In the "Vishnu Purana" [*+] Brahma is translated as "abstract supreme spirit." Later on [*++] the question is asked, "How can creative agency be attributed to Brahma, who [as abstract spirit] is without qualities, illimitable, and free from imperfection?" The answer is, that "the essential properties of existent things are objects of observation, of which no foreknowledge is attainable; and creation and hundreds of properties

belong to Brahma as inseparable, parts of his essence, as heat is inherent in fire." The Purana goes on to say that creation is effected through the agency of Brahma, the first manifestation of Brahma; and then declares that Vishnu is one with Brahma.

Again, the same Purana [**] says: "There are two states of this Brahma--one with, and one without shape; one perishable, one imperishable; which are inherent in all beings. The imperishable is the supreme being; the perishable is all the world. The blaze of fire burning in one spot diffuses light and heat around; so the world is nothing more than the manifested energy of the supreme Brahma; and inasmuch as the light and heat are stronger or feebler as we are near to the fire or far off from it, so the energy of the supreme is more or less intense in the beings that are less or more remote from him. Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva are the most powerful energies of God; next to them are the inferior deities; then the attendant spirits; then men; then animals, birds, insects, vegetables; each becoming more and more feeble as they are farther from their primitive source."

The "Vishnu Purana" [*+] gives the following derivation of the word Brahma:--It "is derived from the root vriha (to increase), because it is infinite (spirit), and because it is the cause by which the Vedas (and all things) are developed." Then follows this hymn to Brahma:--"Glory to Brahma, who is addressed by that mystic word (Om), [*++] associated eternally with the triple universe (earth, sky, and heaven), and who is one with

the four Vedas. Glory to Brahma, who alike in the destruction and renovation of the world is called the great and mysterious cause of the intellectual principle; who is without limit in time or space, and exempt from diminution and decay. . .. He is the invisible, imperishable Brahma; varying in form, invariable in substance; the chief principle, self-engendered; who is said to illuminate the caverns of the heart; who is indivisible, radiant, undecaying, multiform. To that supreme Brahma be for ever adoration."