Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh: A Karmic Perspective
Brahma is the God of creation. He is responsible for creation of the universe and everything within it.
Vishnu (Narayana, Hari, Popular Avatars: Rama, Krishna, Buddha) is the God of preservation. He is responsible for preservation of the universe and everything within it.
Mahesh or Shiva is the God of transformation and destruction.
Of all their other qualities, there is one singular aspect which binds them together, and that is they are very focused on their karmas.
When Brahma creates, his whole focus is on creation. He doesn’t get attached to his creation(s), knowing very well that one day everything he has created will be destroyed. He also doesn’t bother how Vishnu manages his creations. He entrusts them to Vishnu.
Similarly, Vishnu preserves everything in the state in which they have been created. His whole focus is on preservation of the universe and its constituents in a particular state. He is not perturbed by the change and transformation in that state that comes with every instance of time. He accepts the change and transformation which can amount to destruction. Smilingly, he takes on his karma of preservation.
Shiva continues to take every creation of Brahma, that is preserved by Vishnu and in every instance of time, he converts them resulting in a continuous oscillation between life and death.
At no point, do any of the tridevs (trinity of Gods), get attached to the outcome of their jobs (karmas). They have the highest level of acceptance. Brahma accepts what Vishnu does and Vishnu accepts what Shiva does and Shiva too accepts what comes his way. Simply put, there is no attachment. As with any attachment, there is expectation and that expectation bears unwanted results which force the pursuit of happiness - the less understood and less recognized creator of disharmony and imperfection.
Together they are like relay runners who keep exchanging the batons until the universe is dissolved. Then Brahma goes to sleep and Shiva (along with Shakti) transforms into that eternal indescribable formlessness which is incomprehensible, unreachable and unknown. However, Vishnu still continues to focus on his karma, which is to preserve the state of the dissolved universe waiting for Brahma to re-emerge.
Thus, the tridevs provide a great example of how to focus on the job at hand and not to worry about the outcomes. Also, they exemplify acceptance. To accept a job, accept its outcomes and be not attached to either the job or its outcomes are the most important lessons of life. What is most important is to do the job at hand in the best possible manner.
So, the crux is: To do karma without getting attached to it or its outcomes and accepting the outcome whatever it might be is the highest form of Godliness. It is akin to doing the universe’s bidding.
