When Brahma personally met the Lord

Once, Brahma had the opportunity to see the Lord personally, face to face. It’s described that the Lord even shook his hand. What did Brahma say to Him? This is narrated in the Srimad Bhagavatam.

Once, Brahma had the opportunity to see the Lord personally, face to face. It’s described that the Lord even shook his hand. What did Brahma say to Him? This is narrated in the Srimad Bhagavatam.

Brahma starts his prayers to the Lord by stating that after many years of practicing austerities, he finally had the opportunity to directly see Him. The Lord is the true object of knowledge since there is nothing superior to Him. The form of the Lord is completely spiritual, and He is the source of many incarnations.

Mayavadis like to argue that when the Lord comes as an incarnation he assumes a material form, and therefore they argue that the form Brahma saw was a representation of the three modes of nature, but Brahma himself counters this argument by saying that this form he is seeing is eternally freed from material contamination (avabodha-rasodayena śaśvan-nivṛtta-tamasaḥ). In other words, Brahma, who is the most qualified person in the universe and who had direct experience, concluded that the Lord has a form and that this form is not only eternal but completely spiritual. There is thus no space to argue on this point.

Unfortunately, many are not attracted to the devotional service to the Lord, nor are they interested in hearing about the Lord's form and pastimes. These people live in constant anxiety under the material modes:

"O my Lord, the people of the world are embarrassed by all material anxieties — they are always afraid. They always try to protect wealth, body and friends, they are filled with lamentation and unlawful desires and paraphernalia, and they avariciously base their undertakings on the perishable conceptions of “my” and “mine.” As long as they do not take shelter of Your safe lotus feet, they are full of such anxieties."

It's true that people living in the material platform can enjoy using their material senses, but Brahma argues that the happiness derived from the senses is very small and goes away very fast. In search of this very brief material happiness, souls living in the material world suffer from many material miseries, like hunger, thirst, heat, cold, rain, and diseases. They are also overwhelmed by sexual urges and anger. Despite these miseries, however, conditioned souls work very hard in the material world trying to satisfy their material desires, to the point of not being able to sleep at night. However, as remuneration for their efforts, they just get a continuation of the process of birth and death, together with the results of their sinful activities.

Brahma concludes by saying:

"I take pity on them, and I am very much aggrieved for them." This illustrates the position of a devotee of the Lord, who has compassion and works tirelessly for the spiritual elevation of the people.

He then shares his realization about the nature of these material miseries and how to become free from them:

"O my Lord, the material miseries are without factual existence for the soul. Yet as long as the conditioned soul sees the body as meant for sense enjoyment, he cannot get out of the entanglement of material miseries, being influenced by Your external energy." (SB 3.9.9)

He then speaks about the other side, the position of the devotees of the Lord, who are interested in hearing about Krsna, and thus have their hearts purified to the extent that the Lord personally takes a seat there, illuminating the devotee with devotion and spiritual realization. The Lord has unlimited forms and they are equally powerful, but he agrees to manifest to the devotee in the particular form he is attracted to. In other words, the Lord reciprocates the service of the devotee, not out of obligation, but out of love.

Why does the devotee become attracted to a particular form of the Lord? Is there any particular reason, or is it just by chance? Prabhupada explains:

"This attachment of the devotee to a particular form of the Lord is due to natural inclination. Each and every living entity is originally attached to a particular type of transcendental service because he is eternally the servitor of the Lord. Lord Caitanya says that the living entity is eternally a servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, every living entity has a particular type of service relationship with the Lord, eternally. This particular attachment is invoked by practice of regulative devotional service to the Lord, and thus the devotee becomes attached to the eternal form of the Lord, exactly like one who is already eternally attached. This attachment for a particular form of the Lord is called svarūpa-siddhi."

The Lord is the well-wisher of everyone and is actually in the hearts of all as Paramatma. However, he is unavailable for non-devotees. Although residing in their hearts, the Lord is invisible and unavailable to them. When Brahma says that the Lord takes a seat in the heart of his pure devotees, he is speaking about the direct presence of the Lord, which can be perceived by the devotee.

The Lord also reciprocates the prayers of demigods and others who approach Him with material desires, but He is not very satisfied with them. The reason is that the Lord doesn't want any one of His sons (the living entities) to remain in the material world suffering from the threefold miseries. He wants everyone to go back to Godhead, but this is possible only when one comes to a platform of pure devotional service.

Still, Brahma concludes, anything that is done for the Lord, such as the performance of Vedic rituals, charity, austerities, offering of the results of one's work, and so on is also beneficial, since such acts of religion never go in vain, helping one to gradually come to the platform of pure devotion.

Lord Brahma concludes his prayers by offering obeisances to the Lord and then requests the Lord to empower him to again create the universe the way it was before the devastation.

Brahma mentions that the Lord is the friend and soul of all living entities in the world, and He maintains all for their ultimate happiness. There is an eternal, natural affection between the Lord and all His parts and parcels, and therefore, the Lord wants all of us to return to our original eternal position, understanding that this is the only thing that can bring us ultimate happiness. For this reason, the Lord empowers Brahma, so the universe can be created, giving another opportunity for all of us to remember our eternal relationship with Him.

The Lord accepts the prayers of Brahma and reveals that what he was asking had already been granted before. In other words, in each of his days, the Lord empowers Brahma to create the universe. Without this empowerment, the creation would not be possible. Similarly, we are empowered by the Lord to perform different activities and play different roles, but we should always remember that all comes from the Lord.

The Lord blessed Brahma to perform the work of creation, seeing everything in connection with Him, and ultimately, as the fruit of this realization, become fully self-realized and return back home, back to Godhead.