When Brahma first put His mind to creation, all He could think of, was water. Perhaps, because Shiva’s love for water was etched deep in His memory, or perhaps, being the very first of all creation, He was very aquarian in outlook.
He created a vast ocean, in the semblance of the ether that He had rested in, before Shiva and Shakti manifested him as Brahma and then ordered him to go forth and, in turn, manifest a whole world. It was a befitting tribute to his own source.
“It is good,” He said to Himself, as He saw the huge ocean all around Him. Then in glee, He began to create creatures that swam about hastily in these waters.
“It is good,” He said to Himself. “All is good.”
But the creatures were born with a hunger. “And what should we eat?” they asked Him. Brahma had not thought of that. If any creature had to eat, what would it eat, other than another creature? What was this thing called hunger? No one knew how to describe it, but they all felt it, and sure enough they all began to eat each other. Size became a determining factor: the large ate up the small. And so it went on; those who ate became larger, and went on eating to satiate their growing appetite. It was indeed a vicious circle, which began right from the beginning. Brahma looked helplessly at this scene of macabre greed and division, of selfishness and brutality, of ignorance!
“You are siblings,” He thought. “You are all born from me.” He sank down with the vague knowing that somehow, it was his own ignorance that had caused this primal ignorance among the creatures He created. All He had wanted was harmony, goodness. And this… this was the beginning of sibling rivalry.
To eat your ‘own kind’ for survival. How gross was that! He had been ignorant of the basic instinct of creatures, which existed even from when they were first created, right from their very birth.
Wistfully, He wondered if there had been a creation before this; a creation from which these creatures carried forward these deadly instincts.
One creature in particular became huge by eating up dozens of others. He looked monstrous, not at all like what Brahma had originally designed. Looking greedily at Brahma, he said,
“What else can I eat? In this watery creation of yours, all the smaller creatures are already in my belly.”
“Hold on, let me think,” said Brahma, feeling a little uneasy. It was the kind of fear one gets when he‘makes’ an accident.
“I cannot hold on,” replied the monster. “I think I shall eat you,” he said menacingly and started coming towards Brahma. This was a mess! Brahma started swimming for His life across the ocean; how vast it suddenly seemed. How terrible the meaning of Infinite had become. And there was no shore. Brahma hadn’t even had the chance to create one as yet.
He prayed fervently. Finding a word in his own frightened heart slipping onto his tongue… Shiva, SHIVA!!
Brahma had to swim for at least a hundred years before Shiva actually heard Him and arrived at the scene for His rescue.
Ever so gently, as one might tenderly cup a little fish from a bowl before changing the water, did Shiva retrieve Brahma out from the ocean.
As He placed Him on the ground near His lap, Brahma saw that He was finally ashore.
“Thank you, my Lord,” Brahma did not forget His etiquette, and suddenly, not just gratitude but also the meaning of loving one’s life became clear to Him.
“What happened?”asked Shiva.
“Didn’t you see?” Brahma asked. “These creatures I made, my mind-born children, wanted to eat me for their own survival, the ungrateful wretches.”
“It happened a bit too fast,” said Shiva. “I forgot to change my time to match yours, and as a result, you had to struggle for much longer than what I realised.”
“Oh, my God! It was an endless despair!” said Brahma.
“I am sorry again,” said Shiva. “I was just having a little chat with Parvati and barely took my eyes off you for a moment. Time is the best teacher of relativity.”
~ SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller. A modern retelling of Great God Shiva's story by Shail Gulhati
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Art : Vimanika Paintings & Prints
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