We’re all set to commence the important contents of the discussion between Sage Vasishtaachaarya and Sage Vishwamitra on various aspects of how was the world created, what are the various instances that happened after the world was created and how Bhagawan is protecting the world that He has created. We’ve witnessed in the previous episode as to how this vital information keeps passing on from generation to generation through the divine explanations of various great Maharishis. We’ve witnessed one such lineage here wherein Sage Vasishtaachaarya explains all of this to Sage Paraashara. In turn, Sage Paraashara explains all of this to Sage Maithreya, Sage Sukhaachaarya, etc. In turn, Sage Maithreya explains all of this to Vidura, who in turn explains all of this to Yudishtra and Co. Also, we’ve witnessed in detail during our project on Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana as to how Sage Sukhaachaarya explains all of this to King Parikshit. Thus, we’re witnessing here as to how these important pieces of information gets transcended across various generations of people and till today, we’re talking about all of this in various forms. Of course, each and every sage that we’re talking about here in this lineage, are great writers themselves! We’ve witnessed how Sage Sukhaachaarya was instrumental behind the Shrimad Bhagawatha Puraana, along with Sage Veda Vyaasa. Here, we’re witnessing how Sage Paraashara was solely instrumental in compiling all this information into the great Shri Vishnu Puraana. All these things are documented in detail so that people like us today who are “zeroes” in spiritual knowledge and maturity can also easily infer and understand this information.
With this, Sage Paraashara commences his accord with a straight answer, which is directly to the point!
“Vishnoh sahaasaath yatbhootham jagath tatraivathasthitham!!”
Here, Sage Paraashara explains that this entire world was created by none other than Bhagawan Vishnu Himself! Bhagawan Vishnu is solely responsible for all creation and protecting whatever He has created. Once the world gets destroyed, again it goes back into Bhagawan Vishnu only! Thus, we can see that creation and destruction are part of a mammoth cycle that is being orchestrated by Bhagawan Vishnu. The person who creates the entire world, is also responsible for the destruction of the creation, and also for the re-creation of the world.
“Chita samyama karthaasau nihatosya jagatchasaha!!”
From this, we can also infer that the entire creation of Bhagawan is nothing but the ultimate “Brahmam”. Bhagawan Vishnu is also referred to as “Brahman”, because He is all-pervasive in nature. Thus, if Bhagawan Vishnu can be referred to as the “Brahman”, His creation also can be referred to in the same way isn’t it? For instance, if we have a pot made of silver, what do we say? How do we refer to the pot as? Won’t we refer to it as a “silver pot”? If the pot is made of mud, we refer to it as a “mud pot”, isn’t it? What do we infer here? Since the pot is made of silver or mud, this material is omni-present throughout the pot, isn’t it? Similarly here too, since the entire creation is made by Bhagawan Vishnu, it is also referred to as “Brahman”. Thus, we can understand here that the sand, water, air, sun, moon, living beings, plants, etc. are all part of the same “Brahman” only! It is only because of this concept that we often keep saying that Bhagawan is present inside every human being and every plant & animal, and it is for this reason we say that we shouldn’t hurt anybody or any living being. If we’re hurting a living being, we’re hurting Bhagawan indirectly.
This is where the speciality of our Sanaatana Dharma lies. Only because we realize that every creation of Bhagawan is “Brahman”, we worship each and every aspect of Bhagawan’s creation. For instance, we would see at many places that people are worshipping plants, trees, etc. If we go into the rural parts of our Bhaarata Desha, we would find people garlanding trees, placing a small idol of Bhagawan under it and worshipping it every day. Even if we visit many temples in many places, we have this concept of worshipping a tree inside the temple premises. Similarly, if we look at our Sanaatana Dharma literature carefully, every deity has a “Vaahana”, also referred to as a “Vehicle”. For instance, Bhagawan Vishnu’s divine vehicle is “Garuda”, which is nothing but an eagle. Similarly, Bhagawan Ganesha’s divine vehicle is a rat. Bhagawan Muruga’s divine vehicle is a peacock. Goddess Kali’s divine vehicle is a lion. The list goes on. Thus, we can infer here that every creation of Bhagawan has its own significance and needs to be respected and worshipped. This is where our Sanaatana Dharma stands out uniquely, as compared to other religions.
If we look deeply at other religions other than our Sanaatana Dharma, all what they propagate is that, “Brahman ” is somewhere outside of this world, and nothing in this world is “Brahman ”. This is why we see people of some religions involving themselves in violence and killing of people and animals unwantedly. Ultimately, what prevails is “hatred” and “negative vibrations” all over the place. However, there is no place for all such violence and unwanted killing of animals, human beings, plants, etc. in our Sanaatana Dharma and this is why it is widely revered and respected all around the world.
Thus, for today, let us understand the fact that all of Bhagawan’s creations in this world are part of the “Brahman” and we should learn to respect each and every creation. We shall wait till the next episode to continue this discussion forward! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 