Bhagavatapurana 2.9
English (machine translation) 2.9
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2.9.1
Śrī Śuka said: / Except through His own creative power, O King, for the supreme Soul consisting of direct experience, / a relation with objective reality would not occur directly, just as for a dreamer.
2.9.2
He appears as multiform, as it were, through multiform creative power; / reveling in its qualities, He conceives: 'This is mine; I am this.'
2.9.3
When indeed he takes delight in his own supreme majesty, beyond time and creative power, / free from delusion, having discarded both, he then sits indifferent.
2.9.4
which the Lord, honored for His true vows,
revealing His form to Brahmā,
spoke as the truth for the clear realization of the truth of the self.
2.9.5
That primeval deity, the supreme teacher of the worlds, seated upon his own abode, looked out with the desire to create, / but he did not attain the vision recognized here by which the process of fashioning the cosmos might take place.
2.9.6
While contemplating thus in the waters, the lord once heard a two-syllable word spoken twice: / that which is the sixteenth and the twenty-first among the stop consonants, O king, which they know to be the wealth of the destitute.
2.9.7
Hearing that, he looked in all directions wishing to see the speaker, but seeing nothing else there, / he took his seat on his abode, reflected on what was beneficial, and, as if instructed, fixed his mind upon tapas.
2.9.8
For a thousand divine years, he of unfailing vision, with breath and mind controlled, both sets of senses subdued, / collected in mind, practiced severe tapas, scorching all the worlds, himself the foremost of ascetics.
2.9.9
Pleased with him, the Lord showed him His own realm, the supreme beyond which there is none higher, / free from all affliction, delusion, and fear, praised by beings who have realized their own self.
2.9.10
Where passion and darkness do not prevail, nor their mixture with purity, nor the power of Time, / where there is no creative power, what to speak of others? Where the followers of Hari are worshipped by gods and demons alike.
2.9.11
They are dark and lustrous, with lotus-petal eyes, clad in yellow garments, highly radiant and exquisitely handsome; / all have four arms, wearing ornaments of gleaming gold set with superior jewels, of brilliant luster, / shining like coral, lapis lazuli, and lotus stalks, adorned with sparkling earrings, crowns, and garlands.
2.9.12
It shines all around with the radiant, gleaming rows of aerial chariots of exalted beings, / illuminated by the splendors of noble women, like the sky with clouds accompanied by lightning.
2.9.13
Where the goddess of fortune personified pays homage to the feet of Urugāya in various ways through Her opulences, / seated upon a swing, praised by the attendants of Spring, singing the deeds of Her beloved.
2.9.14
There he saw the Lord of all Sātvatas, the Lord of Śrī, the Lord of sacrifice, the Lord of the universe, / the almighty Lord attended upon by Sunanda, Nanda, Prabala, Arhaṇa, and other foremost attendants of His own.
2.9.15
He was inclined to bestow grace upon His servants, intoxicating to the eyes, His face graced with a gentle smile and reddish eyes, / wearing a crown and earrings, four-armed, dressed in yellow garments, marked on His chest by Śrī.
2.9.16
Seated upon a supreme, worshipful throne, surrounded by the four, sixteen, and five powers, / endowed with His own potencies, which elsewhere are unstable, the Ruler rejoicing in His very own abode.
2.9.17
His inner being flooded with joy at that sight, his body thrilling, his eyes filled with tears from the weight of love, / the creator of the universe bowed to His lotus feet, which are reached through the path of the supreme ascetic.
2.9.18
Seeing the beloved sage standing before Him with delight, worthy to receive His instruction in the emanation of creatures, / the beloved Lord, His mind filled with love, touching him with His hand, spoke in words brightened with a gentle smile:
2.9.19
The Lord said:
I am thoroughly pleased by you, O womb of the Vedas, through the tapas / maintained for a long time with the desire to create, which is hard to be pleased for false yogins.
2.9.20
Choose a boon—may it be well with you—from Me, the lord of boons, whatever you desire; / O Brahman, the toil for the highest good of men finds its culmination in seeing Me.
2.9.21
This sight of My realm is the realization of your longing, / because having heard [the word] in secret, you performed supreme tapas.
2.9.22
It was commanded by Me there when you were bewildered about your task; / tapas is My very heart, and I am the soul of tapas, O sinless one.
2.9.23
By tapas alone I create this [universe], by tapas I swallow it again, / by tapas I sustain the universe; My power is tapas, difficult to perform.
2.9.24
Brahmā said:
O Lord, overseer of all beings, residing in the heart's cave, / You know what is wished to be done by unobstructed understanding.
2.9.25
Nevertheless, O Lord, grant what is asked to me who begs: / so that I may know Your higher and lower forms, though You are formless.
2.9.26
And how, through connection with Your creative power, enriched with diverse energies, / destroying, emitting, receiving, and sustaining the self by the Self,
2.9.27
You play, You of unfailing resolve, just as a spider weaves [its web]— / establish in me that understanding concerning this, O Mādhava.
2.9.28
May I, unwearied, carry out what is instructed by the Lord; / and engaging in the creation of creatures, may I not be bound, by Your grace.
2.9.29
O Lord, made like a friend to a friend, as I distribute people in the creation of living beings, / engaged in Your service without distress, may puffed-up pride never instantly seize me, making me conceited.
2.9.30
The Lord said:
This supreme, secret knowledge of Mine, endowed with experiential wisdom, / along with its mystery and its practical means, as spoken by Me, receive.
2.9.31
How great I am, what My nature is, of what form, qualities, and activities I am, / just so may the realization of the truth be yours, by My grace.
2.9.32
I alone existed in the beginning, nothing else that is gross, subtle, or beyond; / what exists afterward is I, this [universe] is I, and whatever remains, that am I.
2.9.33
That which appears without reality, and does not appear in the self, / know that to be the creative power of the Self, like a reflection, like darkness.
2.9.34
Just as the great elements enter after into higher and lower beings / and yet have not entered, so am I in them and not in them.
2.9.35
Only this much is to be inquired into by one desiring to know the truth of the Self: / that which exists everywhere and at all times through direct presence and absence.
2.9.36
Hold fast to this conclusion with supreme absorption; / you will never be bewildered during the great and minor cosmic cycles.
2.9.37
Śrī Śuka said:
Having thus instructed the supreme progenitor of beings, Hari, the unborn Lord, / withdrew that form of His own while he was still looking on.
2.9.38
With folded hands toward Hari, whose object of the senses had vanished, / he, composed of all beings, created this universe just as before.
2.9.39
Once, the lord of creatures, the lord of dharma, seeking the welfare of living beings / and desiring his own highest aim, observed the restraints and observances.
2.9.40
Nārada, the dearest of his heirs, devoted to him, / serving him with good conduct, humility, and self-restraint,
2.9.41
wishing to know the creative power of Viṣṇu, the master of creative power, that great sage, / the exalted devotee, pleased his father, O king.
2.9.42
Seeing his father, the great-grandfather of the worlds, pleased, / the divine seer inquired about the very thing you are asking me.
2.9.43
To him, his son, the creator of beings, well-pleased, spoke this Bhāgavata Purāṇa / possessed of ten characteristics, which had been declared by the Lord.
2.9.44
Nārada, O king, spoke it to the sage Vyāsa of immeasurable splendor, / who was meditating on the supreme Brahman on the bank of the Sarasvatī.
2.9.45
As you questioned me about how this [universe] came to be / from the cosmic person, so I shall narrate that to you, as well as all your other questions in full.
Translations (1)
- The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English
Linked texts (1)
- Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit