Brahma's Four Heads And The Universe

 


Once, when Krishna was ruling Dvaraka, Lord Brahma came to see Him, and the doorman immediately informed Lord Krishna of Brahma’s arrival. When Krishna was so informed, He immediately asked the doorman, ‘Which Brahma? What is his name?’ The doorman therefore returned and questioned Lord Brahma. When the doorman asked, ‘Which Brahma?’ Lord Brahma was surprised. He told the doorman, ‘Please go inform Lord Krishna that I am the four-headed Brahma who is the father of the four Kumaras.’

The doorman then informed Lord Krishna of Lord Brahma’s description, and Lord Krishna gave him permission to enter. The doorman escorted Lord Brahma in, and as soon as Brahma saw Lord Krishna, he offered obeisance at His lotus feet. After being worshiped by Lord Brahma, Lord Krishna also honored him with suitable words. Then Lord Krishna asked him, ‘Why have you come here?’ Being questioned, Lord Brahma immediately replied, ‘Later I shall tell You why I have come. First of all, there is a doubt in my mind which I wish You would kindly dissipate.

Why did you inquire which Brahma had come to see You? What is the purpose of such an inquiry? Is there any other Brahma besides me within this universe?’ Upon hearing this, Krishna smiled and immediately meditated. Unlimited Brahmas arrived instantly. These Brahmas had different numbers of heads. Some had ten heads, some twenty, some a hundred, some a thousand, some ten thousand, some a hundred thousand, some ten million and others a hundred million. No one can count the number of faces they had.

There also arrived many Lord Siva’s with various heads numbering one hundred thousand and ten million. Many Indra’s also arrived, and they had hundreds of thousands of eyes all over their bodies. When the four-headed Brahma of this universe saw all this opulence of Krishna, he became very much bewildered and considered himself a rabbit among many elephants. All the Brahmas who came to see Krishna offered their respects at His lotus feet, and when they did this, their helmets touched His lotus feet. No one can estimate the inconceivable potency of Krishna. All the Brahmas who were there were resting in the one body of Krishna.

When all the helmets struck together at Krishna’s lotus feet, there was a tumultuous sound. It appeared that the helmets themselves were offering prayers unto Krishna’s lotus feet. With folded hands, all the Brahmas and Sivas began to offer prayers unto Lord Krishna, saying, ‘O Lord, You have shown me a great favor. I have been able to see Your lotus feet.’ All of them then said, ‘It is my great fortune, Lord, that You have called me, thinking of me as Your servant. Now let me know what Your order is so that I may carry it on my heads.’

Lord Krishna replied, ‘Since I wanted to see all of you together, I have called all of you here. All of you should be happy. Is there any fear from the demons?’ Whatever burden was upon the earth You have taken away by descending to that planet.’ This is the proof of Dwaraka’s opulence: all the Brahmas thought, ‘Krishna is now staying in my jurisdiction.’ Thus, the opulence of Dvaraka was perceived by each and every one of them. Although they were all assembled together, no one could see anyone but himself.

Lord Krishna then bade farewell to all the Brahmas there, and after offering their obeisance, they all returned to their respective homes. After observing all these opulences, the four-headed Brahma of this universe was astonished. He again came before the lotus feet of Krishna and offered Him obeisance. Brahma then said, ‘Whatever I formerly decided about my knowledge I have just now had personally verified. There are people who say, I know everything about Krishna.  Let them think in that way. As far as I am concerned, I do not wish to speak very much about this matter. O my Lord, let me say this much. As far as Your opulences are concerned, they are all beyond the reach of my mind, body and words.’

Krishna said, ‘Your particular universe has a diameter of four billion miles; therefore, it is the smallest of all the universes. Consequently, you have only four heads. Some of the universes are one billion yojanas in diameter, some one trillion, some ten trillion and some one hundred trillion yojanas. Thus, they are almost unlimited in area. According to the size of the universe, there are so many heads on the body of Brahma. In this way I maintain innumerable universes [Brahmaṇḍas].

Extracted from ISKCON

Namasivayam.C

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