Fifty of those is a parārdha; the lifespan of Brahmā is considered to be two of those. / When the period called para is completed, a great dissolution occurs. (47)

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[Translates the second half of 47: When the period called para is completed, a great dissolution occurs.]

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Dissolving his own cosmic body in the form of Rudra the destroyer,

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the Virāj-puruṣa desires to return to his own supreme, attribute-free nature. (48)

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Then, as before, a drought of a hundred years occurs,

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and the fire of time belonging to Saṅkarṣaṇa burns the cosmic egg completely. (49)

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Then terrifying clouds of cosmic dissolution rain down,

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O sage, for a hundred years with torrents thick as pestles. (50)

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The dissolution of the modifications beginning with the Mahat and ending with the gross elements—

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of everything indeed—then takes place by the will of Vāsudeva. (51)

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The waters first devour the quality of earth, which is smell;

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deprived of smell, the earth is then ready for dissolution. (52)

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Fire devours the quality of water, taste; then that [water] dissolves.

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Wind devours form, the quality of fire; then that [fire] dissolves. (53)

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Then space devours touch, the quality of wind;

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the wind then subsides, while space remains uncovered. (54)

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The origin of elements (tāmasa ahaṃkāra) devours its quality, sound, and space dissolves.

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The senses then dissolve into the fiery ego (taijasa ahaṃkāra). (55)

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The deities and the mind dissolve into the pure ego (sāttvika ahaṃkāra).

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Whatever has arisen from something indeed dissolves back into that. (56)

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Even the threefold ego dissolves into the principle of Mahat;

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that dissolves into Pradhāna, that into the Puruṣa, and he then into the root Nature. (57)

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This is celebrated as the elemental dissolution,

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in which individual souls and their lords vanish into the Unmanifest by the will of Hari. (58)

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And when Māyā, Puruṣa, and Time, in the splendor of the Imperishable,

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disappear by His will, and the one Lord alone remains,

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then, O Nārada, that dissolution is to be known as absolute. (59)

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Thus, realizing through these four kinds of dissolution by the Lord’s power of time that everything is unreal,

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disinterest towards it is called dispassion. (60)

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Knowing the gods other than Vāsudeva to be subject to Time and Māyā,

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and relinquishing attachment to them, the constant service to Him alone

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with deep affection is sung as bhakti. (61)

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Hearing, chanting about Him, remembering, serving the feet,

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worship, bowing down, servitude, companionship, and self-offering— (62)

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whoever serves Him with reverence through these nine dispositions,

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with an undistracted mind, is indeed called a devotee. (63)

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This bhakti endowed with the three [virtues] headed by one's own duty, O sage,

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is declared as exclusive duty, and is also called the Bhāgavata [dharma]. (64)

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Only from direct contact with the Lord and with such devotees of His

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is this exclusive duty attained by mortals, never otherwise anywhere. (65)

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There is no other supreme means such as this for those seeking liberation,

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bringing the highest good to men and destroying all inauspiciousness. (66)

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For the realization of this exclusive duty, one should be dedicated to practical yoga,

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by which, O best of sages, a person attains freedom from the bondage of actions. (67)

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This supreme truth, hidden in the Vedas and the Purāṇas, which destroys hosts of sins, has been proclaimed by me.

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Having grasped it in your mind with a one-pointed, pure intellect and true faith, O great seer,

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There is nothing purer than Vāsudeva; there is no greater auspiciousness than Vāsudeva;

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There is no higher deity than Vāsudeva; there is no object of desire superior to Vāsudeva.

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Whoever here, even unknowingly, utters his name but once, even at the end of bodily life,

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Even an outcaste is swiftly released from the stream of worldly existence. Worship that Vāsudeva!

Thus ends the twenty-fifth chapter, named 'The Exposition of Dispassion and Devotion', in the Vāsudevamāhātmya of the second [section], the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand [verses]. // 25

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit