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Bhagavatapurana 2.5

English (machine translation) 2.5

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2.5.1

Nārada said: / O god of gods, homage to you, creator of beings, firstborn! / Please explain that knowledge which reveals the truth of the self.

2.5.2

What its form is, what its foundation is, from what this was created, O master, / in what it rests, what is beyond it, and what it truly is—declare that truth accurately.

2.5.3

For you know all this, being the lord of past, future, and present; / the universe is grasped by your comprehensive knowledge, like a myrobalan fruit in the palm of the hand.

2.5.4

Possessing what knowledge, resting on what, having what as highest, consisting of what, / do you alone create beings through the elements themselves by your creative power?

2.5.5

You bring them into being in yourself, yourself untransformed, / relying on your own power without weariness, like a spider.

2.5.6

I know of nothing higher in this [world], O Lord, nothing lower, and nothing equal; / nothing that can be known through names, forms, and qualities, whether existent or nonexistent, coming from anywhere else.

2.5.7

Yet your venerable self performed terrible austerity with a deeply concentrated mind; / by that you cause us distress and give rise to doubt about another [superior].

2.5.8

All this to me who am asking, O omniscient one, Lord of all, / please explain so that, instructed, I may comprehend this clearly.

2.5.9

Brahmā said: / My child, full of compassion, this inquiry of yours is very proper, / since, gentle one, I have been prompted [by you] to describe the power of the Lord.

2.5.10

Nor is what you have said to me untrue, my dear; / for you have not known the One beyond me, since I seem to be all this.

2.5.11

By whose own brilliance this universe is illumined, I illuminate [it], / just as the sun, fire, the moon, and the constellations, planets, and stars [do].

2.5.12

To that Lord Vāsudeva let us meditate with homage, / through whose invincible creative power people call me the teacher of the world.

2.5.13

Ashamed to stand in His line of sight, / she deludes the foolish, who boast: 'It is mine, I am!'

2.5.14

Material substance, action, time, innate nature, and the living entity itself— / there is no reality other than Vāsudeva, O brāhmaṇa, in ultimate truth.

2.5.15

The Vedas are dedicated to Nārāyaṇa; the gods are born from the limbs of Nārāyaṇa; / the worlds are dedicated to Nārāyaṇa; sacrifices are dedicated to Nārāyaṇa.

2.5.16

Yoga is dedicated to Nārāyaṇa; austerity is dedicated to Nārāyaṇa; / knowledge is dedicated to Nārāyaṇa; the supreme goal is dedicated to Nārāyaṇa.

2.5.17

Of Him, the seer, the sovereign Lord, the immutable self of all, / I, having been created, create what is to be created, impelled merely by His glance.

2.5.18

Purity, passion, and darkness—these three strands of the strandless, all-pervading Lord / are assumed through His creative power for maintenance, creation, and destruction.

2.5.19

In the capacity of effect, cause, and agent, resting on substance, knowledge, and action, / the strands bind the Person, the master of creative power, who is eternally free.

2.5.20

This is that Lord Adhokṣaja, whose course cannot be perceived / through these three marks, O brāhmaṇa, the ruler of all and of me.

2.5.21

Desiring to become manifold, the master of creative power through His own creative power / took up time, action, and innate nature, which were spontaneously available in Himself.

2.5.22

From time arose the agitation of the strands; transformation came from innate nature; / and from action arose the birth of the intellect (mahat), presided over by the Person.

2.5.23

From the Mahat, however, as it underwent transformation,
augmented by passion and purity, arose [egoity], in which darkness predominates,
consisting of substance, knowledge, and action.

2.5.24

It is called egoity, and undergoing transformation it became threefold:
transformation-born [sāttvika], luminous [rājasa], and dark [tāmasa]—such are its divisions,
being the power of substance, the power of action, and the power of knowledge, O master.

2.5.25

From the dark [egoity], which is the origin of the elements, as it underwent transformation, arose space.
Its subtle element and quality is sound, which is the mark indicating the seer and the seen.

2.5.26

Then, from space undergoing transformation, arose air, whose quality is touch,
and, through association with what preceded it, possessed of sound as well; it is the vital breath, sensory vigor, mental energy, and bodily strength.

2.5.27

From air also, as it underwent transformation through time, action, and nature,
fire was indeed produced, possessed of form, as well as touch and sound.

2.5.28

From fire undergoing transformation arose water, whose essence is taste,
and water possesses form and touch, as well as sound, through association with what preceded it.

2.5.29

From water undergoing transformation arose the particular [element, earth], endowed with smell,
and endowed with the qualities of taste, touch, sound, and form, through association with what preceded it.

2.5.30

From the transformation-born [egoity] arose the mind, and the ten transformation-born deities:
the quarters, the wind, the sun, Pracetas, the Aśvins, fire, Indra, Upendra, and Mitra.

2.5.31

From the luminous [egoity], however, as it underwent transformation, the ten senses arose:
the power of knowledge and the power of action, intellect and vital breath—both being luminous—
the ear, skin, nose, eye, tongue, speech, arms, genitals, feet, and anus.

2.5.32

When these entities—the elements, senses, mind, and qualities—remained uncombined,
and were unable to create the abode [of the cosmos], O best of knowers of Brahman,

2.5.33

then, uniting with one another impelled by the Lord’s power,
and taking up both existence and non-existence, they created this [cosmic egg].

2.5.34

At the end of a thousand cycles of years, the living [Lord],
situated in time, action, and nature, brought that lifeless egg lying upon the water to life.

2.5.35

That very Puruṣa, having broken through that egg, emerged,
possessing a thousand thighs, feet, arms, and eyes, and a thousand faces and heads.

2.5.36

With his limbs here the wise imagine the worlds:
the seven lower worlds from his waist and below, and the seven upper worlds from his hips and above.

2.5.37

The brāhmaṇa was the mouth of the Puruṣa, the kṣatriya became his arms,
the vaiśya arose from the thighs of the Lord, and the śūdra from his feet.

2.5.38

Bhūrloka was fashioned from his feet, Bhuvarloka from his navel,
Svarloka from the heart, and Maharloka from the chest of the Great-souled One.

2.5.39

Janaloka is upon his neck, Tapoloka from his two breasts,
and Satyaloka, the eternal realm of Brahmā, from his heads.

2.5.40

Atala is situated at his waist, and Vitala at the thighs of the all-pervading Lord;
pure Sutala is at his knees, and Talātala at his calves.

2.5.41

Mahātala is from his ankles, Rasātala from his forefeet,
and Pātāla from the soles of his feet: thus the Person is composed of the worlds.

2.5.42

Bhūrloka is fashioned from his feet, Bhuvarloka from his navel,
and Svarloka is fashioned from his head: or such is the arrangement of the worlds.

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