Actually, if you see, it is a niyama for Lord Brahma that he cannot take an incarnation on earth like other devatas like Vayu, Shiva, Indra, etc. He is the creator, and hence He handles the creation from Satyaloka. If anything goes wrong, or if He wants to give instructions to the devotees, then He would either come Himself or send His representatives for it.
Plus, another reason is that Lord Brahma doesn’t eat Anivedita Maanushaanna (human-made food which is not offered to Bhagavan). That’s why He doesn’t incarnate on earth. This is evident from the Srinivasa Kalyana story wherein Lord Srinivasa assumes the form of a Koravanji (a female fortune teller) and goes to Dharanidevi to convince her to marry her daughter Padmavati to Srinivasa. At that time, Her basket was Lakshmidevi, her danda was Lord Shiva, and a baby was in Her hand. That baby was Lord Brahma. Dharanidevi brought ksheeraanna for that baby. That Koravanji fed the anna to that baby, who spat the anna.
Then, when that Koravanji ate some anna and then fed that baby, it ate with joy and was smiling. This story itself is evidence that Lord Brahma doesn’t eat Anivedita Maanushaanna. There are ample amounts of proofs in the Mahabharata itself that proves that Lord Brahma though didn’t incarnate on the earth, but gave instructions to the devotees or prevented something if something went wrong.
CHANDRA ABDUCTS TAARA
Once, Chandra had abducted Taara, the wife of Devaguru Brihaspatyacharya. At this, Brihaspatyacharya asked Chandra to return Taara to him, but Chandra refused. Then a war took place, wherein Brihaspatyacharya had the devatas led by Lord Shiva Himself. Whereas the Asuras were there to support Chandra. Lord Brahma came there and stopped the fight and instructed Chandra to return Taara to Brihaspatyacharya. At that time, Taara was pregnant. Brihaspatyacharya asked her to tell her whose son it was. At this, she wasn’t in a state to answer it openly. Even the baby born to her was angry at her and said, “Reveal the truth, or else I will curse you!” Lord Brahma rebuked the child and then called her and asked, “Whose son is it?” in a soft tone. At this, Taara said, “This is Chandra’s son”. This son was Budha, one of the Navagraha. From here the Chandravamsha story begins.
Actually, we must note that here Chandra had a temporary asuravesha (demonic possession) due to which he acted like this. If you see, the devatas commit such mistakes very rarely, and that too due to such demonic possessions. Otherwise, a person with ego and lust can never come to the devata padavi. Plus, another thing is, this Chandra’s punya had increased even beyond his competence. The Vedas call Bhagavan as Edhamaanadvit, which means “He decreases the punya which has been earned beyond a person’s competence, and makes it equal to the competence of that particular person.” That’s why, to bring Chandra’s excessive punya, Bhagavan made this happen. But Chandra is infinitely greater than us, and hence, we must respect him.
SARPA SATRA INCIDENT
After Parikshita was killed by Takshaka, his son Janamejaya was very much angry, and to wage a revenge against Takshaka, he did a Sarpa Satra/Yagya, wherein the ritviks or the purohits called the serpents by mantras and then gave them as aahuti in the sacrificial fire. All these serpents were actually cursed by their mother Kadru herself. Kadru was the wife of Sage Kashyapa. Garuda’s mother was Vinata. Kadru and Vinata had a competition from the beginning. During the Samudra mathana, the horse named Uchhaishravas came, and they both debated whether the horse was white or black. Thus, Kadru opined that the horse was black, whereas Vinata said it was white. They had a bet that if any of them lost, the loser would become the maid of the winner. So, Kadru, to prove her point, asked her sons - the serpents to cover the horse so that it seemed black, and she would win. But the serpents refused to do so, as it was incorrect. Seeing the sheer disobedience of her children towards her, she cursed them to be burnt in fire and died.
Plus, these serpents were those serpents which troubled others and were evil; that’s why their death was preplanned. But then this Sarpa Satra was for the whole serpent community. So, Vasuki and all serpents went to Brahma. Lord Brahma said, “You have a sister named Jaratkaaru. She should marry a man with the name Jaratkaaru, and from Jaratkaaru and Jaratkaaru, a brahmana will be born named Astika who will stop the Sarpa Yagya.” The same happened. Astika was born. Astika went to the Yagya praised Janamejaya and his yagya, and then, as Takshaka was falling by the mantra shakti of the ritviks/purohits, Astika just said, ‘STOP!’ and Takshaka stopped there itself in the air. Janamejaya had promised Astika that he would fulfill his wishes. So, in that, Astika asked for a boon to stop the Sarpa Yagya immediately, to which Janamejaya had to stop the Sarpa Yagya.
LORD BRAHMA SENDS SAGE NARADA TO THE PANDAVAS
This is mentioned in the Mahabharata that after the Pandavas married Draupadi, Lord Brahma sent Sage Narada to give some instructions to the Pandavas. Sage Narada came and met Yudhishthira, who welcomed him and worshipped him. Now, Sage Narada said to Yudhishthira, “Since you all 5 brothers have married Draupadi, your condition should not be like Sunda and Upasunda. That’s why Lord Brahma sent me to you with a few instructions.” At this Yudhishthira asked, “Who are these Sunda and Upasunda?” At this Sage Naarada said, “Long ago, there were two demons by the name Sunda and Upasunda. They were born in the lineage of Hiranyakashyapu. They had done a very fierce penance-cum-sacrifice, to please Lord Brahma, wherein they gave aahuti of their flesh in the sacrificial fire. Lord Brahma finally appeared and asked them to ask for a boon. They asked for immortality, which Lord Brahma refused but offered to give a boon of winning the three worlds, at which they agreed, and Lord Brahma too said, ‘So be it.’
Thus, Sunda and Upasunda both captured and ruled the three worlds. The devatas, unable to defeat them, went to Lord Brahma and prayed to him. Lord Brahma said, “We don’t need anything special to kill them. Their lust itself will kill them.” Saying thus, he called Vishvakarma and asked him to gather all the beauty from nature and take portions equal to a sesame seed (tila) and make an extremely beautiful girl. Vishvakarma made a girl, and she was known as Tilottama. Tilottama was so beautiful that the devatas were captured by her beauty. Lord Shiva and Lord Indra controlled themselves from seeing Tilottama. Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu were unaffected by her beauty. Tilottama went to Sunda and Upasunda. Both were captivated by her beauty. Sunda, the elder brother, held her hand. Similarly, Upasunda too held her hand. Sunda, at this, said, “Hey, she is my wife and hence is a mother like you. Don’t touch her like that.” Upasunda too said, “Hey, she is my wife and hence is like your daughter. Don’t touch her like that.” Thus, both of them fought with each other and killed each other. So, Lord Brahma wishes that your case should not be like that of Sunda and Upasunda. Lord Brahma has instructed you all that each brother has to stay with Draupadi for a year. Like Yudhishthira will stay with Draupadi for a year, then Bheemasena will stay with Draupadi for a year, and so on.
CURSE TO VARUNA AND GANGA
Once, Brahmadeva was sitting near the Ganga-Samudra Sangama, when a drop of water fell on Him. Actually, internally Ganga and Varuna (Samudraraaja) were doing kreeda. Note that Varuna and Ganga are husband-wife. At this, Lord Brahma was angered because in front of an elder they were doing such behaviour, and thus He cursed Varuna to be born as a human on earth. Plus, again once, in the devata sabha led by Lord Brahma, Ganga was coming down. Due to the fast wind blowing, her upper cloth flew away, and hence the devatas bent their heads, including Lord Brahma. But Varuna saw Ganga like that only. Thus, Lord Brahma was angry again, and He cursed Varuna to be born as a human on the earth. Thus, Varuna was born as Shantanu.
CURSE TO THE VASUS
Sage Vasistha had cursed the ashtavasus for stealing his cow named Nandini. But within Sage Vasistha, Lord Brahma was present, and He cursed the Vasus to be born as humans on earth, because Sage Vasistha solely doesn’t have the power to curse the Vasus. Thus, these Vasus were born as the sons of Ganga and Shantanu, and the Dyu naamaka Vasu was Bhishma Pitamaha.
These were some of the incidents where Lord Brahma played His role in the Mahabharata, for the continuation of the story. Hope this helps!
Jay SriRam!
ShriKrishnarpanamastu!