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Who is currently holding post of Lord Bramha? Is there any description about his previous births and what are the karma he did that got him to this post?

Yogi
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  • Since whatever we know is only part of Lord Brahma's knowledge, and since he doesn't know any of the other Brahmas, it is not possible to know the past Brahmas, I think. Moroever, all of them would have attained Vaikuntha (or Shivaloka, depending on what you believe in.) – Surya Nov 02 '15 at 16:53
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    I think Madhvacharya believed that the Vayu (or Mukhya Prana in his terminology) in each Mahakalpa becomes the Brahma in the next Mahakalpa. But Madhvacharya's belief system is very Vayu-centric, and I'm not sure if this claim has a basis in Hindu scripture. – Keshav Srinivasan Nov 02 '15 at 17:04
  • @Surya What makes you think the current Brahma has no knowledge of previous Brahmas? Previous Brahmas are mentioned in this chapter of the Shanti Parva of the Mahabharata: http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m12/m12c048.htm In any case, this question is about previous births of the current Brahma, not previous Brahmas. – Keshav Srinivasan Nov 02 '15 at 17:10
  • @Keshav My bad. I didn't know about that. :( But the explanation seems to imply that there have been only six previous creations, this being the seventh? – Surya Nov 02 '15 at 17:18
  • @Keshav Madhva's theory is (somewhat) supported in a chapter of the Garuda Purana, where Sauti lists Vayu in prominence after Vishnu and begins narrating the glories of Vayu and his supremacy over all. So yeah, the Vayu of this lifetime could be Brahma next. Maybe that's why Hanuman is the next Brahma. SO would that mean that (if ever a Ramayana happened in the previous Brahma's time), the previous Hanuman would be this Brahma?) That seems pretty unfair to Hanuman... – Surya Nov 02 '15 at 17:27
  • @Surya I think all the commentators on the Brahma Sutras believe that there have been infinitely many creations stretching infinitely far back in time, so I think Vaishampayana is just listing the most recent 7 Mahakalpas rather than the only 7. Also, some scriptures mention the notion of an Ashtaka Kalpa, a period consisting of 8 Mahakalpas. Perhaps we're living in the 7th Mahakalpa of the present Ashtaka Kalpa. – Keshav Srinivasan Nov 02 '15 at 17:35
  • @Surya Yeah, as far as I know, the only place in Hindu scriptures that describes a Vayu-centric Vaishnava worldview is the end of the Garuda Purana. But yeah, Madhvacharya believed that it is because Hanuman is an incarnation of Vayu that he will be become the next Brahma. I think Madhvacharya believed the current Shiva becomes the next Vayu, the current Vayu becomes the next Brahma, and the current Brahma becomes the next Adiseshan. I may not have the sequence exactly right, but he did believe something along those lines. – Keshav Srinivasan Nov 02 '15 at 17:39
  • @KeshavSrinivasan- Who is vaishampayan, I've read his statement prior to yudhisthir before the revelation of Shri Vishnu Sahastranaam by Bhishma – Yogi Nov 02 '15 at 18:05
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    @Yogi Vaishampayana was the disciple of Vyasa who told the Mahabharata to Arjuna's great-grandson Janamejaya. How the Mahabharata begins is that Ugrashrava, aka Suta, comes to the Naimisharanya forest to tell Shaunaka and the other sages there the story that Vaishampayana had told to Janamejaya. – Keshav Srinivasan Nov 02 '15 at 21:29
  • The present Brahma is simply a jiva who aspired to the position in a previous cycle and attained the karma for it. At the end of this cycle the jiva that is presently Brahma will have to go into the cycles of birth and death to work out the rest of his existing karma he had before receiving the position of Brahma. There have been endless cycles before and will be endless cycles in the future. There have been endless Brahmas before and there will be endless Brahmas in the future. – Swami Vishwananda Nov 03 '15 at 04:48
  • @SwamiVishwananda Doesn't Adi Shankaracharya say in his commentary on the Brahma Sutras that all the souls residing in Brahmaloka attain Moksha at the end of Brahma's life? Isn't that the view of Badari that Adi Shankaracharya endorsed, and how Adi Shankaracharya interprets the "there is no return for them" statement? – Keshav Srinivasan Nov 03 '15 at 04:53

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