The Majestic Four- Faced Brahma San Phra Phrom in Bangkok

   

                 

           

The Erawan shrine ศาลพระพรหม, San Phra Phrom is a Hindu shrine in Bangkok, and this is one of the most recognizable and influential of  Thai representation of the Hindu creation God,  in Sanskrit called the Brahma Sahampati.  In Thailand is nearly 94%-95% Theravada Buddhist but surprising that it has strongly influenced by Hinduism and you may find countless of San Phra Phrom or Brahma Sahampati holy statue almost in every corner of Bangkok Thailand for worshipping for his blessing and blissful state. There are too many miraculous events and stories had been reported by countless of devotees that their wishes had been miraculously answered and fulfilled. Many devotees had returned to the Erawan shrine to pay their respects and some by offering the traditional Thai dancing to honor and to fulfill their promises to His Majestic and powerful Brahma Sahampati.

San Phra Phrom or  Brahma Sahampati (大梵天人) or Maha-Brahma appears as the powerful creator of the universe according to the Hinduism,  the deity Brahma is known as the Creator, and is a member of a trinity of gods. The other two are Shiva the Destroyer and Vishnu the Preserver. Brahma is credited to be the source of the Vedas, hence you might have noticed Him carrying a book representing the Vedas on one of his hands. But in Buddhism are quite the different. In Buddhism though, the Brahma Sahampati have been described as a higher level gods, and as opposed to Hindu beliefs there are many individual Brahma gods. 

In my earlier post dated December 15, 2014, Sarnath , the place of the Buddha's first sermon, after spending seven weeks at the seven places in Bodhgaya following his enlightenment , The Buddha was undecided about teaching the Dharma to others as he realized that it was profound and hard to discover, and others would not understand Him. According to the Buddhist scripture, it was Brahma Sahampati (大梵天人) who entreated the Buddha to teach the world about Dharma. Initially  Buddha hesitated to preach the principal of Dharma teaching that as He realized that it was profound and hard to discover, and others would not understand Him.  But Brahma Sahampati insisted as in this way the doctrine of Dharma will spread amongst the lay peoples, and pleaded with Him to teach the Dharma otherwise the world would be lost.

The Blessed one listened to Brahma Sahampati's pleading and decided to go to Benares to peach to the five Ascetics, namely: Kondanna, Vappa, Bhaddiya, Mahanama and Assaji, who had served him for 6 years but left Buddha abandoned the path of self-mortification and ffinally Buddha agreed to spread the Dharma.

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