According to the Vedas, Brahma, the universal architect, creates the universe, as well as the first living beings that populate it. By hearing this description, one could think that Brahma is God. Once, Narada Muni committed the same mistake, taking Brahma as the supreme controller. However, he noticed something strange: Although being the creator of this universe and the most powerful living being, Brahma was meditating and practicing austerities to satisfy someone else.
Perplexed, Narada decided to ask. Approaching Brahma in a respectful way, he glorified his activities, but firmly stated his question: being the creator of the Universe, why Brahma was practicing penances to satisfy someone else?
Pleased with the honest inquiry of his son, Brahma revealed an open secret: There is an ultimate truth beyond him, Someone that empowers him to perform his arduous activities. He said:
“I offer my obeisances and meditate upon Lord Kṛṣṇa [Vāsudeva], the Personality of Godhead, whose invincible potency influences the less intelligent class of men to call me the supreme controller”.
An idea that is very prevalent in Cristian philosophy is the vision of God as the creator. The Bible describes how God created the world in six days and, becoming somewhat tired, he took the seventh day to rest.
The Vedas, however, offer a different idea: God is too busy playing His flute and playing with His friends and girlfriends to be concerned about such petty matters as creation or destruction of this material world. Nietzsche once said that “I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance”, that’s Krsna.
It’s actually very easy to understand why God doesn’t get involved with the creation of this material world. Although the CEO of a big company may give sanction to the construction of a new office building for his company, he will certainly not be the one laying the bricks. He will organize things in a way that someone else will make the project, someone else will supervise, and someone else will do the hard labor.
Similarly, the owner of the company may not be involved with it at all. He may just employ competent people to do all the work so he can just relax and enjoy with his family and friends. That’s exactly what Krsna does.
Krsna does not get involved in the hard labor of creating this material universe. Instead, He does everything through His expansions and assistants. He expands initially as Lord Balarama and He in turn expands Himself in all other forms. One of these expansions is Lord Maha Vishnu, Who lies down in the causal ocean and emanates the material universes from His pores. Yes, He is so big, that entire universes, like ours, pass through the pores of His body! If one wants a description of the grandiosity of God, that’s a good one!
Lord Maha Vishnu, in turn, expands Himself into each universe, as Garbhodaksayi Vishnu. One should not take these different forms as being separate Gods. They are all the supreme personality of GodHead, it’s just that He is so powerful that he can expand Himself in several forms and be in different places at the same time. This is possible because He doesn’t have a material body like ours: His form is pure consciousness, and his intelligence is unlimited.
Still, even as Garbhodaksayi Vishnu, God has better things to do than to become involved with creation. He is busy laying down in the bed of Ananta Shesha and being massaged by His eternal consort, Laksmi Devi.
Instead, He creates Lord Brahma, and empowers Him, so he can create the universe. Brahma then creates the different demigods, prajapatis and other powerful living beings that run the show. Although Garbhodaksayi Vishnu is described as the maintainer, He just gives sanction. All the hard work is done by His assistants.
Similarly, Mahavishnu expands Himself as Lord Sadha-Siva and he, in turn, expands himself all the Shivas present in each material universe, that takes charge of the mode of ignorance and the destruction of the universe when the time arrives. Some think that Siva is the Supreme, but that’s just because they can’t see the supreme cause behind him. Just like Brahma, Lord Shiva meditates and practices austerities for the satisfaction of someone else.
To create the universe is actually not such an amazing feat. In fact, Krsna gets it done automatically through just a fraction of a fraction, of a fraction of His potency. As He explains in the Bhagavad-Gita (10.42): “But what need is there, Arjuna, for all this detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe.”
He personally has much better things to do. He is a God Who can dance!