Are there other Brahmas and universes?

Question

Lord Brahma is said to be the creator of Earth but what about other planets? Who created them?

I have heard that for every planet there is a creator like Brahma.

I have also seen an incident in Shri Krishna when Lord Brahma feels that no one is more powerful than him and abducts friends of Shri Krishna (in child hood).

Then as a lesson, Shri Krishna summons all Brahmas (creator of other planets) to teach a lesson to Lord Brahma that he is not the only one creator

Is there any explanation about this?

PS: The story resembles in this link but this did not mention about the other Brahmas.

Answer 1

Chapter III On seeing the Devî of Devi Bhagavatam says, there are multiple Brahmas, multiple Vishnus and multiple Rudras.

After killing Dânavas Madhu Kaitabha, three deities got into a beautiful Vimana sent by Devi Bhagavathi. They saw multiple Satyaloka, multiple Vishnuloka and multiple Kailasa.

Brahma said this to his son Narada,

Then the car, where we were situated, began to get up high in the sky, and in the twinkling of an eye, we reached Brahmâ loka, that is saluted by all the Devas. There S'ambhu and Kes'ava were greatly bewildered to see Brahmâ of that place. In the council hall of Brahmâ, the Vedas with their Angas, the serpents, hills, oceans and rivers were seen. Seeing all these, Visnu and Mahes'vara asked me :-- “O Four-faced one! Who is this eternal Brahmâ? I replied :-- I do not know who is this Brahmâ? Who am I? and who is He? why has this error come over me? You, too, also are gods so you can better ponder over it.” Next our car, going with the swiftness of mind went, in the twinkling of an eye, to the beautiful all auspicious Kailâs'a mountain surrounded by bliss-giving Yaksas. It was beautified by the Mandâra garden, resonated by the sweet cooings of S'ukas and cuckoos and the sweet sounds of lutes and small drums and tabors. When we reached there we saw the five faced, three-eyed Bhagavân S'ashi S'ekhara, with ten hands, wearing tiger skin, and the upper garment of the elephant skin. He was then, getting out of his abode, riding on a bull. His two sons, the great heroes, Ganes'a and Kârtikeya, beautifully adorned, were attending Him as His body guards. Nandi and all other hosts were following Him, chanting victories to Him. O Muni Narâda! we were greatly wondered to see another S'ankara, surrounded by the Matrikâs. So much so, that perplexed with doubts, I sat down there. Next our aeroplane went on with the force of wind; and in an instant reached the abode of Vaikuntha, the amusement court of Laksmî. O Sûta! There at Vaikuntha, we saw a wonderful manifestation of power. Our companion Visnu was greatly surprised to see that excellent city. We saw there four-armed Visnu, of the colour of Âtasi flower, wearing yellow garments, adorned with divine ornaments sitting on Garuda. Laksmî Devî is fanning wonderful chowry to Him. Struck with wonder at the sight of the eternal Visnu, we took our seat on the car and looked at one another's face.

Besides this, "Concept of multiple Brahmandas" is described in Chapter 10 "Shiva Swallowing Poison" of Skanda Purana (Pg- 78).

This chapter says

He (Ganesha) saw crores of spherical Cosmic Eggs like so many atoms. They were getting merged and dissolved in Mahesha who was in linga form.

Answer 2

Yes, there are as many Brahmas and Rudras as there are universes:

ananta brahmāṇḍera yata brahmā-rudra-gaṇa
cira-loka-pāla-śabde tāhāra gaṇana [CC - 2.21.58]

Meaning
Actually it is very difficult to ascertain the number of universes. Every universe has its separate Lord Brahmā and Lord Rudra, who are known as permanent governors. Therefore there is also no counting them.

There is another account regarding this where Krishna ask his door keeper which Brahma has come to visit Him. Brahma surprised by this question of the door keeper later asks Krishna:

Why did you inquire which Brahmā had come to see You? What is the purpose of such an inquiry? Is there any other Brahmā besides me within this universe? [CC - 2.21.65]

Krishna smiled hearing this and called upon other Brahmas and unlimited Brahmas arrived there:

These Brahmās had different numbers of heads. Some had ten heads, some twenty, some a hundred, some a thousand, some ten thousand, some a hundred thousand, some ten million and others a hundred million. No one can count the number of faces they had. [CC - 2.21.67]

So in short, yes there are other Brahmas.

REFERENCE: Chaitanya Charitamruta

Answer 3

Bhagavatha says there are innumerable universes contained in spherical shell, separated by layers of elemental matters. Region within this called brahmanda or brahma egg.

If you compare the size of brahmanda to that of modern day size of our milkyway galaxy, it would be roughly about 1/10 the size of milkyway galaxy. Brahmanda is surrounded by 7 spherical layers of elemental matter with each being 10 times thick as one preceding it.

Each brahmanda has its own brahma, vishnu , shiva, the creator, sustainer, destroyer. These are the three aspects present in all other innumerable universes.

Then comes the question, what exactly controls all these innumerable brahmandas. The superior force which permeates innumerable brahmandas are called mahavishnu. It is also called as absolute eternal para-brahman in purusha sookta.

Fifth canto of bhagavata describes all the thing, I said above.

Answer 4

First you should understand one thing is that all stories in Hinduism are mythical and contains hidden meanings. Actually Brahma didn't create this earth, he created the whole world, means all other planets including our earth...

People may confuse with this sloka and assume that there many Brahmas and Shivas....

Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta Madhya 21.58

ananta brahmāṇḍera yata brahmā-rudra-gaṇa

cirloka-pāla-śabde tāhāra gaṇana

SYNONYMS

ananta — unlimited; brahmāṇḍera — of the universes; yata — all; brahmā — Lord Brahmās; rudra-gaṇa — and Lord Śivas; cira-loka-pāla — permanent governors of the worlds; śabde — by the word; tāhāra — of them; gaṇana — counting.

TRANSLATION

"Actually it is very difficult to ascertain the number of universes. Every universe has its separate Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva, who are known as permanent governors. Therefore there is also no counting them.

But we go through the detailed meaning the purpote is,

Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva are called cira-loka-pāla, permanent governors. This means that they govern the affairs of the universe from the beginning of the creation to the end. In the next creation, the same living entities may not be present, but because Brahmā and Śiva are existing from the beginning to the end, they are called cira-loka-pāla, permanent governors. Loka-pāla means "predominating deities." There are eight predominating deities of the prominent heavenly planets, and they are Indra, Agni, Yama, Varuṇa, Nirṛti, Vāyu, Kuvera and Śiva.

Answer 5

Brahma isn't creator of just one planet's life but of universe. A universe has many planets with life in them but one Brahma is creator of one universe and so there are uncountable universes with Brahmas having upto millions of heads & our universe and Brahma are the smallest with Brahma having 4 heads.

Sources: - Chaitanya Charitamrita ISKCON & upper 2 lines are from reference of Yoga Vasishta that there are many alien planets with life in them & none of them knows about the other. And http://scsmathinternational.com/guidance/2015/150615-SanatanSikha-BrahmasRealm.php

Answer 6

Yes. There are multiple Brahmas, Vishnus and Rudras.

From Linga Purana I.3

30 - 33. The cosmic egg is externally enveloped by water ten times its magnitude. The water is externally enveloped by fire ten times its mass. The fire is externally enveloped by air ten times its mass. The air is externally enveloped by the ether ten times its magnitude. The ether is enveloped by ego the cause of sound. The ego is enveloped by intellect and intellect is enveloped by Pradhāna. They say that the coverings of the cosmic egg are seven. There within is Brahmā seated on the lotus. There are crores and crores of such eggs in existence.

34. In all these cosmic eggs there are four-faced Brahmās, Viṣṇus and Rudras. They are all created by Pradhāna after coming into contact with Śiva.

Answer 7

There are infinite universes, since it's impossible for Brahma to rule over them all, he manifests a copy of himself in every universe that's created. Each universe has size & lifespan according to the number of heads of the Brahma in it. Our Brahma has 4 heads so ours is the smallest kind of universe available.