Vishnupurana 1.2.4

The Vishnu Purana: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition 1.2.4

Language: English

1.2.4

That chief principle (Pradhána), which is the indiscrete cause, is called by the sages also Prakriti (nature): it is subtile, uniform, and comprehends what is and what is not (or both causes and effects); is durable, self-sustained, illimitable, undecaying, and stable; devoid of sound or touch, and possessing neither colour nor form; endowed with the three qualities (in equilibrium); the mother of the world; without beginning; and that into which all that is produced is resolved. By that principle all things were invested in the period subsequent to the last dissolution of the universe, and prior to creation. For Brahmans learned in the Vedas, and teaching truly their doctrines, explain such passages as the following as intending the production of the chief principle (Pradhána). "There was neither day nor night, nor sky nor earth, nor darkness nor light, nor any other thing, save only One, unapprehensible by intellect, or That which is Brahma and Pumán (spirit) and Pradhána (matter)." The two forms which are other than the essence of unmodified Vishńu, are Pradhána (matter) and Purusha (spirit); and his other form, by which those two are connected or separated, is called Kála (time). When discrete substance is aggregated in crude nature, as in a foregone dissolution, that dissolution is termed elemental (Prákrita). The deity as Time is without beginning, and his end is not known; and from him the revolutions of creation, continuance, and dissolution unintermittingly succeed: for when, in the latter season, the equilibrium of the qualities (Pradhána) exists, and spirit (Pumán) is detached from matter, then the form of Vishńu which is Time abides. Then the supreme Brahma, the supreme soul, the substance of the world, the lord of all creatures, the universal soul, the supreme ruler, Hari, of his own will having entered into matter and spirit, agitated the mutable and immutable principles, the season of creation being arrived, in the same manner as fragrance affects the mind from its proximity merely, and not from any immediate operation upon mind itself: so the Supreme influenced the elements of creation. Purushottama is both the agitator and the thing to be agitated; being present in the essence of matter, both when it is contracted and expanded. Vishńu, supreme over the supreme, is of the nature of discrete forms in the atomic productions, Brahmá and the rest (gods, men, &c.)

1.2.4.n1

The attributes of Pradhána, the chief (principle or element), here specified, conform generally to those ascribed to it by the Sánkhya philosophy (Sánkhya Káriká, p. 16, &c.), although some of them are incompatible with its origin from a first cause. In the Sánkhya this incongruity does not occur; for there Pradhána is independent, and coordinate with primary spirit. The Puráńas give rise to the inconsistency by a lax use of both philosophical and pantheistical expressions. The most incongruous epithets in our text are however explained away in the comment. Thus nitya, 'eternal,' is said to mean 'uniform, not liable to increase or diminution:' Sadasadátmaka, 'comprehending what is and what is not,' means 'having the power of both cause and effect', as proceeding from Vishńu, and as giving origin to material things. Anádi, 'without beginning,' means 'without birth', not being engendered by any created thing, but proceeding immediately from the first cause. 'The mother,' or literally the womb of the world', means the passive agent in creation,' operated on or influenced by the active will of the Creator. The first part of the passage in the text is a favourite one with several of. the Puráńas, but they modify it and apply it after their own fashion. In the Vishńu the original is ###, rendered as above. The Váyu, Brahmánda, and Kúrmma Puráńas have 'The indiscrete cause, which is uniform, and both cause and effect, and whom those who are acquainted with first principles call Pradhána and Prakriti--is the uncognizable Brahma, who was before all.' But the application of two synonymes of Prakriti to Brahma seems unnecessary at least. The Brahmá P. corrects the reading apparently: the first line is as before; the second is, ###. The passage is placed absolutely; 'There was an indiscrete cause eternal, and cause and effect, which was both matter and spirit (Pradhána and Purusha), from which this world was made. Instead of 'such' or this,' some copies read 'from which Íśwara or god (the active deity or Brahmá) made the world.' The Hari Vanśa has the same reading, except in the last term, which it makes ### that is, according to the commentator, the world, which is Íśwara, was made.' The same authority explains this indiscrete cause, avyakta kárana, to denote Brahmá, the creator an identification very unusual, if not inaccurate, and possibly founded on misapprehension of what is stated by the Bhavishya P.: 'That male or spirit which is endowed with that which is the indiscrete cause, &c. is known in the world as Brahmá: he being in the egg, &c.' The passage is precisely the same in Manu, I, 11; except that we have 'visrishta' instead of 'viśisht́ha:' the latter is a questionable reading, and is probably wrong: the sense of the latter is, detached; and the whole means very consistently, 'embodied spirit detached from the indiscrete cause of the world is known as Brahmá.' The Padma P. inserts the first line, ### &c., but has 'Which creates undoubtedly Mahat and the other qualities' assigning the first epithets, therefore, as the Vishńu does, to Prakriti only. The Linga also refers the expression to Prakriti alone, but makes it a secondary cause: 'An indiscrete cause, which those acquainted with first principles call Pradhána and Prakriti, proceeded from that Íśwara (Śiva).' This passage is one of very many instances in which expressions are common to several Puráńas that seem to be borrowed from one another, or from some common source older than any of them, especially in this instance, as the same text occurs in Manu.

1.2.4.n2

The expression of the text is rather obscure; 'All was pervaded (or comprehended) by that chief principle before (recreation), after the (last) destruction.' The ellipses are filled up by the commentator. This, he adds, is to be regarded as the state of things at a Mahá Pralaya, or total dissolution; leaving, therefore, crude matter, nature, or chaos, as a coexistent element with the Supreme. This, which is conformable to the philosophical doctrine, is not however that of the Puráńas in general, nor that of our text, which states (b. VI. c. 4), that at a Prákrita, or elementary dissolution, Pradhána itself merges into the deity. Neither is it apparently the doctrine of the Vedas, although their language is somewhat equivocal.

1.2.4.n3

The metre here is one common to the Vedas, Trishtubh, but in other respects the language is not characteristic of those compositions. The purport of the passage is rendered somewhat doubtful by its close, and by the explanation of the commentator. The former is, 'One Pradhánika Brahma Spirit: THAT, was. The commentator explains Pradhánika, Pradhána eva, the same word as Pradhána; but it is a derivative word, which may be used attributively, implying 'having, or conjoined with, Pradhána.' The commentator, however, interprets it as the substantive; for he adds, 'There was Pradhána and Brahma and Spirit; this triad was at the period of dissolution.' He evidently, however, understands their conjoint existence as one only; for he continues, 'So, according to the Vedas, then there was neither the existent (invisible cause, or matter) nor the non-existent (visible effect, or creation),' meaning that there was only One Being, in whom matter and its modifications were all comprehended.

1.2.4.n4

Or it might be rendered, 'Those two other forms (which proceed) from his supreme nature;' that is, from the nature of Vishńu, when he is Nirupádhi, or without adventitious attributes: ### 'other' (###); the commentator states they are other or separate from Vishńu only through Máyá, illusion,' but here implying false notion;' the elements of creation being in essence one with Vishńu, though in existence detached and different.

1.2.4.n5

Pradhána, when unmodified, is, according to the Sánkhyas and Pauráńics, nothing more than the three qualities in equilibrio, or goodness, foulness, and darkness neutralising each other; (Sánkhya Káriká, p. 52;) so in the Matsya P.: ###. This state is synonymous with the non-evolution of material products, or with dissolution; implying, however, separate existence, and detached from spirit This being the case, it is asked who. should sustain matter and spirit whilst separate, or renew their combination so as to renovate creation? It is answered, Time, which is when every thing else is not; and which, at the end of a certain interval, unites Matter, Pradhána, and Purusha, and produces creation. Conceptions of this kind are evidently comprised in the Orphic triad, or the ancient notion of the cooperation of three such principles in creation; as Phanes or Eros, which is the Hindu spirit or Purusha; Chaos, matter or Pradhána; and Chronos, or Kála, time.

1.2.4.n6

Pradhána is styled Vyaya 'that which may be expended;' or Parińámin, 'which may be modified:' and Purusha is called Avyaya, 'inconsumable; or apariná.min, 'immutable.' The expressions 'having entered into,' and 'agitated,' recall the mode in which divine intelligence, mens, νοῦς, was conceived by the ancients to operate upon matter:

1.2.4.n7

Contraction, Sankocha, is explained by Sámya, sameness or equilibrium of the three qualities, or inert Pradhána: and Expansion, Vikáśa, is the destruction of this equipoise, by previous agitation and consequent developement of material products.

Linked texts (1)

Viṣṇupurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit