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11. TRIMURTHY
Encyclopedia for Epics of Ancient India
The Rig Veda Hiranyagarbha "is said to have arisen in the beginning, the one lord of all beings, who upholds heaven and earth, who gives life and breath, whose command even the gods obey, who is the god over all gods, and the one animating principle of their being." According to Manu, Hiranyagarbha was Brahma, the first male, formed by the indiscernible eternal First Cause in a golden egg resplendent as the sun. "Having continued a year in the egg, Brahma divided it into two parts by his mere thought, and with these two shells he formed the heavens and the earth; and in the middle he placed the sky, the eight regions, and the eternal abode of the waters."
In The Laws of Manu (Manava-Dharma-Sastra) it is said that the supreme soul, the self-existent lord created the waters and deposited in them a seed, which seed became a golden egg (Hiranyagarbha) in which he himself was born as Brahma, the progenitor of all the worlds.
"Brahma, as 'the germ of unknown Darkness,' is the material from which all evolves and develops 'as the web from the spider, as foam from the water,' etc. . . . Brahma 'expands' and becomes the Universe woven out of his own substance." (Secret Doctrine, I, p. 83).
Brahma (masculine), Brahmanda Brahma is the Self or Hierarch of a Solar System. The Solar System or imbodiment of Brahma is often spoken of as 'the Egg of Brahma' or Brahmanda (a compound of Brahma and anda -- egg).
'A Day of Brahma' consists of seven Rounds of the planetary chain, or what is called a Planetary Manvantara, a period of 4,320,000,000 terrestrial years. 'A Night of Brahma' is of equal duration. 'A Week of Brahma' or seven Planetary Manvantaras make one Solar Manvantara. 'One Year of Brahma equals 360 Divine Days or Planetary Manvantaras. The 'Life of Brahma' consists of 100 Divine Years or Solar Manvantaras, a period of 311,040,000,000,000 terrestrial years. There are as many Brahmas as there are solar systems.
Brahma, Vach, Viraj The ancient Hindu scriptures tell us in their poetic manner that the Universe was sung into being by the inspiration arising in the divine mind of Brahma, the Father of the Universe. This Divine Thought in Brahma's mind was carried by Vach, the Mother of the Universe, or the Divine Voice, or Mystic Sound, and gave rise to Viraj, the Son, or the Divine Word, or the manifested Universe of harmony.
Later the epithet Purusha and Prajapati were bestowed on Brahma (meaning 'the Progenitor').
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