Lord Brahma, the Creator, was always engaged in solving problems between gods and asuras, between men and asuras and between men and men. Whenever the asuras lost in a battle, peace prevailed but once the asuras took to fighting the gods, then famine, drought and terror reigned everywhere. As a result, trouble constantly visited the three worlds?heaven, hell and earth.
Deeply worried at the fluid situation in all the three worlds, Brahma decided to speak to all of them. While the gods, asuras and human beings were busy, a voice emerged from the heaven, the Brahmalok. In a loud voice, the Brahma spoke out the word, ?Da?!
The gods, the asuras and men were shocked to hear it but it took them some time to gauge what it meant. Lord Brahma summoned them to his kingdom and turning to the gods, asked, ?Can you tell me what I meant by using the word ?da???
The gods thought over it and replied, ? ?Da? means damyata, that is, ? restraint?. Since we are invariably engaged in worldly pleasures, you tried to warn us to be alert and keep a control over sensual pleasures, else, the asuras would reign over us.?
Lord Brahma replied, ?Yes you have got the correct meaning.?
Then Brahma said to the human beings, ?Have you understood the meaning of ?da??
All the human beings replied, ?Yes, we have. According to us, ?da? means ?dana?, which means give in charity?. You have taught us to renounce all kinds of greed, like hoarding of wealth and food, and give away the extra that we can spare towards charity.?
Lord Brahma was happy to hear the answer and replied, ?Yes, you have got it right. You have understood what I meant. You can go now.?
Lord Brahma turned to the asuras and asked, ?Did you understand what is meant by the word ?da???
The asuras replied, ?Yes, we have understood. What ?da? means is dayadhvam, which is ?show mercy?.? So saying the asuras left without listening to Brahma'sadvice, as if wanting to convey that they were not prepared to show mercy to the gods and would continue to fight incessantly.
It is said that when lightning strikes on earth, the word ?da? can still be heard as if Lord Brahma is talking. It is simply to remind us to do our duty and give away in charity whatever we can spare. Those who do not understand the message and are caught up in worldly pleasures suffer from all kinds of problems.
