Sṛṣṭi-kartrī सृष्टि-कर्त्री (264)

Beginning this nāma, till 274 the five actions of the Brahman are being discussed.  Earlier the five stages of consciousness were discussed.  Now the five acts of the Brahman are being described.  Vāc Devi-s have formulated this Sahasranāma in such a way that it talks about every aspect the Supreme Brahman (saguṇa and nirguṇa forms of Brahman).  If one could understand impartations of all the nāma-s of this Sahasranāma, it tantamount to knowing all the Upaniṣad-s.  Bhagavad Gīta is yet another treasure in Self-realization.

In this nāma, the creative aspect (sṛṣṭi) of the Brahman is referred.   The creation happens out of Her tamo guṇa.  The three main acts of the Brahman viz. creation, sustenance and dissolution are represented by three forms of God viz. Brahma, Viṣṇu and Rudra.

Saundarya Laharī (verse 24) talks about the three acts of the Brahman.  “Brahma creates this universe.  Viṣṇu sustains it and Rudra dissolves it.  Annihilating them, Īśvara conceals Himslef as well.  Sadāśiva approves of them pursuant of your command conveyed through your creeper-like (a symbolic description of Her eye-brows) eye-brows moved for a moment.”

{Further reading on guṇa-s: There are three types of guṇa-s.  Guṇa-s mean qualities or attributes, which form the inherent nature of prakṛti.  The three guṇa-s are sattvic or sattva, rajas or rajo and tamas or tamo. In each of these guṇa-s, the other two guṇa-s are also present. Sattva guṇa is where quality and purity of knowledge attains the highest level, with the least presence of other two guṇa-s. This is where spiritual growth begins to bloom.  Rajo guṇa is predominant when action and passion are predominant. It is associated with earthly plane and mundane knowledge. It involves higher passions with worldly pursuits. This is where goals are set and in order to achieve the set goals, attachment, self-conceit, arrogance, unjustness, contempt, slander and consequent sorrow and miseries are felt.  This is the stage where major portion of the karmic account builds up.   Tamo guṇa is inertia and ignorance. This is associated with much lower planes than earth.  Illusion and ignorance are predominant here.  Sluggishness, infatuation, confusion, stupidity, aversion, recklessness, vulgarity, grief, pain, anxiety, hatred, violence are some of the predominant qualities of this guṇa.}

Brahma-rūpā ब्रह्म-रूपा (265) 

She is in the form of the God of creation Brahma.  Brahma has four heads.  The four heads could mean the components of antaḥkaraṇa mind, intellect, consciousness and ego.  Without these four, creation is not possible.  There are many stories about Brahma’s four heads. He had five heads, possibly meaning the five elements or five prāṇa-s (prāṇa, apāna, vyāna, samāna and udāna) that are needed for creation.  The fifth head was cut off by Śiva for having shown disrespect to Him.  There is yet another story, which says that Brahma had split his body horizontally into two, a male and a female form (different from ardhanārīśvara form of Śiva where Śiva’s body is dissevered vertically, the other half occupied by Śaktī).  Brahma is said to be the great-grandfather, Viṣṇu the grandfather and Śiva the father of this universe. 

(Further reading on the process of creation (in brief): The soul, which is also known as puruṣa can manifest only if interacts with prakṛti, which is also known as Nature, the creative self-unfoldment. When the soul gets associated with prakṛti, the latter unfolds first into subtle non-materialistic form and later into gross form.  When gross form is formed, it gives rise to three types of bodies called gross (sthūla), subtle (sūkṣma) and cause (kāraṇa).  Gross is the outer body, subtle and cause are the inner bodies.  Until a soul is liberated, subtle and cause bodies continue their association with the soul.  Only the gross body is perishable. The imperceptible impressions of many lives become embedded in these bodies, thereby causing predominance of certain qualities in the mind in each rebirth. They are the seeds of karmas that are embedded in a soul.}