Brahma wakes up on the top of the cosmic lotus

The lotus from which Brahma appears is coated by all the material elements. It also contains all fruitive activities, the material modes, etc. Everything in the universe is part of this lotus.

Once, Lord Garbhodakasayi Vishnu appeared to be lying down alone in the water of the Garbhodaka Ocean. At this time, He appeared to be sleeping, immersed in His internal potency. In reality, the Lord doesn't need to sleep, but he plays the pastime of sleeping as an excuse for associating with His internal potency.

The Lord was, however, not alone. He was accompanied by all the souls in their subtle bodies, waiting for the creation, and the material energy in the form of kāla, the material time. The Lord is compared to fire within wood because at that time, the Lord was performing no activity. Everything was at rest.

It is mentioned that the Lord remained in this transcendental slumber for one thousand Divya-yugas (the combination of the four ages), which corresponds to 4.32 billion years, the period of the night of Lord Brahma. During this time, all the jivas were resting in his abdomen, together with all material elements.

At the end of this period, the jivas became active again, awakened by kāla-śakti, the time energy of the Lord. They desired to continue their material activities. This aggregate of all the souls made the abdomen of the Lord look bluish, a color that symbolizes their ignorance and desire to be engaged in fruitive activities.

At this point, the Lord focused His attention on the aggregate of the material elements available for the creation of the universe. This aggregate of material elements, agitated by the mode of passion, and combined with the sum-total of the fruitive activities of all the souls of the universe, took the form of a lotus flower that appeared from His abdomen. The Lord then entered this Lotus flower as Paramatma. This lotus flower was also impregnated by the three modes of material nature. When this lotus flower finally blossomed, Brahma appeared on top of it.

This lotus flower from which Lord Brahma appears is coated by all the material elements of the material creation. It also contains all the fruitive activities of the souls, the material modes, and so on. Everything that will form the material creation is originally part of this lotus.

Because all the material elements that form the planets were originally inside this gigantic lotus flower, it is sometimes said that the planets reside inside the stem of the lotus. It is not that the planets are all literally situated inside the lotus, but the material elements that compose them once were.

Brahma then uses these elements to create the material universe, which occupies most of the upper part of the universal globe (the part that is not filled with water). All these planets and stars are divided into 14 planetary systems, with Patala situated at the very bottom, close to the Garbhodaka ocean, and Brahmaloka situated at the very top, close to the universal coverings.

Brahma creates the universe using the elements supplied by the Lord and using the potency given by the Lord. The same is valid for us; everything we do consists of manipulating matter using the energy and talents given by the Lord. Therefore, since everything comes from the Lord, everything should be used for Him.

Waking up on top of the lotus, Brahma could not see anything. He looked around to survey the space around him, and in this way, he acquired four heads. At first, he could not understand the creation, the lotus, or himself, and this way a whole day of Brahma passed, at the end of which the air of devastation began to move the water and the lotus in great circular waves.

Next, still not being able to understand the origin of the Lotus or himself, Brahma had the idea of exploring it by going down the stream, but at a certain point, he met the kala-chakra of the Lord, the time factor, and, becoming fearful, he hurried to return to the top. The Sudarśana chakra protects Garbhodakasayi Vishnu from all sides, and thanks to it, not even the sun, moon, air, fire, etc. can approach Him. It appears that the Sudarśana chakra moved to prevent Brahma from reaching the Lord by such an unauthorized process.

Brahma then gave up the idea of understanding his origin by experimental means and instead started performing austerities by meditating on the Supreme Lord.

Through his meditation, Brahma was able to develop knowledge and was able to see the Lord inside his heart as Paramatma. Then, looking outside, he was able to see Garbhodakasayi Vishnu lying on Lord Sesa on the Garbhodaka ocean, and the whole scene was illuminated by the transcendental light emanating from the jewels bedecking the hoods of Lord Sesa, dissipating all the darkness of these regions. In the beginning, Brahma could not see this transcendental light, just like we can't see it. All he saw was darkness. However, after acquiring transcendental vision, he was able to see it around the Lord.

Observing the beautiful form of the Lord and His opulences, Brahma concluded that He is the Supreme Lord. At that point, he could see the stem of the lotus flower from where he was born coming out of his navel, the devastating waters of the ocean, and so on. Everything became visible to him.

Brahma then became surcharged with the mode of passion and inclined to create the universe. The Lord indicated to Brahma the five causes of creation, which are Īśvara (The Supreme Lord); Prakṛti (the material nature); Kāla (time); the jīvas (living entities), and Karma (their activities). Seeing these five causes, Brahma began to offer his prayers to the Lord, taking shelter of Him before starting his work of creation.

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