Our rishis had known that Matter (gross elements - elements that can be
seen, heard and perceived), force (subtle elements - elements that
cannot be seen or heard but perceived directly) and an Universal Order
(laws of science, dharma - can be perceived indirectly) combine and
create this universe.
They characterized the Gods based on matter, force and dharma as the trinity of Brahma, Rudra and Vishnu.
For eg,
Brahma is the gross of our universe symbolizing gross matter (he is referred to as Brahmanaspati in Vedas) ,
Rudra/Shiva is subtle of our universe symbolizing force (all forces starting from gravity) and space and
Vishnu is the Universal Order symbolizing the scientific laws, civilizational dharma and time.
Hence Brahma, Rudra and Vishnu are symbolic representation of cosmic forces.
*********
In every birth starting from the birth of cosmos to germination of seed, the subtle force rips apart the gross matter, making it to multiply and diversify. There are a set of laws or dharma that operate on this and make it grow, prosper and die.
************
Space and the Gross Universe(matter) appear Euclidean to our senses. In reality, they are not.
Rudra the (gravitational) force warps Space and makes it to converge. Rudra the force is actually the same as Shiva the Space (field of the force). That is why it is able to warp the space (itself) and everything converges back to the starting point. The Space becomes non-Euclidean with gross universe.
In the Chidambaram temple, Rudra the force, manifests itself as Shiva the space resulting in the dance of Nataraja. That Rudra the force is Shiva the Space is the famous 'Chidambara Rahasyam' or the "Secret of Chidambaram temple".
******
Over a period of time, everything that originated from Brahma or the gross universe (like matter, energy, dark matter/energy) goes back into Brahma once again.
Rudra the force that ripped apart Brahma, manifests itself as space, warps and brings back everything back to Brahma.
******
The Universal dharma or the laws of nature as we understand it, that operates above all and across all times and that is totally eternal and unchangeable is Vishnu. It is uninfluenced and uncorrupted.
The dharma that is referred to here ranges from the universal physical laws of nature to the Universal Dharma that man keeps hoping for. This dharma exists beyond all chaos at all stages of universe.
Time is the manifestation of the Universal Dharma or Universal order. It is also unchanged, uninfluenced and eternal.
Vishnu with Conch and Wheel represents time, Universal dharma, laws of this universe and order.
*********
The trinity of Brahma, Rudra and Vishnu represent the cosmic forces in this way.
The god forms of Bramanaspati, Vishnu or Rudra are slightly distant cosmic god forms.
Indra, Vayu, Varuna, Agni, Maruts, Ashvinis are the elements through which the Universe comes into existence in our perception. We can relate to these elements day in and day out. These are the forces of nature that we can understand, relate to and influence our life.
These are also cosmic gods, but near cosmic god-forms.
In the vedic period, more hymns were sung in the praise of these near cosmic god-forms, which actively influenced the human life in those days, compared to the distant cosmic god-forms.
*******
A representation of this universe is the Pranava mantra, which is AUM.
Refer http://thebigthinkg.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/03/um-om-an-analysis.html
Brahma is the god-form of gross universe. Hence Brahma is the god-form of AUM, as it is from him the universe originated.
According to Mandukya Upanishad, AUM has four quarters. Vaisvanara, Taijasa, Prajna and a soundless State.
Brahma has four faces indicating these quarters. Obviously the invisible face is the soundless state of AUM and is invisible to us.
Vaisvanara indicates matter (face seeing us), Taijasa indicates energy, Prajna indicates dark matter/energy and the Soundless state (face behind) indicates the unknown beyond all (force/space, time/universal laws).
******
Brahma of the Vedas is called the Brahmanaspati. He is the representation of gross universe. It is from Brahma the Universe evolved through the force of Rudra.
Hence Brahma is the cosmic originator or the seed of origination.
The vedic Brahmanaspati, the cosmic originator, not actively related to our daily life became Vinayaga or Ganapati, the action originator related to our daily life. This is because Puranas attempted to relate Vedas and their cosmic gods in a more practical way to our daily life.
The symbolic story of a boy beheaded by Shiva and replaced with an Elephant head is about transforming cosmic Brahamanaspati to Ganapati of our daily life.
Ganapati means leader of herds. Elephants move in herds with a mother leader. Ganapati represents the mother leader elephant.
The universal dharma that operates its laws in every sphere has the law of action and reaction in almost every aspect of universe.
Hence in every human action origination, there is going to be an obstacle opposing the action. It is part of nature.
It does not mean that the action and reaction cancels out and everything remains static. Instead actions overcome reaction at one point, but at a later point reactions return and overcome these actions.
Hence, in everything we do, there is an obstacle by the law of nature. We need to overcome the obstacle, knowing fully well, we are going to be hit back at a different time.
Overcoming obstacles is an important part of every task in our real life.
If we need to originate something, then we need to overcome obstacles. Hence the god-form of originator of actions need to be one who can overcome obstacles.
Who else can better symbolize overcoming obstacles than an Elephant..?
Elephants are the largest mammals on land, evolved through 50 million years, overcoming all obstacles (including an ice age), adapting to different environments. Elephants create a sustainable environment around them for other living beings, never abuse their power, intelligently communicate amongst them and somehow seem to pass on the knowledge they acquire to their young ones.
And the leader of such an elephant herd is the one responsible for leading that group to overcome all obstacles.
Hence when cosmic Brahma is replaced with an elephant head, the God form becomes Ganapati, Gajamukha, Vinayaka (remover of obstacles) whom we should daily see and adopt in overcoming our obstacles for successfully originating our actions.
***********
Brahma in the form of Ganapati, becomes a product of Rudra, as life is a product of Rudra.
Hence in the Puranas, Brahma (the gross matter) is transformed into a product of Shiva/Rudra (space/force), while in Vedas, Brahma and Rudra/Shiva were two independent cosmic entities.
********
All the Hindu sects treat AUM as the most sacred syllable, as it represents the self or Brahman or Standard model of Universe.
Since AUM the Universe came from Brahmanaspati, who became the Puranic Ganapati, Ganapati is also a representation of AUM.Hence Ganapati is worshipped in all sects of Hinduism and is seen as the embodiment of AUM.
*******
The concept of God is to symbolize the force(s) that operate beyond our control.
In the vedic and Upanishad times, our Rishis mapped these forces and symbolized them through several god-forms.
But as we moved down from this age to age of puranas, the cosmic forces got mapped to practical way of life as life examples and lost their scientific significances, but still continued to map to cosmic god forms.
In fact after the age of puranas, even the cosmic links to god-forms were cut and territorial gods took over, till the time Adi Sankara appeared to unite the territorial god-forms and map it back to cosmic forces.
But by then, our religion had already slipped into the control of spiritualists and psuedo-religious characters, who politicked using the religion, just to get to power.
They destroyed the entire scientific basis of our thoughts.
It became the Brahmastra that bound Hanuman, when the foolish lankans bound the already de-activated hanuman (stung by Brahmastra) with palm ropes, thus making the Brahmastra to loose strength.
-TBT
They characterized the Gods based on matter, force and dharma as the trinity of Brahma, Rudra and Vishnu.
For eg,
Brahma is the gross of our universe symbolizing gross matter (he is referred to as Brahmanaspati in Vedas) ,
Rudra/Shiva is subtle of our universe symbolizing force (all forces starting from gravity) and space and
Vishnu is the Universal Order symbolizing the scientific laws, civilizational dharma and time.
Hence Brahma, Rudra and Vishnu are symbolic representation of cosmic forces.
*********
In every birth starting from the birth of cosmos to germination of seed, the subtle force rips apart the gross matter, making it to multiply and diversify. There are a set of laws or dharma that operate on this and make it grow, prosper and die.
************
Space and the Gross Universe(matter) appear Euclidean to our senses. In reality, they are not.
Rudra the (gravitational) force warps Space and makes it to converge. Rudra the force is actually the same as Shiva the Space (field of the force). That is why it is able to warp the space (itself) and everything converges back to the starting point. The Space becomes non-Euclidean with gross universe.
In the Chidambaram temple, Rudra the force, manifests itself as Shiva the space resulting in the dance of Nataraja. That Rudra the force is Shiva the Space is the famous 'Chidambara Rahasyam' or the "Secret of Chidambaram temple".
******
Over a period of time, everything that originated from Brahma or the gross universe (like matter, energy, dark matter/energy) goes back into Brahma once again.
Rudra the force that ripped apart Brahma, manifests itself as space, warps and brings back everything back to Brahma.
******
The Universal dharma or the laws of nature as we understand it, that operates above all and across all times and that is totally eternal and unchangeable is Vishnu. It is uninfluenced and uncorrupted.
The dharma that is referred to here ranges from the universal physical laws of nature to the Universal Dharma that man keeps hoping for. This dharma exists beyond all chaos at all stages of universe.
Time is the manifestation of the Universal Dharma or Universal order. It is also unchanged, uninfluenced and eternal.
Vishnu with Conch and Wheel represents time, Universal dharma, laws of this universe and order.
*********
The trinity of Brahma, Rudra and Vishnu represent the cosmic forces in this way.
The god forms of Bramanaspati, Vishnu or Rudra are slightly distant cosmic god forms.
Indra, Vayu, Varuna, Agni, Maruts, Ashvinis are the elements through which the Universe comes into existence in our perception. We can relate to these elements day in and day out. These are the forces of nature that we can understand, relate to and influence our life.
These are also cosmic gods, but near cosmic god-forms.
In the vedic period, more hymns were sung in the praise of these near cosmic god-forms, which actively influenced the human life in those days, compared to the distant cosmic god-forms.
*******
A representation of this universe is the Pranava mantra, which is AUM.
Refer http://thebigthinkg.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/03/um-om-an-analysis.html
Brahma is the god-form of gross universe. Hence Brahma is the god-form of AUM, as it is from him the universe originated.
According to Mandukya Upanishad, AUM has four quarters. Vaisvanara, Taijasa, Prajna and a soundless State.
Brahma has four faces indicating these quarters. Obviously the invisible face is the soundless state of AUM and is invisible to us.
Vaisvanara indicates matter (face seeing us), Taijasa indicates energy, Prajna indicates dark matter/energy and the Soundless state (face behind) indicates the unknown beyond all (force/space, time/universal laws).
******
Brahma of the Vedas is called the Brahmanaspati. He is the representation of gross universe. It is from Brahma the Universe evolved through the force of Rudra.
Hence Brahma is the cosmic originator or the seed of origination.
The vedic Brahmanaspati, the cosmic originator, not actively related to our daily life became Vinayaga or Ganapati, the action originator related to our daily life. This is because Puranas attempted to relate Vedas and their cosmic gods in a more practical way to our daily life.
The symbolic story of a boy beheaded by Shiva and replaced with an Elephant head is about transforming cosmic Brahamanaspati to Ganapati of our daily life.
Ganapati means leader of herds. Elephants move in herds with a mother leader. Ganapati represents the mother leader elephant.
The universal dharma that operates its laws in every sphere has the law of action and reaction in almost every aspect of universe.
Hence in every human action origination, there is going to be an obstacle opposing the action. It is part of nature.
It does not mean that the action and reaction cancels out and everything remains static. Instead actions overcome reaction at one point, but at a later point reactions return and overcome these actions.
Hence, in everything we do, there is an obstacle by the law of nature. We need to overcome the obstacle, knowing fully well, we are going to be hit back at a different time.
Overcoming obstacles is an important part of every task in our real life.
If we need to originate something, then we need to overcome obstacles. Hence the god-form of originator of actions need to be one who can overcome obstacles.
Who else can better symbolize overcoming obstacles than an Elephant..?
Elephants are the largest mammals on land, evolved through 50 million years, overcoming all obstacles (including an ice age), adapting to different environments. Elephants create a sustainable environment around them for other living beings, never abuse their power, intelligently communicate amongst them and somehow seem to pass on the knowledge they acquire to their young ones.
And the leader of such an elephant herd is the one responsible for leading that group to overcome all obstacles.
Hence when cosmic Brahma is replaced with an elephant head, the God form becomes Ganapati, Gajamukha, Vinayaka (remover of obstacles) whom we should daily see and adopt in overcoming our obstacles for successfully originating our actions.
***********
Brahma in the form of Ganapati, becomes a product of Rudra, as life is a product of Rudra.
Hence in the Puranas, Brahma (the gross matter) is transformed into a product of Shiva/Rudra (space/force), while in Vedas, Brahma and Rudra/Shiva were two independent cosmic entities.
********
All the Hindu sects treat AUM as the most sacred syllable, as it represents the self or Brahman or Standard model of Universe.
Since AUM the Universe came from Brahmanaspati, who became the Puranic Ganapati, Ganapati is also a representation of AUM.Hence Ganapati is worshipped in all sects of Hinduism and is seen as the embodiment of AUM.
*******
The concept of God is to symbolize the force(s) that operate beyond our control.
In the vedic and Upanishad times, our Rishis mapped these forces and symbolized them through several god-forms.
But as we moved down from this age to age of puranas, the cosmic forces got mapped to practical way of life as life examples and lost their scientific significances, but still continued to map to cosmic god forms.
In fact after the age of puranas, even the cosmic links to god-forms were cut and territorial gods took over, till the time Adi Sankara appeared to unite the territorial god-forms and map it back to cosmic forces.
But by then, our religion had already slipped into the control of spiritualists and psuedo-religious characters, who politicked using the religion, just to get to power.
They destroyed the entire scientific basis of our thoughts.
It became the Brahmastra that bound Hanuman, when the foolish lankans bound the already de-activated hanuman (stung by Brahmastra) with palm ropes, thus making the Brahmastra to loose strength.
-TBT
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