Question about Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma

[Guest guest]

I was just wondering if anybody knew why Vishnu is considered the preserver, Shiva is considered the destroyer, and Brahma is considered the creator.

Isn't Vishnu the supreme Godhead? Isn't He responsible for all three of these things?

And I was also wondering if anybody knows how the tradition came about for each village in India to worship one specific God only.

As well, do any villages in India worship Hanuman or Brahma? I have never heard of it.

[Guest guest]

Namo Parabrahmane,

 

It is totally wrong to think of any one form of God as the Supreme and the others as lower forms of the same Supreme Energy. Fools, immersed in Maya,do not comprehend this essential Unity and debate over the Supremacy of their chosen deity. The study of Sruti and Smriti reveals that the trinity are composed of Rajas, Satva and Tamo Gunas to suit their functions of creation, preservation and destruction. No one is superior and neither is inferior. The supreme Parabrahman is without any attributes, forms or Vasanas. Any form of the supreme with a form is limited and can never be accepted as the absolute manifestation of the supreme.

 

Harsha Ramamurthy.

harshanand_16@sify.com

[Narayanidd 1]

My dear spirit soul,

Please accepy my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

From Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 2, Ch.6 31-35

Lord Brahma talking to Narada Muni

 

 

narayaNe bhagavati

tad idaM visvam Ahitam

gRhIta-mAyoru-guNaH

sargAdAv aguNaH svataH

 

All the material manifestations of the universes are therefore situated in His powerful material energies, which He accepts self-sufficiently, although He is eternally without affinity for the material modes.

 

sRjAmi tan-niyukto 'haM

haro harati tad-vaSaH

viSvaM puruSa-rUpeNa

paripAti tri-Sakti-dhRk

 

By His will, I create, Lord Siva destroys, and He Himself, in His eternal form as the Personality of Godhead, maintains everything. He is the powerful controller of these three energies.

 

purport: "The conception of one without a second is clearly confirmed here. The one is Lord Vasudeva, and only by His different energies and expansions are different manifestations, both in the material and in the spiritual worlds, maintained. In the material world also, Lord Vasudeva is everything, as stated in the Bhagavad-gita (7.19). Vasudevah sarvam iti: Everything is Vasudeva only. In the vedic hyms also the same Vasudeva is held to be supreme. It is said in the Vedas, vasudevat paro brahman na nanyo 'rtho 'sti tattvatah: in fact there is no greater truth than Vasudeva. And Lord Krsna affirms the same truth in the Bhagavad-gita (7.7). Mattah parataram nanyat: "There is nothing above Me [Lord Krsna]." So the conception of oneness, as overly stressed by the imersonalists, is also accepted by the personalist devotee of the Lord. The difference is that the impersonalist denies personality in the ultimate issue, whereas the devotee gives more importance to the Personality of Godhead. Srimad Bhagavatam explains this truth in the verse under discussion: Lord Vasudeva is one without a second, but because He is all powerful, He can expand Himself as well as desplay His omnipotencies. The Lord is described here as omnipotent by three energies (tri-sakti-dhrk). So primarily His three energies are internal, marginal, and external. This is also displayed in the three modes of goodness, passion, and ignorance. Similarily, the internal potency is also displayed in three spiritual modes-samvit, sandhini, and hladini. The marginal potency, or the living entities, is also spiritual (prakrtim viddhi me param), but the living entities are never equal to the Lord. The Lord is nirasta-samya-atisaya; in other words, no one is greater than or equal to the Supreme Lord. So living entities, including even suchreat personalities as Lord Brahma and Lord Siva, are all subordinate to the Lord. In the material world also, in His eternal form of Visnu, He maintains and controls all the affairs of the demigods, including Brahma and Siva."

 

iti te 'bhihitaM tAta

yathedam anupRcchasi

nAnyad bhagavataH kiNcid

bhAvyaM sad-asad-Atmakam

 

My dear son, whatever you inquired from me I have thus explained unto you, and you must know for certain that whatever there is (either as cause or as effect, both in the material and spiritual worlds) is dependent on the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

 

na bhAratI 'Nga mRSopalakSyate

na vai kvacin me manaso mRSA gatiH

na me hRSIkANi patanty asat-pathe

yan me hRdautkaNThyavatA dhRto hariH

 

O Narada, because I have caught hold of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, with great zeal, whatever I say has never proved to have been false. Nor is the progress of my mind ever deterred. Nor are my senses ever degraded by temporary attachment to matter.

 

so 'haM samAmnAyamayas tapomayaH

prajApatInAm abhivanditaH patiH

AsthAya yagaM nipuNaM samAhitas

taM nAdhyagacchaM yata Atma-sambhavaH

 

Although I am known as the great Brahma, perfect in the disciplic succession of Vedic wisdom, and although I have undergone all austerities and am an expert in mystic powers and self-realization, and although I am recognized as such by the great forefathers of the living entities, who offer me respectful obeisances, still I cannot understan HIm, the Lord, the very source of my birth.

 

thank you.

Your servant,

Narayani d.d.

[Guest guest]

no

[Guest guest]

<<why Vishnu is considered the preserver, Shiva is considered the destroyer, and Brahma is considered the creator.>>

 

the vedic literature says so.

 

 

<<Isn't Vishnu the supreme Godhead? Isn't He responsible for all three of these things?>>

 

yes. god is one. he does different functons with his different personalities.

 

<<how the tradition came about for each village in India to worship one specific God only.>>

 

are you starting a rumour?

I have not heard it.

however, it could be true for some villages.

is is bothersome or fiightening?

if not, why worry about it?

 

 

<<do any villages in India worship Hanuman or Brahma? >>

 

almost every village or city has hanuman temple(s).

brahma is not worshipped

for a reason given in shiva purana.

however, the four heads of brahma are put on the top of a temple structures above the main deity room.

 

jai sri krishna!

 

[I_love_krishna_ 0]

Even though there are three forms, nothing happens with out the will of Krishna- Vishnu.

 

Vishnu is the creator, because he creates brahma,who then creates every one else for him.

 

Vishnu is the destroyer because he creates shiva, who destroys for him.

 

In reality, there are hundreds of Rudras and brahmas and creations, but the root cause of everything is Vishnu.

________

2nd Guest: "do not comprehend this essential Unity and debate over the Supremacy of their chosen deity."

________

 

Before, you start bashing the very supreme personality of the godhead by saying the people who are trying to reach him are fools....

 

Keep in mind that the body you are wearing also belongs to him, and you belong to him and you are acting only under his Maya.

 

If you want more information on this , Read Bhagavath Gita, Brahma Samhita and Bhagavatham.

 

_________

Guest: "Any form of the supreme with a form is limited and can never be accepted as the absolute manifestation of the supreme."

__________

 

The brahman that you are talking about is Vishnu. Vishnu is everything.

 

brahman has no form, then how can all these things exist in void? Also, if brahman has all the forms in him and the existence of everything is just a notion that remains a notion but is entertained as a reality, then what is the thing that is entertaining it?. Where is it occuring? why?

 

If brahman knows brahman, then please end this awful war in the middle east and make all the fanatical muslims into pure devotees of brahman.

 

We are trying to spread the consciousness of Brahman and you miss the point of Yoga vasistha, in which it says brahman is everything, and yet different from everthing at the same time.

That means that he has another form, if he has no other form then that would mean that the statement that has been so strictly followed in advaita would be a waste.

 

If brahman is everything and yet different then this actually is dvaita, So, advaita preaches dvaita and dvaita preaches advaita, because in dvaita krishna is everything and krishna is yet different,you see advaita only covers half the truth because it is misleading. Dvaita covers the entire truth.

 

Krishna is everything, but krishna also has another form, thus making him superior as the supreme personality of the godhead who owns everything.

 

 

Vishnu is brahman.

 

Thank you.

 

 

[Guest guest]

Read siva purana and you have a different version.

[Guest guest]

Some scholars say it is because in ancient times Siva was a word tha refered to the destructive ofr behind storms, Vishnu refered to the sun and Brahma meant Vedic spell-mostly for manifestation or creation.

 

Possibly the assignment of characteristics stemmed from linguistics.