Points to Ponder: December 3, 2017

Today we shall reflect on God as our Supreme teacher. It is said that God creates man in His own image. It is at the end of Kalyug that God, who is an embodiment of knowledge, virtues and powers descends on earth and resuscitates the human race by infusing knowledge, virtues and power into them. The Hindu Scripture ‘Shiv Mahapuran’ mentions that Shiva entrusts Brahma with the responsibility of creating a new world and when Brahma fails in doing so in his own capacity, Shiva enters Brahma to create a new world. What  we need to understand is Shiva is the Supreme soul who is bodiless. This is why He is worshipped as a Shiv Jyotirlingam which literally means Shiva who is a symbol of light. This is why the first temples of worship had Shiv Jyotirlingams made of diamonds to depict God’s true form. Not just in Hinduism but in every religion, God is depicted as a point of light.

Brahma is shown to be an old man with grey hair and beard and holding scriptures in his hand. The counterpart of Brahma too exists in most religions for example Adam in Christianity and Aadam in Islam. Brahma in fact is an ordinary man in Kalyug who has become depleted in the time cycle and is not himself an embodiment of knowledge. But he is the great soul who accedes to God’s dictates and offers himself to the Supreme Soul to carry out the work of creating a new world order. It is at the end of Kalyug that God, who is Himself bodiless collaborates with Brahma to create a new world. God is called the gardener, the supreme artist because He picks up the battered, bruised and depleted souls by calling out to them through the mouth of Brahma and with His midas touch of knowledge, virtues and powers restores them to their pristine glory. We will explore more on this interesting and stupefying occurrence tomorrow.