gāndharvaṁ vedam ātmanaḥ
gāndharvaṁ vedam ātmanaḥ
sthāpatyaṁ cāsṛjad vedaṁ
kramāt pūrvādibhir mukhaiḥ
Brahmā created ayurveda (medicine), dhaur-veda (military science), gāndharva veda (music) and ṣthapatya (architecture) from his mouths starting from the eastern mouth.
This verse describes the creation of the Upavedas. Sthāpatyam refers to the activities of architects, which are described in Viśvakarma-śāstra.
|| 3.12.39 ||
itihāsa-purāṇāni
pañcamaṁ vedam īśvaraḥ
sarvebhya eva vaktrebhyaḥ
sasṛje sarva-darśanaḥ
Brahmā, who has faces in all directions, created the fifth Veda composed of the Purāṇas and Itihāsas from all of his mouths.
The fifth Veda came from all his mouths, since the fifth Veda embodies all the Vedas.
|| 3.12.40 ||
ṣoḍaśy-ukthau pūrva-vaktrāt
purīṣy-agniṣṭutāv atha
āptoryāmātirātrau ca
vājapeyaṁ sagosavam
Ṣoḍaśī and uktha recitations for sacrifices appeared from Brahmā’s eastern mouth. Preparation of the fire and agnistoma sacrifices appeared from his southern mouth. Āptoryāma (soma) and atirātra (beginning and ending) sacrifices appeared from his western mouth. Vājapeya (horse) and gosava (cow) sacrifices appeared from his northern mouth.
This verse describes the various sacrifices (karma-tantram) mentioned earlier. Purīṣi means preparation of the fire and agniṣṭut means agni-stoma. These two appeared from Brahmā’s southern mouth. The other pairs arose from the other mouths.
|| 3.12.41 ||
vidyā dānaṁ tapaḥ satyaṁ
dharmasyeti padāni ca
āśramāṁś ca yathā-saṅkhyam
asṛjat saha vṛttibhiḥ
Knowledge (purity), charity (mercy), penance and truth are said to be the four legs of religion, and to learn this, there are four orders of life with different classifications of castes according to vocation. Brahmā created all these in systematic order.
Regarding purity, the Yajñavalkya-smṛti sayskṣetrajñasyeśvara-jñānād viśuddhiḥ paramā matā: from knowledge of the Supreme Lord arises the highest purity for the jīva. Thus knowledge can be equated with purity. Charity can be equated with mercy since it is said bhūtābhaya-pradānasya kalāṁ nārhati ṣoḍaśīm: those engaging in pious acts do not achieve one sixteenth of the results of the person who bestows (in charity) fearlessness to living beings. Thus there is no contradiction to the previous statement tapaḥ śaucaṁ dayā satyamiti pādāḥ kṛte kṛtāḥ: In Satya-yuga you had complete dharma of four portions with four elements: austerity, cleanliness, mercy and truth. (SB 1.17.24)
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