Skandapurana 2.9.24

Glorious Nārāyaṇa said:

Now I shall tell you the nature of knowledge, as ascertained through Sāṃkhya.

That by which the field and so forth are known is indeed declared to be knowledge.

Vāsudeva, the supreme Brahman in the vast imperishable abode,

was in the beginning one without a second, devoid of qualities, having a divine form.

Root-matter, the cause of effects, accompanied by time, in the light of the imperishable,

was then hidden, like the night in the radiance of the sun.

Then, when he had the desire to create the cosmic eggs,

she, the Great Māyā, first became manifest along with time.

Taking up that power of time, through his imperishable nature,

when Vāsudeva glanced with the desire to create, she was agitated at that very moment.

From her, O sage, tens of millions of pradhānas and puruṣas were born;

and by the will of the Lord, those puruṣas were joined with the pradhānas.

The puruṣas deposited seeds in them, and from them were born

countless cosmic eggs; among them, however, one is now analyzed.

First the mahat arose from that golden virility of the puruṣa;

from it, the egoity; from that, the three qualities, sattva and the rest.

From tamas arose the five subtle elements and the gross elements;

the ten senses from rajas, along with the intellect and the vital breath.

From sattva arose the presiding deities of the senses, and likewise the mind.

Generally, these deities are proclaimed as principles.

Impelled by Vāsudeva, with their respective portions, they brought forth

the divine body named the cosmic form, the shelter of the moving and unmoving.

And since that Virāj person lay in the waters he himself created,

he is called 'Nārāyaṇa' by the Vedic scriptures and the like.

From his navel-lotus arose Brahmā endowed with rajas; from his heart-lotus

was born Viṣṇu, endowed with sattva; and from his forehead, Hara, endowed with tamas.

From these very places also arose the three powers:

there arose Durgā of the nature of tamas, and Sāvitrī of the nature of rajas,

and Śrī of the nature of sattva—all adorned with garments and ornaments.

By command of the Virāj, they went to the three, Brahmā and the others:

Durgā to Rudra, Sāvitrī to Brahmā, and the last one to Viṣṇu.

From Durgā's portion arose thousands of goddesses, Caṇḍikā and others;

from Sāvitrī's portion were born powers headed by the triple Veda;

and from Śrī's portion alone arose those headed by Dussahā, O sage.

There, the Brahmā who had arisen first from the navel-lotus of the Virāj,

seated on that lotus in the single ocean, saw no one at all.

Not having attained understanding of creation, nor knowing himself,

contemplating, 'Who am I? Whence came I?', he wished to see the support of the lotus.

Entering the stalk and descending, searching for its base,

a hundred years passed for him, but he found no end to it.

Coming upward again, weary, he sat down.

The Lord, having an invisible form, said to him: 'Perform austerity! Perform austerity!'

Having heard that, and not seeing its speaker anywhere,

he performed austerity like one instructed by a guru for a divine thousand years.

Then, to him whose self was purified by austerity, performing austerity on the lotus,

Acyuta revealed in deep concentration the abode of Vaikuṇṭha,

where the three qualities belonging to pradhāna, rajas and the rest,

do not exist in the slightest, and where there is no fear of time or māyā.

In that radiance resplendent like ten thousand suns risen together,

he saw Vāsudeva, charming, of divine dark form,

the four-armed, all-pervading Lord holding a mace, lotus, conch, and discus,

clad in yellow garments, adorned with crowns and ornaments of precious gems,

attended by four-armed attendants, Nanda, Garuḍa, and others,

and by the eight perfections and the six divine opulences with hands folded in reverence,

that Lord seated upon a throne together with Śrī.

Bowing low with folded hands, Viriñca stood before him, delighted in heart.

The Blessed Lord said to him: 'O Brahmā, I am pleased with your austerity.

Choose a boon of your desire from me, since you are dear to me.'

Addressed thus by him, Brahmā, knowing that Lord to be the impeller of his austerity,

and himself to be the creator of the universe, asked for his desired boon:

'Grant me the power to produce creatures. Homage to you, O Lord!

And show such mercy that I may not be bound even in that [task].'

Then the Blessed Lord said to him: 'Your desire will be accomplished.

Meditating through absorption on identity with me, the cosmic person (Virāj),

create offspring. Then, whenever a task cannot be achieved by you, remember me, the giver of desires.'

Having spoken thus, Viṣṇu vanished. Brahmā too, through concentrated absorption,

in his cosmic form beheld within himself all the worlds formerly dissolved.

Having obtained the power of creation, he set his mind upon creating.

Then the Sun, full of the light of the Absolute, indeed appeared.

Having placed him in the midst of the cosmic egg, he then created with his mind,

purified by austerity and devotion, the primordial sages, the four Sanas.

He said to them, 'Create offspring,' but then they,

the foremost of lifelong celibates, did not accept his command; and the creator of the universe grew angry with them.

From the brow of him who was angered, Rudra, full of darkness, came forth.

Restraining his wrath with his mind, he then created the lords of progeny:

Marīci, Atri, Pulaha, Pulastya, Bhṛgu, Kratu,

Vasiṣṭha, Kardama, Dakṣa, and likewise Aṅgiras.

Then from his heart he created righteousness, and from his back unrighteousness;

from his mind passion, speech from his mouth, and anger from his eyebrows.

Purity, austerity, compassion, and truth: these four feet of righteousness

he then created from his four faces.

He created the Ṛgveda from the eastern face, and the Yajurveda from the southern;

from the western face he created the Sāmaveda, and from the northern the one named Atharvan.

The histories and Purāṇas, sacrifices, and a hundred brahmins,

and the Vasus, Ādityas, Maruts, Viśvedevas, and Sādhyas, he created from his mouth.

From his arms [he created] a hundred kṣatriyas, and from his thighs a hundred vaiśyas;

from his feet he created a hundred śūdras—these, along with their livelihoods.

He created studenthood from his heart, the householder's life from his loins,

likewise the forest hermitage from his chest, and renunciation from his head.

From his chest [he created] the hosts of ancestors, and the asuras from his loins;

and from his anus he created death, Nirṛti, and the hells.

Gandharvas, Cāraṇas, Siddhas, serpents, yakṣas, and rākṣasas,

mountains, clouds, lightnings, oceans, and rivers,

trees, beasts, and birds—all things stationary and moving—

Brahmā, identical with Nārāyaṇa, created from his very limbs.

When, even having beheld this creation, he was still not fully pleased,

he meditated on Hari and created, through austerity, knowledge, and absorption,

the seers, the Manus beginning with Svāyambhuva, and human beings as well.

Then, being pleased, for the dwelling of them all as appropriate,

he fashioned the heavenly world, the intermediate world, and the earthly world.

Establishing them in an appropriate place according to the kind of action

each had performed in previous times, the Creator fashioned their livelihoods.

Nectar [he assigned] to the gods; food and herbs to men and seers;

liquor and meat to yakṣas, rākṣasas, asuras, tigers, serpents, and the like;

and he established grass and the like as the sustenance of cattle, deer, and other beasts.

He assigned the sacrificial offering as livelihood to all the gods,

and the ancestral offering to the formless and embodied ancestors.

To the powers (śaktis) born of Durgā, [he assigned] the wine, meat, and the like

offered by Daityas, rākṣasas, piśācas, and others intent on worshipping them.

Likewise, to the powers born of Sāvitrī, [he assigned] the wild food of sages, grain, and herbs

offered in sacrifice by seers and others who worship them.

And to the powers born of Śrī, [he assigned] milk-rice, clarified butter, sugar, and the like

offered by gods, asuras, and men devoted to their worship.

Then that lord of the lords of progeny addressed all creatures:

'The gods and the ancestors are to be worshipped with sacrifices consisting of divine and ancestral offerings.'

When worshipped, these will indeed fulfill your desires.

Those who do not worship them will surely go to hell.

In this way the boundary [of conduct] was established by that [Lord] whose self is Nārāyaṇa.

Therefore, what is due to the gods and the ancestors must constantly be performed by people according to rule.

Then Brahmā, for the protection of the barrier of dharma of all beings,

also established those Manus who were chief among the various classes.

Thus, by the very will of Vāsudeva, from the Vairāja whose form is Brahmā,

manifold creation takes place in every kalpa, O sage.

Whatever designations, Vedas, scriptures, and rituals existed in the previous kalpa,

the very same dharmas and authorized persons come to be in the next kalpa.

That Viṣṇu who was mentioned, also having the nature of the Cosmic Person (Vairājapuruṣa),

nourishes all the worlds, maintaining the established bounds.

When the barriers protected by Manu and others are broken

by asuras assuming shapes at will, then Vāsudeva himself,

petitioned by Brahmā and others, manifests upon the surface of the earth.

Whatever avatars of the Lord have been and are to be,

it is not possible even for those skilled in counting to compute their number.

For the protection of true dharma, the gods, and the virtuous, and for the destruction of their oppressors,

and for the welfare of all beings, the manifestation of the Lord of the virtuous takes place.

That Vāsudeva, immanent in material nature (prakṛti), in the spirit (puruṣa), and in their effects,

also abides distinct, the supreme ruler of all, in his own abode.

Just as Agni, Varuṇa, and others, having pervaded these worlds by their portions,

abide in comfort each in their own world, so too does this Blessed Lord, O sage.

Just as before creation he was existence, consciousness, and bliss, pure, one, and devoid of guṇas,

he remains just the same—taintless—even when immanent [in creation].

Just as ether (kham), entering into wind, fire, water, earth, and their respective effects,

remains untainted just as before, so indeed does he.

He is proclaimed to be the object of worship for all, the inner controller, and all-pervading.

Then, at the time of ultimate dissolution, he becomes just as he was formerly.

The Cosmic Person (Vairājapuruṣa) who is mentioned here, called Īśvara,

is to be known as independent, omniscient, and having māyā under his control, O Nārada.

His very manifestations are the three: Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Śiva,

endowed with the guṇas such as rajas, their activities conforming to their respective guṇas.

Those who have arisen from Brahmā—gods, asuras, humans, and others—

are called individual souls (jīvas), of limited knowledge and dependent.

The bodies of individual souls and of rulers are termed 'fields' (kṣetra),

composed of principles beginning with the intellect (mahat); but those who know them are called 'knowers of the field' (kṣetrajña).

Knowledge of the fields and of the knowers of the field, of the primordial nature (pradhāna) and the spirit (puruṣa),

of māyā, of the power of Time, of the Imperishable (akṣara), and of the Supreme Self,

according to their distinct individual characteristics—that is called knowledge.

Thus ends the twenty-fourth chapter, titled 'Definition of the Nature of Knowledge', in the Śrīvāsudevamāhātmya of the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.