SBenegaL

Category: Mythology

  • Brahma: Why dont we workship him?

    An interesting aspect of trinity of the Hindu religion -Brahma (Generator), Vishnu (Observer), Maheshwara (Destroyer); is that of the three Brahma or the creator is not worshiped unlike the other two of the trinity. This question got me thinking and here is a documentation of my thought on this issue.


    The Mythological Explanation:
    The mythological explanation as to why Brahma is not worshiped could be found even in the story of the famous Indian temple of Tirupathi (read here). As legend as it, it was the curse of Rishi Bhrigu – Brahma shall have no idols or temples of worship in Bhooloka (read earth)!


    Rationalizing beyond the Boon:
    I however feel this is more symbolic and has developed over multiple generations into its current interpretation. Following is how I see attempt rationalizing this behavior of not worshiping Brahma (the creator) amongst Hindu:

    1. Brahma who is the creator is accompanies by his consort – Goddess Saraswathy. She is also considered the Goddess of learning. I have mentioned about the symbolic relationship the way the Trinity and their consorts are related in an earlier blog. Brahma being the creator is one who could also be considered an experimentalist – some one who keeps trying out many different things – so as to be able to create new things. With every new experiment there is some insight and understanding that is obtained leading us to the creation of new knowledge. This knowledge could be accumulated and preserved as the distillation of all know-how thus far. In the Hindu mythology, my guess is these are represented as the “Vedas”. Sarasvathy who is Brahma’s consort holds these Vedas in her hands. Clearly, the value is for the learning that is derived from the experiment and we often find Saravathy who holds Vedas (read compiled Knowledge) in her hands. Brahma however being the experimentalist is generally forgotten. 
    2. Another possible reason could be gained from the observation of the development of technology and its capability. Technological improvement across generations could have made it extremely easy to create newer things – in the start up world today, we find so many tools available that the need of an expert engineer is constantly declining – we few tweaks here and there or search on the internet for help could really make the whole thing easier! It is always possible that in the whole process the engineer (Brahma) who created these tools and kits for others to use is easily forgotten.
    3. Frequency of occurrence of failures in the process of experimentation and learning, could potentially be another source. In fact, failures are more common than successes in the process of experimentation – recollect Thomas Alva Edison saying that he knows a thousand ways the bulb couldn’t be create before he finally built the bulb! The sustained effort in experimenting, failures and learning new things could easily dissuade one to continue the efforts further. All these make it harder to appreciate the role of some one who makes failure common place – this could be another reason why Brahma isn’t worshiped as much as the others in the trinity.
    4. Another aspect that I could co-relate is the experience when one attempts to start off. One often starts off with an idea, and the various challenges that come in the way of executing what was initially conceptualized could guide the idea into a completely different domain. The challenges of survival of a firm (or may be human) weigh so heavily beyond the ordinary that just the joy of creation is often lost or modified multiple times that is doesn’t bear any significance.
    This was a parting observation about the pattern of how many  mythological stories have the asuras (generally understood as daemons) do a penance so as to receive a boon from the Creator. The general belief in most cases is that it is relatively easy to please Brahma, the Creator, than Vishnu, the Manager. May be this is possibly because of the fewer people worshiping Brahma. It could also be that he is the one who is most open to seeing how addition of newer ability and skills (obtained through penance) could add in so as to enable new experiments and lead to the process of creation!


    What did I really take away?
    Looking back at this rationalization attempt, could this explain why we don’t really worship Brahma? I am not sure if this explains the whole aspect of why we fail to worshiping Brahma, but this is definitely is an attempt to get the attention of the readers on to the importance of appreciating experimentation, and being able to take in failures in the process of experimentation as a natural process.

  • GOD and the notion of Uncertainty…

    The nothing of GOD is extremely intriguing. All of us have different notions of the Generator, Observer and Destroyers (GOD) based on our own experiences. Yes I said Experiences – read on to see why I make this claim. 
    One of the comments on my last blog on the trinity of Hindu Mythology and the possible purpose behind the design mentioned – 
    “Wonderful Article 🙂
    Reading this, I could not help myself but think
    these gods are man-made; they represent what our ancestors thought a
    wise idea worth sharing. However, the mystery is not solved yet. I just
    wanted to point out, I personally feel there is nothing divine and
    supernatural about gods as they have been portrayed for millenia!”     
    – Anonymous
    The comment got me thinking about why the notion of divinity and supernatural ability might have been attributed to GODs. I think I possibly got the answer! or may be not! However this is definitely an interesting thought – worth sharing. 

    Scientific Thinking which found its feet has been built on the concept of reasoning. The ability to question and associate a cause and affect relationship has definitely served the human society well. The near exponential growth in the number of invention, and its commercialization that has quickened the pace of economic growth and gotten more CERTAINTY into our lives. 
    Extending this, the possible origin of the notion of God, then has to be on the other extreme – when one feels or experiences UNCERTAINTY. These two observations sort of reinforce my interpretation.
    1. The first one is definitely from my own personal experience of facing uncertainty which is so much a part of the entreprenuerial journey.
    2. The existence of a high belief rate in God in the lower economic strata of society!
     Let me try explain this observation a bit elaborately:
    As an entrepreneur and you will realize the complexity of the issues that (s)he faces from various directions and the limited cognitive ability wouldn’t be completely enough to handle this. Even effectuation strategy, which through its principles provides a very very effective way to handle this entrepreneurial uncertainty, acknowledges the role of surprises (Lemonade Principle). In handling such a high uncertain situation where the distrution is unknown and hence a risk cannot be associated requires one to be positive and optimistic all through – and also believe in the strength of miracles. Miracles that just emerge when you least expect it – while some could attribute it to luck, it could also be attributed to the ability of God to influence things in one’s favor. An extension of the above claim where this relation of uncertainly in business and a religious bent of mind can be seen in most businessmen being devout to a specific deity.
    I also extend this uncertainty to the economically weaker sections of the society, where people have no idea where their next day’s meal would come from! The physical strength, minimum skill and the effort of these people is all that they would need to rely on in being able to sustain themselves on a day to day basis. This is possibly one of the reasons why this section of the society is highly susceptible to religious conversions – when there is a slightly better quality of life could be expected!
    PS: The above is just a thought that I put across and would appreciate your  feedback on the same.

  • God – Beyond the apparant…

    There are debates all over that try to talk about GOD – where there exists a single GOD, or is there a plurality…
    I don’t take any stance here, but thought this interesting thought on GOD is worth a note…
    Most of us would have heard the acronym for GOD – Generator, Observer, Destroyer, and in the Hindu Mythology, we call these roles performed as being performed by Tridev – Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva. Brahma takes the role of the Creator; Vishnu that of the Manager of happening of life, and Shiva the Destroyer who closes life as such!
    These gods are generally accompanied by their consorts – Saraswthy, Lakshmi and Parvathy respectively. Saraswathi is considered the Goddess of Knowledge, Lakshmi the Goddess of Wealth, and Parvathy the Goddess of Power. 
    Combining the Gods with their consorts, we have Brahma who is married to Sarawathy, Lakshmi who is the wife of Vishnu and Parvathy who is with Shiva. If we are to abstract this a bit – would could take the action performed and the corresponding representations we have- Brahma the creator is with Saraswathy who represents knowledge – the underlying implication being that – “to create something new, you got to possess the knowledge. Similarly,for one to sustain and manage an existing set up, finance place a primarily role and that seems to be logic highlighted in Vishnu-Lakshmi as a pair.Also, to get to close aspects or issue that have grown beyond the point of control, use of power become mandatory – possibly represented by the pairing of Shiva and Parvathy.
    Why have these three Gods: Why not have them all in one?
    It is but usual for one to ask, cant all these be handled by a single GOD? Why have three or them and what advantage would it actually get to the table? 
    Very often we find that people who create things fall in love with their creation, they would like tobe so closely associated with their creation that they would no more realize the direction in which the creation is proceeding…it is best done with by someone else who get in an expertise on taking care of things and has the decision of taking the creation in the right direction. In the process of creation, its is always possible that the manager could be so enticed into maintaining that he/she could possibly not realize that the creation has outlived the utility.
    Where one’s responsibility ends the other begins. This however is not to state that they don’t discuss or realize that at places there is a need to collaborate. 
    In fact, Shiva who generally comes in the phase of destruction is also considered an expert on knowledge and learning – from what gets closed or destroyed, it is important to realize that learning are crucial and an means to improve the next cycle…So in some form, even Shiva is seen as an epitome of knowledge accrued over ages and generations.
    Why do the pictures generally show them meditating?

    The tasks these GODs do is very sensitive, if not delicate; and it is important to create a balance between action and involvement at the mental and physical level.  Less said the better – these are extremely high pressure roles!.
    Meditation enable self-reflection, which allows these high pressure jobs be analyzed in a perspective that disassociate the problem from the individual and focus on solving the problem and lesser of blaming it on the individual.