that Brahma tried to contain his anger, and he was able to control it to a certain extent, by not showing it externally, but still, he was disturbed within, and this was sufficient to lead to the creation of Lord Shiva. One could question how Brahma, being so elevated could become angry. Prabhupada explains that because Brahma is in charge of the mode of passion of material nature, it was natural for him to become angry when his sons refused to obey his order. His anger was also not unjustified, because he wanted the Kumaras to beget children to help him in his devotional service of creating the universe. The Kumaras on the other hand also refused based on a higher purpose, to remain pure and instruct others in devotional service. This shows how sometimes even very advanced devotees can disagree due to differences in their preferences in performing their services. However, because in these cases the disagreements are centered in their service to the Lord, it is not outside the sphere of devotional service.
Lord Shiva performs many roles inside the universe, and thus he receives many names, such as Manyu, Manu, Mahinasa, Mahān, Śiva, Ṛtadhvaja, Ugraretā, Bhava, Kāla, Vāmadeva and Dhṛtavrata. The particular form of Lord Shiva who appeared from the anger of Brahma is Rudra, the personification of anger. In this form, Lord Shiva has 11 wives, called Rudranis, who are all manifestations of the material energy. They also were created by Brahma as his daughters. In this way, at the beginning of the creation, Brahma created both sons and daughters out of his mind and tried to arrange their marriages so they would further populate the universe.
On our planet, marriage between brothers and sisters is condemned for several reasons, including the fact that similarities in DNA lead to miscarriages and birth defects, but such factors don’t apply to higher beings like the descendants of Brahma, because they don’t have gross bodies, and don’t go through a process of growth like us. In the case of such elevated personalities, this type of marriage is not condemned.
Back to the pastime, the anger that is personified in Lord Rudra manifests in all conditioned living beings in the course of their activities. Srila Prabhupada explains how this works in his purport:
“The creation of Rudra from between the eyebrows of Brahmā as the result of his anger, generated from the mode of passion partly touched by ignorance, is very significant. In Bhagavad-gītā (3.37) the principle of Rudra is described. Krodha (anger) is the product of kāma (lust), which is the result of the mode of passion. When lust and hankering are unsatisfied, the element of krodha appears, which is the formidable enemy of the conditioned soul. This most sinful and inimical passion is represented as ahaṅkāra, or the false egocentric attitude of thinking oneself to be all in all. Such an egocentric attitude on the part of the conditioned soul, who is completely under the control of material nature, is described in Bhagavad-gītā as foolish. The egocentric attitude is a manifestation of the Rudra principle in the heart, wherein krodha (anger) is generated. This anger develops in the heart and is further manifested through various senses, like the eyes, hands and legs.” (SB 3.12.11 purport)
Lord Brahma asked him to generate population in cooperation with his wives, but as Rudra, Lord Shiva started generating a great number of sons who were very angry in nature. They in turn generated more offspring of the same quality, resulting in a huge population that started destroying the newly-created universe. The 11 principal Rudras are expansions of Lord Shiva, while others are ordinary living entities who are empowered by him. Their function is to assist him in destroying the universe, but in this case, the destruction started when the universe was just beginning.
“The sons and grandsons generated by Rudra were unlimited in number, and when they assembled together they attempted to devour the entire universe. When Brahmā, the father of the living entities, saw this, he became afraid of the situation.
Brahmā told Rudra: O best among the demigods, there is no need for you to generate living entities of this nature. They have begun to devastate everything on all sides with the fiery flames from their eyes, and they have even attacked me.” (SB 3.12.16-17)
Alarmed, Lord Brahma asked Lord Shiva to stop generating offspring and instead engage himself in penance for the auspiciousness of all beings. In this way, Lord Shiva, followed by all his sons, went to his abode and fixed himself in the practice of devotional service of the Lord, giving us example as the greatest Vaishnava (vaisnavanam yatha sambhuh). Lord Shiva remains in this peaceful state until the end of the creation, when he again assumes an angry nature and destroys the universe in collaboration with Lord Ananta and the Rudras.
Just like material energy is considered the mother of all living beings, Lord Shiva is considered the father. As the father of the universe, he constantly meditates in ways to help all living entities to gradually advance spiritually and eventually go back to Godhead. We can see that throughout Srimad Bhagavatam Lord Shiva appears to help and give blessings to both devotees and demons. The nature of Lord Shiva is explained by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura in his commentary on the Brahma Sanhita (5.45). He mentions that:
a) Since Lord Sadha-Shiva is an expansion of Krsna, they are not really different from each other, but Shiva is dependent on Krsna.
b) The difference between them is compared to the difference between milk and yogurt.
c) Shiva is empowered with the destructive power of time, and thus he is empowered to destroy the universe.
d) Lord Shiva also plays the role of the greatest Vaishnava, by teaching Dharma in the form of different types of pious duties that serve as stepping stones to the attainment of devotional service. In this way, he helps jivas in different stages of consciousness.
e) Apart from manifesting the 50 qualities of ordinary souls in much greater quantity, he manifests five qualities that ordinary souls don’t have. In this way, Lord Shiva is a category apart (Shiva Tattva), different from ordinary souls.
Brahma creates 10 great sons
After his pastime of generating Lord Shiva, Brahma continued his work of creation, creating ten great sons: Marīci, Atri, Aṅgirā, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Bhṛgu, Vasiṣṭha, Dakṣa, and Nārada.
The first nine of these sons, led by Dakṣa, were mostly inclined to perform fruitive activities. Brahma entrusted them with the knowledge of the karma-kanda section of the Vedas and engaged them in performing sacrifices. This event is described in the second canto, verses 2.6.28 and 2.6.29:
“Thus I created the ingredients and paraphernalia for offering sacrifice out of the parts of the body of the Supreme Lord, the enjoyer of the sacrifice, and I performed the sacrifice to satisfy the Lord.
My dear son, thereafter your nine brothers, who are the masters of living creatures, performed the sacrifice with proper rituals to satisfy both the manifested and nonmanifested personalities.” (SB 2.6.28-29)
Later, after performing sacrifices, Brahma got these sons married to the daughters and granddaughters of Svāyambhuva Manu and engaged them in populating the universe. Almost all the living beings who exist, both humans and animals, are descendants of these nine sons, especially of Daksa, who is the main progenitor in the universe. These ten sons are the original Prajāpatis, who give birth to the first human beings and demigods, as well as other prajapatis who populate the universe manvantara after Manvantara.
The great Kasyapa Muni, for example, who is described later as the husband of Aditi and Diti, the mothers of the demigods and demons on the 6th manvantara, is the son of Marici. Similarly, all the great personalities mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavatam can have their ancestry traced back to these sons of Brahma, as well as Svāyambhuva Manu and Kasyapa, who were generated later.
Each of these nine sons where born from a part of the body of Brahma. Narada however was born from Brahma’s transcendental deliberation. Narada is thus the best of the sons of Brahma because of his natural devotional attitude and was thus entrusted with the bhakti-kanda, the knowledge about devotional service to the Lord that he distributes through the universe. Nāra means the “Supreme Lord,” and “da” means “one who can deliver.”
The appearance of Narada Muni as the son of Brahma is a continuation of the events narrated in the first canto, with Narada being born in his previous life as the son of a maidservant who had the opportunity of associating with great sages. These events happened on the previous day of Brahma. After attaining spiritual realization, he appeared as the son of Brahma in the current day.
Narada is a Nitya-Siddha, an eternally liberated soul. However, at the same time, he performs his pastime of taking birth in the material world and playing the role of a conditioned soul who meets devotees and attains self-realization. This is also the case with other great devotees like Prahlada Maharaja and Dhruva Maharaja, who continuously appear in different universes to perform their pastimes to guide the conditioned souls and help them to rediscover their lost relationship with Krsna.
Although Narada Muni (just like the Kumaras) doesn’t engage in generating population, Lord Brahma is never dissatisfied with him, because He performs the most important service, helping the inhabitants of the universe going back to Godhead.
The talks between Brahma and Narada Muni described in the 2nd canto happened at this stage, when the universe had just been created, and Narada Muni started enquiring about the purpose of creation and other philosophical topics.
Brahma continues the process of creation
After generating these ten great sons, Brahma continued his process of creation, by generating religion and irreligion, lust and desire, anger, greed, the power of speaking, and so on. All these were created from different parts of his body.
We can see that just like the senses and other components of the universe, these are energies that were created by the Lord in the process of primary creation, as described in the 10th chapter of the 2nd canto. At this stage, the Lord creates the universal form, the Virat-rupa, which contains all the different senses, objects of the senses, material potencies, etc. together with their predominating deities. This Virat-rupa manifests inside each universe and serves as a foundation for the creation of Brahma. When it is described that Brahma created anger, for example, it means he created the manifestation of anger (together with its predominating deity) for this particular universe, while at the previous stage, the Lord created the blueprint of anger for all the universes.
One way to understand that is that there is one original Lord Shiva (Sada-Shiva) who presides over all material creation, and there is one Lord Shiva inside each universe. The original Shiva appears from Lord Maha-Vishnu, while the numerous Shivas in each universe are expansions of this original Lord Shiva that appear to be created by Brahma.
“Religion was manifested from the breast of Brahmā, wherein is seated the Supreme Personality of Godhead Nārāyaṇa, and irreligion appeared from his back, where horrible death takes place for the living entity.
Lust and desire became manifested from the heart of Brahmā, anger from between his eyebrows, greed from between his lips, the power of speaking from his mouth, the ocean from his penis, and low and abominable activities from his anus, the source of all sins.” (SB 3.12.25-26)
Brahma also created Kardama Muni from his shadow. Kardama Muni is a great sage who also received from Brahma the mission of helping him to populate the universe. This is a difficulty that is present in all ages, including at the current time. Although all kinds of living beings produce descendants, like horses, dogs, and low-class people, elevated human beings and great sages capable of understanding God are rare in the creation, because they can be generated only from elevated fathers and mothers. Such elevated devotees are not common, and many are not inclined to generate descendants, like the four Kumaras. Therefore, there is always a lack of qualified couples all over the universe, capable of generating and educating such elevated children who can guide others back to Godhead.
With this in mind, Kardama Muni meditated for a very long period to purify himself and obtain the blessings of the Supreme Lord. Soon afterward, Kardama married Devahuti, and apart from nine very qualified daughters, they begot Lord Kapila, who benefited the whole world by explaining the theistic philosophy of Sankhya. Kardama Muni is the perfect example of family life in Krsna consciousness and his story is narrated in detail later in the third canto.
Brahma becomes attracted to his daughter and abandons his body
Brahma created also a daughter called Vāk, the predominating deity of speech. Somehow Brahma became attracted and started following her, which led Marīci and his other sons to voice their condemnation.
“O father, this performance in which you are endeavoring to complicate yourself was never attempted by any other Brahmā, nor by anyone else, nor by you in previous kalpas, nor will anyone dare to attempt it in the future. Even though you are the most powerful being, this act does not suit you because your character is followed for spiritual improvement by people in general.” (SB 3.12.30-31)
It’s dificult to understand how a great personality like Brahma, who doesn’t even have a gross body like ours could be inclined in such a way, even though he just contemplated it in his mind, but Srila Prabhupada offers a possible explanation in one of his purports:
“It might be that Brahmā wanted to warn his subordinates about human frailties in their dealings with women. This is always very dangerous for persons who are on the path of self-realization. Therefore, great personalities like Brahmā, even when in the wrong, should not be neglected, nor could the great sages headed by Marīci show any disrespect because of his extraordinary behavior.”
In the Brhad Bhagavatamrta, Srila Sanatana Goswami mentions that often great personalities commit mistakes to call our attention to mistakes we can also commit and their results. Brahma becoming attracted to his daughter led him to be condemned by his sons, Bharata Maharaja becoming attached to the deer led him to take two additional births before going back to Godhead, and so on. Sanatana Goswami explains that such examples are not due to their falling in Maya but a play performed for our benefit.
It is described that after seeing the reaction of his sons, Brahma understood his mistake and became ashamed. He then abandoned the body he was using, and this body became the darkness of ignorance that covers the whole universe. The only antidote for this darkness is to take shelter in the Supreme Lord.
“The father of all Prajāpatis, Brahmā, thus seeing all his Prajāpati sons speaking in that way, became very much ashamed and at once gave up the body he had accepted. Later that body appeared in all directions as the dangerous fog in darkness.” (3.12.33)
As Prabhupada explains in his purport:
“The best way to compensate for one’s sinful acts is to give up one’s body at once, and Brahmā, the leader of the living entities, showed this by his personal example. Brahmā has a fabulous duration of life, but he was obliged to give up his body due to his grievous sin, even though he had merely contemplated it in his mind without having actually done it.”
“Ignorance is the cause of sinful life, or sinful life is the cause of gross ignorance. The feature of ignorance is darkness or fog. Darkness or fog still covers the whole universe, and the sun is the only counteracting principle. One who takes shelter of the Lord, the perpetual light, has no fear of being annihilated in the darkness of fog or ignorance.”
One can question how Brahma could leave his body. It is understood Brahma didn’t simply drop dead, otherwise, it would be the end of the universe. What exactly does this change of body mean?
This is connected with something we studied on SB 2.2.28:
“After reaching Satyaloka, the devotee is specifically able to be incorporated fearlessly by the subtle body in an identity similar to that of the gross body, and one after another he gradually attains stages of existence from earthly to watery, fiery, glowing and airy, until he reaches the ethereal stage.”
Different grades of gross bodies are used by inhabitants of the intermediate planetary systems. In Kali-yuga our bodies are of the grosses type, while other inhabitants of Bhu-Mandala have different grades of more refined bodies. The inhabitants of Swargaloka also have bodies composed of the five elements, but their bodies are very refined. As one goes up, from Maharloka to Janaloka, and then to Tapoloka, the bodies become more and more refined, to the point that there are practically no more vestiges of material elements. When one comes to Satyaloka, there are no material elements at all. They use only their subtle bodies, composed of mind intelligence, and ego. These subtle bodies however assume a form similar to a gross body, allowing them to perform activities. That’s how the inhabitants of these high planetary systems can have such fabulous durations of life, surviving the devastation at the end of the day of Brahma and living for trillions of years.
This gives us an idea of the type of body Brahma has. His body is simply formed by his consciousness, without traces of gross material elements. His consciousness assumes a certain form, according to what activities he is performing, and when the consciousness moves into something else, this form is abandoned and a new form is manifested. This process happens numerous times during the process of creation.
The creation of the Vedas
At a certain point, as he meditated on how to re-create the universe as it was before, the four Vedas emanated, each from one Brahma’s mouths. With the Vedas, different types of paraphernalia for executing sacrifices, as well as truth, austerity, mercy, and cleanliness (the four principles of religiosity) and the duties for the four social classes (Brahmana, Ksatriya, Vaisya, and Sudra).
The four Vedas were followed by all the other groups of knowledge that are part of the Vedic literature, such as medicine, military science, musical art, architecture, and so on. All the different branches of knowledge derive from knowledge from the Vedas. The word “Veda” in itself means “knowledge”. All knowledge that exists comes originally from Lord Maha-Vishnu and is transmitted to different inhabitants of this universe through the disciplic succession, starting from Lord Brahma. These different branches of knowledge become available or unavailable in human society at different times, as the knowledge is revealed by great personalities and later gradually forgotten.
In his purport to 3.12.38, Srila Prabhupada mentions:
“The Vedas contain perfect knowledge, which includes all kinds of knowledge necessary for the human society, not only on this particular planet but on other planets as well. It is understood that military art is also necessary knowledge for the upkeep of social order, as is the art of music. All these groups of knowledge are called the Upapurāṇa, or supplements of the Vedas. Spiritual knowledge is the main topic of the Vedas, but to help the human being’s spiritual pursuit of knowledge, the other information, as above mentioned, forms necessary branches of the Vedic knowledge.”
The Vedas include all types of knowledge because everything that exists was originally created by Lord Maha-Vishnu as part of the primary creation. Different living beings just receive this knowledge from inside the heart or rediscover things that were already created by the Lord in the past by some process of experimentation. One may create a plane, for example, but such a creation is only possible because the Lord conceived the plane in the past, just as everything else that exists, existed, or will exist in the future.
All technical and artistic knowledge we have nowadays is also originally part of the Vedas, it’s just that instead of receiving this knowledge through disciplic succession, in modern society we try to obtain it through different processes of experimentation. In this way, all we do is to just slowly rediscover bits of knowledge that were originally part of the Vedas, a much slower and more difficult process. On SB 2.7.34, for example, it’s mentioned how in a different Kali-Yuga, human beings were able to receive advanced Vedic technical knowledge from Maya Dhanava and thus built very advanced, invisible spaceships, on which they were able to invade other planets. This led to one of the appearances of Lord Buddha, who came to teach them non-violence. This shows how Vedic knowledge includes all branches of knowledge, including advanced technical knowledge that we don’t have access to at the current times.
On SB 3.12.39 it’s mentioned that Brahma also created the Itihasas, including the Puranas and the Mahabharata. One could question how this can be possible since we are speaking about events that happened at the beginning of Brahma’s day, while books such as the Mahabharata speak about events that happened much later. Answering this question, the verse includes the words “sarva-darśanaḥ”, indicating that Lord Brahma can see past, present, and future, and can thus speak about events that will happen in the future, just like we may discuss events that are happening now.
We can see that in the 7th chapter of the 2nd canto, at the beginning of his current day, Lord Brahma gives Narada Muni a list of the incarnations of Krsna that appeared only later on, including Krsna appearing in Vrindavana 5,000 years ago. This shows how great personalities like Lord Brahma have a different view of time: although they go through their lives just like we do, all the events that are about to happen are already known to them. However, being detached, they understand the power of providence and don’t try to change what is going to happen.
It is described that later on, Brahma also created the duties for the four spiritual classes (Brahmacary, Grhasta, Vanaprasta and Sannyasa), and thus completed the revelation of the Varnashrama system, that is followed by all advanced societies around the universe. In this connection, it’s interesting to note that although nowadays we consider ourselves quite advanced, our current society is not considered very elevated from the point of view of the inhabitants of other planets. In reality, during the age of Kali, our planet is avoided by advanced personalities from other planets, being essentially quarantined. However, it was not always like that. In previous ages, it was common for great sages, demigods, and other advanced personalities to visit our planet to attend ceremonies or transmit Vedic knowledge.
After manifesting all these different material qualities and branches of knowledge, Brahma lamented that despite all this work, the population of the universe was still not increasing. As he contemplated, two forms were generated from his body, one male and another female. The male was Svāyambhuva Manu, the first in the sequence of 14 manus, and the female was his wife Śatarūpā. This led to the start of the first Manvantara.
The creation of the first Manu
There are 14 manus in a day of Brahma, of which Svāyambhuva Manu is the first. Svāyambhuva Manu is generated directly from Brahma, while the other manus appear as descendants of Svāyambhuva Manu or of the other sons of Brahma.
The reign of Svāyambhuva Manu started close to the beginning of the current day of Brahma, 1.973 billion years ago, according to the Puranic chronology.
There are two ways of calculating the dates given in the Vedas. One is to just add the numbers the way they are mentioned in the scriptures. This results in what can be called Puranic dates, dates according to time in Bhu-Mandala that we can use to understand the chronology of the different events mentioned in the scriptures, according to the day of Brahma, the different manvantaras, and so on.
Another way is to calculate the dates according to solar years on our planet. This calculation is useful when we want to relate dates mentioned in the Puranas with dates mentioned in scientific studies. This is done by taking into consideration Sridhara Swami’s factor of two.
For example, the date for the creation of the solar system according to years in Bhu-mandala is 2.281 billion years ago, which is much less than the 4.567 billion years given by modern studies. However, when we convert the date to solar years, obtaining thus the date on our planet, according to Sridhara Swami’s factor of two, we get 4.562 billion years, which is quite close to modern studies.
Similarly, when we calculate the date for the beginning of the universe, we come to 6.9095 billion years in terms of years in Bhu-mandala (starting from the end of the last day of Brahma, when the previous universe was completely destroyed). When we convert to years on our planet, however, we come to 13.819 billion years, which is extraordinarily close to the 13.801 billion years given in the latest scientific studies. It seems that after two centuries of studies, modern scientists are coming quite close to the correct dates for the creation of the universe and the solar system given in the Vedas. As Prabhupada explains, experimental knowledge is also a way to obtain knowledge, but it is a very slow and painful process. If we just accept the knowledge from the Vedas we save a lot of time.
We will study this point in more detail later, when we study Vedic cosmology.
Back to Manu, when Brahma saw that despite creating several sons there was not a great increase in population, he started considering how the population of the universe could be increased. While he was thus contemplating, the first Manu, as well as his wife were generated from his body.
“O son of the Kurus, when Brahmā saw that in spite of the presence of sages of great potency there was no sufficient increase in population, he seriously began to consider how the population could be increased.
Brahmā thought to himself: Alas, it is wonderful that in spite of my being scattered all over, there is still insufficient population throughout the universe. There is no other cause for this misfortune but destiny.
While he was thus absorbed in contemplation and was observing the supernatural power, two other forms were generated from his body. They are still celebrated as the body of Brahmā.
The two newly separated bodies united together in a sexual relationship. Out of them, the one who had the male form became known as the Manu named Svāyambhuva, and the woman became known as Śatarūpā, the queen of the great soul Manu. Thereafter, by sex indulgence, they gradually increased generations of population one after another.” (SB 3.12.50-55)
Svāyambhuva Manu and Śatarūpā had five children: two sons, Priyavrata and Uttānapāda, and three daughters, Ākūti, Devahūti and Prasūti.
Ākūti was given in marriage to the sage Ruci (another of his sons), Devahūti, to the sage Kardama, and Prasūti, to Dakṣa. These three couples had many daughters who were given in marriage to the other sons of Brahma and other sages. From these couples, the universe was gradually populated.