quotations about Brahma
When union with Brahma is attained the means of attaining it have no further purpose.
SHRI JNANESHVAR
Jnaneshvari
The question whether the universal substrate, or Brahma, should properly be called being or non-being already agitated the Vedic poets and passed through the schools of the Brahmanas to those of the older Upinshads. The debate, however, was merely over words. As Brahma is beyond all the limiting conditions of phenomenal being, either term may be applied to it; it is at once metaphysically existent and empirically non-existent.
LIONEL DAVID BARNETT
Brahma-Knowledge
Brahma is considered a soft god and often seen as a liability because of his predilection for granting boons. He is almost always involved in heavenly conflicts and is easily placated. Brahma has often rewarded gods and demons for austerities they undertook by bestowing on them was is sometimes called the "boon of conditional immortality." Although his boons did not grant complete immortality, they always caused a great deal of concern for the gods. Eventually either Vishnu or Shiva uses the loophole in Brahma's boon to defeat the demon and restore the world to its rightful order.
SWAMI ACHUTHANANDA
The Ascent of Vishnu and the Fall of Brahma
BRAHMA, n. He who created the Hindoos, who are preserved by Vishnu and destroyed by Siva -- a rather neater division of labor than is found among the deities of some other nations. The Abracadabranese, for example, are created by Sin, maintained by Theft and destroyed by Folly. The priests of Brahma, like those of Abracadabranese, are holy and learned men who are never naughty.
AMBROSE BIERCE
The Devil's Dictionary
After dissolution of the Universe, Brahma, drifting in the primordial waters that preceded creation, came across Ganesha sitting in a lone banyan tree that remained. Ganesha touched Brahma's head and initiated him into the mantra 'Om'. Brahma prayed before Ganesha who bestowed upon him the knowledge to create the universe, in return for which he gave Ganesha his two wives, representative of prudence and prosperity.
ROYINA GREWAL
The Book of Ganesha
In order to expand the psychic arena one will have to accept an entity beyond the psychic arena as one's goal. This persistent endeavour will bring about actual psychic development, culminating in the attainment of Brahma.
SHRII SHRII ANANDAMURTI
Adorning the Dawn: Discourses on Neohumanist Education
My Lord
(Hallelujah)
My my my Lord
(Hare Krishna)
My sweet Lord
(Hare Krishna)
My sweet Lord
(Krishna, Krishna)
My Lord
(Hare Hare)
Mmmm
(Gurur Brahma)
Mmmm
(Gurur Vishnu)
Mmmm
(Gurur Devo)
Mmmm
(Maheshwara)
My sweet Lord
GEORGE HARRISON
"My Sweet Lord"
The term Brahma is very loosely used in the religious literature of the Hindus. In a philosophical sense it signifies that eternal and absolute Reality which is the ground and the cause of the universe.
SURESH K. SHARMA
Cultural and Religious Heritage of India
Brahma! Supremest Being!
By whom the worlds are made,
Where we are blind to all-seeing,
Stable, where we are fleeing,
Of Life and Death afraid,
Instruct us, for mankind,
What is the body, Brahma? O Brahma, what the mind?
RICHARD HENRY STODDARD
"Brahma's Answer"
O Friend! this body is His lyre;
He tightens its strings, and draws from it the melody of Brahma.
If the strings snap and the keys slacken, then to dust must this instrument of dust return.
KABIR
One Hundred Poems of Kabir
When He Himself reveals Himself, Brahma brings into manifestation that which can never be seen.
As the seed is in the pland, as the shade is in the tree, as the void is in the sky, as infinite forms are in the void--
So from beyond the Infinite, the Infinite comes; and from the Infinite the finite extends.
KABIR
One Hundred Poems of Kabir
That which goeth up must needs come down; and that which is down must needs go up. But Brahma has ordained that the that that goeth up is seldom the same as the that that hath gone down.
GAUTAMA SHAKYAMUNI
Forbes, 1975
Upon the silver mountain, South by East,
Sits Brahma fed upon the sacred bean;
He loves those men whose nails are still increased,
Who all their lives keep ugly, foul and lean;
'Tis of his grace that not a bird or beast
Adorned with claws like mine was ever seen;
The suns and stars are Brahma's thoughts divine
Even as these trees I seem to see are mine.
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
"An Oriental Apologue"
Brahma's Eyes look forth divining
From the welkin's brow,
Full bright eyes--the same are shining
In the sacred cow.
JOHN STUART BLACKIE
"Trimurti", Songs of Religion and Life
God creates the world as Brahma, sustains it as Vishnu, and destroys it as Shiva. One day, Shiva started to sing. Vishnu was so moved by the melody that he began to melt. Brahma caught the molten Vishnu in a pot. This was poured on earth. It took the form of the river Ganga. The Ganga nourished the earth. To bathe in the Ganga's waters is to bathe in God.
GANGA MAHATMYYA
attributed, Myth=Mithya
And while the sacred wine I quaff,
Two souls are mingled on the brim;
I drink the Brahma in the cup,
And he receives me into him.
FREDERIC ROWLAND MARVIN
"Brahma's Cup"
Brahma is the least worshipped god in Hinduism today. There are only two temples in the whole of India devoted to him, compared with the many thousands devoted to the other two.
BBC
"Brahma"
For Brahma is man individually, and also, collectively, mankind: hence Brahma is said to be born and to die every day.
EDWARD MOOR
The Hindu Pantheon
According to Brahma, in the moment the male and female beheld one another, desire simply happened. Overwhelmed with the beauty of Sandhya, Brahma looked up to see Kama, fully formed and well armed, with his own beauty, five flower arrows, and a seductive gaze.
CATHERINE BENTON
God of Desire
Brahma is visualized as a priest, Vishnu as a king and Shiva as an ascetic. Of the three, Brahma is not worshipped. The reasons for this are twofold: one metaphysical and the other historical. From the metaphysical point of view, Brahma represents jiva-atma, the soul seeking answers, hence unworthy of worship. Vishnu and Shiva represent param-atma, the soul that has found the answer. Having found the answer, Vishnu continues to participate in the world while Shiva withdraws from all things worldly. Vishnu's eyes are therefore always open while Shiva's eyes are always shut. Historically, Brahma represents the earlier Age of Rituals when Hindu society gave more importance to the mechanical execution of Yagna. In the Age of Worship, yagna faded into the background and with it Brahma.
DEVDUTT PATTANAIK
Myth=Mithya