by Bibek Debroy
Chapter 3(9)
‘“Brahma said, “I have got to know you today, after a very long time. It is a great defect to possess a body and such people do not get to know about the movements of the illustrious one. O illustrious one! Nothing other than you exists. Nothing else is pure. You are supreme, but appear differently because of maya and the mixture of the gunas. This form is of your eternal and internal powers. Through your favours to the virtuous, you dispel tamas. 849 You assumed this original avatara and it is the seed of a hundred others. I have myself been generated from an abode in the lotus in your navel. O supreme one! I do not see any form of yours that is superior to this one. It is full of bliss and without any transformations. Its radiance is not diminished in any way. You are the creator of the universe. You are the atman of the universe. You are the source of the elements and the senses. I seek refuge with you. O one who is auspicious for the universe! For the sake of welfare, you have shown yourself to the devotees who are meditating on you. O illustrious one! Therefore, we follow the rules and bow down before you. But you are not respected by those who are evil in their adherences 850 and are headed towards hell. There are those who inhale the fragrance that is in your lotus feet. The wind conveys chants from the sacred texts to their ears. They devotedly seize your supreme feet. O protector! For their sake, never be separated from the lotus-like hearts of men who are devoted to you. There are those who suffer fear on account of wealth, physical bodies, well-wishers, grief, desire, dishonour and excessive greed. The reason for their affliction is their false sense of ‘mine’. Until they seek shelter at your lotus feet, they will not obtain freedom from fear. Destiny destroys their intelligence. Their senses are averse to hearing about you, something that removes all kinds of inauspiciousness. Those distressed ones pursue desire, for a happiness that is only brief and fleeting. Their minds are overcome by avarice and they are always after the inauspicious. O Urukrama! They repeatedly suffer from hunger, the three dhatus, 851 cold, heat, wind, rain and other such disturbances, the fire of sexual desire and an anger that is impossible to quench. On seeing them, I also become despondent. O lord! Because of the strength of the illustrious one’s maya, people pursue their senses and perceive themselves as being distinct from the atman. As long as this continues, this cycle of worldly existence will not vanish. Instead, futile action performed for fruits will bring along miseries. O god! During the day, they perform deeds that lead to distress. During the night, they cannot sleep. The intelligent pursue many kinds of wishes. At every instant, the sleep is disturbed. Even rishis are affected by destiny and are averse to an association with you. Therefore, they roam around in this cycle of life. O protector! But there are indeed men who are completely immersed in bhakti yoga. They follow the path of listening to your glories. They obtain insight and you reside in their lotus hearts. O powerful one! Because of your favours towards these virtuous ones, you manifest yourself in whatever form their intelligence thinks of. He 852 is not satisfied if he is worshipped with expensive objects, nor if he is worshipped by large numbers of gods who are bound by some desire in their hearts. He is pleased by compassion towards all beings, which is a trait impossible to find in the wicked. He can be perceived in many kinds of beings. He is the well-wisher inside their atmans. There are many kinds of pious activities that people undertake. They perform rituals, they donate, they perform fierce austerities and they serve devotedly. O illustrious one! They worship you through such virtuous deeds. This dharma is rendered unto you and it never perishes. Your own form is eternal. It is free from all differences and confusion. You are knowledge and intelligence. I bow down to the supreme one. It is for the sake of your pastimes that you indulge in the universe’s creation, preservation and destruction. We offer our obeisance to this lord. The qualities of his avataras are the consequences of his mysterious deeds. At the time of death, if a person involuntarily chants these names, he can instantly give up the sins accumulated through many births and proceed to immortality, which is opened up. O unborn one! I seek refuge with you. I bow down before the illustrious one who is the cosmic tree. For the sake of creation, preservation and destruction, you yourself are the source for me, Girisha and the lord himself. 853 There is a single tree that has divided itself into three, with many branches. You restrain people who are negligent about their welfare and perform perverse deeds. You have yourself articulated deeds meant for your worship. But if their desire for remaining alive in this world remains strong, they ignore this and you instantly sever those hopes. I bow down to him. I have myself obtained a state of lordship that lasts for two parardhas. But I am terrified, 854 even though the region I inhabit is revered by all the worlds. Desiring to obtain you, I have tormented myself through austerities for many years. O illustrious one! I bow down to you. You are the lord of sacrifices. With a desire to preserve the ordinances, you have yourself created inferior species, humans, gods and other living creatures. You find pleasure in this, though you are not affected by material objects. You manifest yourself in the form of these bodies. O illustrious one! O Purushottama! I bow down before you. You do not suffer from the five kinds of ignorance in conduct. 855 Preserving all the worlds inside your stomach, you assume a state of sleeping inside the water. You sleep on the body of the serpent and find this touch to be pleasurable, though there are garlands of terrible waves around you. You do this for the sake of the happiness of the people. O one who should be worshipped! I was manifested from my abode in the lotus in your navel. Through your favours, I am an instrument for the creation of the three worlds. I bow down to you. All of creation is inside your stomach. Now that the yoga of your sleep is over, your eyes have opened like blooming lotuses. He is alone the atman and well-wisher for the entire universe. He is the illustrious one who brings happiness through his powers of sattva. Let him grant me insight, so that I can now create, so that everything is as it used to be before. 856 I prostrate myself before the beloved one. He is the one who grants boons to those who seek refuge with him. With Rama, 857 he uses his own powers to do everything. He assumes the gunas of the avataras. For the sake of creation, let his own valour be imbibed by my heart. Let it be united with me, so that I am freed from the material consequences of my action. 858 When Purusha was lying down, there was water in the pool in his navel. He is infinite in powers and I was created as vijnana shakti. 859 I am now engaged in manifesting all his many different kinds of forms. Let the Vedas not vanish before me and let me be correct in uttering them. The illustrious one is infinite in his compassion. Let him open his lotus eyes, filled with great affection. Let the ancient Purusha arise and for the sake of creating the universe, remove all our miseries through his sweet speech.’”
‘“Maitreya said, ‘Through his austerities, learning and meditation, he saw the source of his own creation. He praised him through his thoughts and words. As if exhausted, he then stopped. Madhusudana discerned Brahma’s intentions and saw that he was distressed in his mind, with everything submerged in devastating waters at the end of a kalpa. He 860 was anxious that he did not know enough about creating the worlds. He spoke to him in deep words, so that all his dejection could be pacified.
‘“‘The illustrious one said, “O Vedagarbha! 861 Do not yield to lassitude. Exert yourself for the sake of creation. What you prayed to me for, has already been obtained by you. Perform austerities yet again. Resort to me for knowledge. O Brahma! Through this, you will see all the worlds displayed inside your heart. O Brahma! When you meditate with devotion, you will see me pervading the worlds, me, the worlds and yourself in me. I am situated inside all creatures, like fire inside a piece of wood. When people see me in that way, they instantly cast off all sins. When a person sees that his atman is independent of the elements, the senses and the gunas, he realizes his own form and obtains me, the sovereignty that he desires. You wish to create and extend many kinds of subjects and lay down deeds for them. In this regard, because my favours towards you will increase, you will never suffer from exhaustion. You are the
first rishi and the sins of rajas guna will not bind you down, even when you are creating subjects. That is because your mind is firmly fixed on me. Those with bodies find it extremely difficult to know me. However, you have got to know me today. You have understood that I am not attached to bhutas, senses, gunas and ego. Using the stalk, you searched for the source of the lotus in the water and were unsuccessful in your search. I showed myself to you inside, in your own atman. O dear one! You addressed words of praise to me, about my deeds and my signs. That and your devotion towards austerities are both because of my favours. O fortunate one! I am nirguna. But desiring to be successful, you prayed to me in words describing my gunas. I am pleased with you. I am the supreme granter of boons and yield all the objects of desire. If a man always praises me, using the words you have used in your prayer and worships me, I will swiftly show him my favours. Those who know about the truth are of the view that good deeds, austerities, sacrifices, yoga and samadhi practised by men become supremely successful when they satisfy me. I am myself the controller of all atmans. I am the most loved of everything that is loved. One should only be attached to me. The body and everything else are loved for that reason alone. All the Vedas are vested in your atman and your atman has been generated from my atman. Create the subjects who are inside me, so that everything is as it used to be earlier.’”
‘“Maitreya said, ‘After instructing the creator of the universe, who was generated from the navel, the lord of Purusha and the foremost one, vanished inside his own form.’”’
Chapter 3(10)
‘“Vidura asked, ‘When the illustrious one disappeared, how many different types of beings did the lord Brahma, the grandfather of the worlds, create from his body and his mind? O illustrious one! O one who is extremely learned! Please tell me progressively the details of what I have asked and dispel all my doubts.”’
Suta said, ‘O Bhargava! Sage Kousharava was thus urged by Kshatta. Pleased, he replied to the questions that were deep inside his 862 heart.
‘Maitreya said, “Thereafter, Virinchi 863 performed austerities for one hundred divine years. As instructed by the one who has no birth, he fixed his atman on the illustrious one’s atman. At that time, the one who was born from the lotus saw that the lotus on which he was seated and the waters were agitated by a wind that was extremely strong in force. His austerities enhanced his knowledge and stabilized his atman. As the strength of his knowledge increased, he swallowed the wind and the waters. He saw that the lotus on which he was seated extended everywhere. He thought that he would use this to create the worlds that had been submerged in the deluge. Urged to act by the illustrious one, he entered the bud 864 of the lotus. It was one and he divided it into three and later into fourteen. 865 Thus, the divisions and habitations of the worlds of the living were brought about. Parameshthi’s pure region 866 is for those who perform acts of dharma without any desire for the fruits.”
‘Vidura said, “O brahmana! O lord! You have said that Hari, wonderful in his deeds, has many different forms. Please describe to us the signs and divisions of time.”
‘Maitreya replied, “It 867 has form because of the modifications of the gunas. It has no special characteristics and is not dependent on anything else. Purusha himself created it, as support for his pastimes. This universe is the brahman, established in Vishnu’s maya. It is divided by the lord into time, which does not have any embodied form. This is exactly as it used to be in the past and it will be exactly the same in the future. There are nine different kinds of creation, resulting from Prakriti and vikriti. 868 Depending on time, matter and gunas, there are three kinds of destruction. 869 The first creation was Mahat, resulting from a disequilibrium in the gunas. The second creation was ahamkara, resulting from material objects, material knowledge and material action. The third creation was that of the subtle elements and the tanmatras, possessing the capacity to create the gross elements. The fourth creation was of the senses, of knowledge and of action. The fifth creation was vaikarika and the mind evolved from this. O lord! The sixth creation was tamas and perverse intelligence resulted from this. These six creations result from Prakriti. Now hear about the creations that result from vikriti. These result from the illustrious one who has assumed the attribute of rajas, 870 who reflects Hari’s intelligence and pastimes. In the seventh creation, the foremost ones are the six kinds of immobile objects—trees, herbs, 871 creepers, hollow plants, 872 strong creepers 873 and trees with fruits and flowers. 874 All of these draw up their nourishment from below and are full of tamas. In particular, their sense of touch is inside them. The eighth creation is of inferior animals and it is said that there are twenty-eight different kinds of these. They are ignorant and extremely full of tamas. They have a sense of smell, but are incapable of remembering anything in their minds. O excellent one! O Kshatta! They are the cow, goat, buffalo, black antelope, pig, gavaya, 875 the ruru antelope, 876 two-hooved animals like sheep and camels; and one-hooved 877 animals like the donkey, horse, mule, goura, 878 sharabha 879 and yak. O Kshatta! Hear about the five-nailed animals—the dog, jackal, wolf, tiger, cat, hare, porcupine, lion, ape, elephant, tortoise, lizard and makara. 880 The birds are the heron, vulture, crane, hawk, bird of prey, 881 owl, peacock, swan, sarasa, 882 ruddy goose and uluka. 883 O Kshatta! In the ninth creation, sustenance flows from top to bottom. Humans are the only variety here. They are dominated by rajas and are engaged in acting. Even if they are miserable, they think that they are happy. O excellent one! There are three kinds of vaikarika creation and the creation of gods is also of this type. The creation of the Kumaras 884 is said to be of both types. 885 The creation of gods is of eight types—vibudhas, 886 ancestors, asuras, gandharvas, apsaras, siddhas, yakshas, rakshas and charanas. 887 O Vidura! There are also bhutas, pretas, pishachas, vidyadharas and kinnaras. These are the ten categories 888 created by the creator of the universe. After this, I will tell you about the lineages and the manvantaras. In this way, at the beginning of every kalpa, Hari’s atman is suffused with rajas and becomes the creator. His resolve to create is invincible and he creates himself out of his own atman.”’
Chapter 3(11)
‘Maitreya said, “There is an ultimate particle characterized by the trait that it cannot be divided further. It alone is combined with others. This is known as paramanu. When this is aggregated, 889 men are confused and take the aggregate to be the ultimate. When objects exist, they remain in their own forms inside them. Their solitary forms are supreme, great and eternal. 890 O excellent one! Time is measured both in subtle and gross forms. The illustrious lord is not manifest. However, he controls and enjoys all manifestations and states. The amount of time taken to occupy an atom is atomic time. The duration of time required to enjoy complete existence is known as supreme and great. Two paramanus make up one anu and three anus are said to constitute a trasarenu. This can be discerned to rise up in the net of the sun’s rays through the lattice of a window. The time required to occupy three trasarenus is called a truti. One hundred trutis constitute a vedha. Three vedhas are said to be a lava. Three lavas are known to constitute a nimesha and three nimeshas make up a kshana. Five kshanas are known to be one kashtha and fifteen kashthas are one laghu. Fifteen laghus are referred to as one nadika. Two nadikas are one muhurta and six or seven nadikas constitute one prahara for men and this is also known as a yama. Let there be a copper vessel that is six palas in weight, with sides measuring four angulas. Let a hole that is four angulas in length be made in it and let a golden wire four angulas long and one masha in weight be inserted into it. 891 The time taken for this to be submerged in water is one nadika. In the world of the mortals, there are four yamas during the day and four yamas during the night. O revered one! There are two pakshas, shukla and krishna, and each of these has fifteen days. Two of these make up a month, which is a day and a night for the ancestors. Two months make up a ritu. 892 Six months constitute an ayana and there are two of these—uttara and dakshina. 893 An ayana is said to be a day for the residen
ts of heaven. 894 Twelve months constitute a year. One hundred years has been determined as the lifespan of humans. The lord eternally regulates the circling of the universe, beginning with paramanu and encompassing orbits of planets, nakshatras and stars and years. O Vidura! It is said that there are periods of samvatsara, parivatsara, idavatsara, anuvatsara and vatsara. 895 He is the power behind creation. 896 In different ways, he is the one who uses his own powers to invigorate. He is the one who moves in the sky and drives away darkness for humans. He is the one who extends the elements. He is known as time. Through the extension of sacrifices, he is full of gunas. One should offer sacrifices to the one who has determined the five different kinds of years.”