Puttugam2

Harayē namah.

The Supreme Lord continued, “My dear son! It was purely due to My grace that you could render My glories. You are truly dedicated towards penance. You have prayed to Me seeking to fulfill your desire of creating these worlds. Although inherently I am devoid of traits, I illumine as if traits exist within Me. You have thoroughly understood this essence and have aptly glorified Me. I am deeply pleased with your prayer. May you be blessed with auspiciousness!

Ya etena pumān nityaṁ stutvā stotreṇa māṁ bhajet

Tasyāśu samprasīdeyaṁ sarva-kāma-vareśvaraḥ

I, the Supreme Lord, will be deeply pleased with any human being, who worshipfully chants this hymn composed by you every single day. Pleased with them I will fulfill all that they seek.

Knowers of the Absolute Truth declare that pleasing the Supreme Lord is ultimate auspicious result for all the penance, meditation, Yagnas, yogic practices, charities and social service performed by any person.

Aham ātmātmanāṁ dhātaḥ preṣṭhaḥ san preyasām api

Ato mayi ratiṁ kuryād dehādir yat-kṛte priyaḥ

 O Brahma! In this world there are many objects that are dear to living beings. Nevertheless, inner Self is the dearest. This love for the Self gets reflected as love for gross body and other objects. I am that Self who resides within the being. For this reason it is imperative that the human being should develop feelings of devotional love towards me.

During this period of dissolution, all living beings have merged into Me and are in deep sleep. You, the embodiment of Vedas, have emerged from Me. Go ahead with your task of creation. Continue to create these living beings exactly as it was in the earlier periods of creation”.

In this way the lotus-eyed Srihari, who rules over Nature and living beings, instructed Brahma. He imparted to him the knowledge of creation and then made himself invisible” –said Maharishi Maitreya.

With this the ninth chapter of the third canto of Srimad Bhagawatam comes to an end.

Third Canto Chapter Ten

In this tenth chapter, the 10 different ways of creation have been detailed.

Vidura enquired, “O revered Maharishi! O Supreme amongst all learned beings! After disappearance of Lord Srihari, how did the supreme grandfather Brahma create these worlds? How many forms of living beings did he create from his mind and body? O great sage! In addition to this I had earlier put forth some doubts before you. Kindly provide answers to them all in a proper sequential manner.”

Suta Maharishi who was narrating all this to Maharishi Śounaka, said, “Maharishi Maitreya was deeply pleased when he heard Vidura’s question. Remembering the questions that were in his heart, he began to reply sequentially.

Maitreya said, “In accordance with the instructions imparted by the Supreme birthless Lord, Brahma merged his intellect (buddhi) into the Self and meditated intensely for a hundred divine years.

Thereafter, the ever-powerful wind, which was triggered due to the turbulent fiery waters of the ocean of dissolution, began to blow violently. He caused both the lotus on which Brahma was seated as well as the waters of the ocean to tremble fearfully. Brahma observed this.

Due to long intense penance Self-knowledge had situated itself deeply in Brahma’s heart. As a result wisdom dawned in him. Due to this wisdom he drank the wind together with the water.

Brahma noticed that the lotus on which he was seated was pervading throughout space. He thought of creating all the planes of existence within the lotus exactly as they had existed in earlier creations.

Srihari then showered his blessings upon Brahma and permitted him to begin his task of creation. Brahma, who possessed the energy to create the 14 worlds, then rose above the lotus and split it into three divisions.

Etāvāñ jīva-lokasya saṁsthā-bhedaḥ samāhṛtaḥ

Dharmasya hy animittasya vipākaḥ parameṣṭhy asau

Shastras dictate that these three planes of existence are the places where the living entities experience the consequences of their past fruitive actions. When the human being adheres to selfless service (nishkāma karma, action without seeking any return) he reaches Brahma loka” said Maharishi Maitreya.

Vidura who was keenly listening to this had a doubt. He enquired, “O Maharishi! The stories of Lord Srihari are full of surprises. He manifests in varied different forms. You have explained about His time energy. Please explain about eternal time in greater detail”.

In response to this question Maharishi Maitreya said, “This Nature (Prakriti) is composed of the traits of goodness (sattva), action (rajas) and inertia (tamas). The transformations within them are the form of time. Time does not have any beginning or end. It has no limbs.

The Supreme Lord is devoid of form and traits. Yet using the transformations of Nature as His instrument He takes on a form that is replete with traits. He is eternally situated in divine glory. He does not need any shelter i.e. He does not seek refuge in any other entity.

Using time (kāla) as the cause (karaṇa) He playfully manifests as this universe. Due to Srihari’s illusion, this universe is hidden and exists only as Brahma.

With the help of time, which is not subject to any transformation, Brahma separated the entire universe from within him and externally manifested it.

Yathedānīṁ tathāgre ca paścād apy etad īdṛśam

Sargo nava-vidhas tasya prākṛto vaikṛtas tu yaḥ

SriKrishnāya namah

Harayē namah.

Lord Brahma continues, “In order to obtain You, O Lord, I have performed intense austerities for very long periods of time. I have also performed innumerable Yagnas. You are the presiding deity for all Yagnas. You are the embodiment of time. To You, O Lord, I offer my obeisance.

You do not entertain even slightest inclination towards worldly comforts. Even then, out of your own free will, You take birth in various wombs of varied species such as animals, birds, celestials, humans and others, and with a desire to abide by the rules of righteousness that You had created, You playfully engage in divine sports. O Purushottama! To You I offer my obeisance.

O Parameshwara! At the time of dissolution you retain the various living beings in your womb. The five mental afflictions viz., spiritual ignorance (avidya), sense of I-ness (asmita), attachments (rāga), aversion (dweśa) and fear of death (abhiniveśa) do not even touch You. Yet, with the desire that the living beings should rest peacefully within your womb, in these fearful and violent waters of dissolution, You sleep peacefully on the soft snake-bed of Adishesha. You go into yogic sleep at that time.

O worshipful Lord! Through my tasks of creating these three worlds, I will be fulfilling the purpose of my birth. Due to Your will I was born from Your navel-lotus. This entire creation rests in Your womb. Your yogic sleep is about to come to an end. Your beautiful lotus eyes are opening just like blossoming lotuses. You cause welfare to the entire universe. You are the form of the Self.

O Srihari! Please grant me the knowledge by which I can bring happiness to this world. You cause happiness in those who have surrendered completely to you. You shower boons upon them. Together with Goddess Lakshmi, who is your inner energy, You incarnate and show Your transcendental qualities and glories.

My deed of creation is also Your grace. I pray that even while I am engaged in creation my mind should eternally be focused upon You.  The arrogance that ‘I am creating’ should not touch me. O Lord, I offer obeisance to You.

O Purushottama! O Lord of infinite energies! I was born from Your navel-lotus when You were sleeping in the violent waters of the ocean of dissolution. I am nothing but Your intelligence. I am about to create different planes of existence which are filled with varied types of living beings. This world is also another of Your forms. I pray that methodical reciting the Vedas should not stop in me, who am busy creating.

You are the primordial being. You are an epitome of compassion. You possess a charming face which overflows with love. Open your blossoming lotus eyes O Lord! Please wake up! Only then can I begin my task of creation! O Lord! Please wake up! With your melodious words kindly dispel the sorrow that has engulfed me”.

Through intense austerities and with a pure mind filled with devotion Lord Brahma had worshipped the Lord for a very long period of time and was now blessed with divine darshan. He glorified the Lord to the best of his mental and verbal capacities. As if he was tired, he now stopped his prayers.

Lord Brahma was grieving as he did not possess the required knowledge that would enable him to proceed with the task of creation. Seeing the fiery waters of the ocean of dissolution he was sorrowful.  Madhusudana, the Supreme Lord, who understood Brahma’s thoughts, decided to drive away His delusion. In a deep serious voice He said,

“O Brahma! You are the repository of the Vedas. Give up this sorrow and weariness and begin your task of creation. Your desire to create I have already fulfilled before.

Once again begin penance and worship. With this, you will be able to see all the planes of existence (lokas) clearly within your inner mind. Thereafter you will be able to see Me as pervading throughout your creation. You will also see that you and this creation of yours exist in me alone!

Yadā tu sarva-bhūteṣu dāruṣv agnim iva sthitam

Praticakṣīta māṁ loko jahyāt tarhy eva kaśmalam

 Like fire exists inherently within wood, I exist within all living beings. The moment a person realizes this profound truth, his impurities, which exist in the form of his spiritual ignorance, will be destroyed.

Yadā rahitam ātmānaṁ bhūtendriya-guṇāśayaiḥ

Svarūpeṇa mayopetaṁ paśyan svārājyam ṛcchati 

‘I have an existence which is separate from the five basis elements, the senses, the traits of goodness, action and passion and the four fold mind. I am the Pure Consciousness and the form of the Supreme Lord’- the moment the person realizes this profound truth, he will attain the supreme kingdom called liberation.

O Brahma! You desire to create innumerable beings in accordance with their destiny. During this process of creation, your inner mind will not be contaminated with infatuation and illusion. This is because my grace has completely fallen upon you.

You are first mantra-drṣta (seer of the mantra) in this creation. The sinful traits of action/ passion (rajo guna) can never bind you. Even though you are busy in the tasks of creation, your mind will forever be engaged in Me.

A human being cannot know Me unless and until he puts in stringent efforts. In other words, I am not easily known. But you have been able to know me now. You have realized that I am beyond the five basic elements, the senses, the four-fold mind and the three modes of Nature.

Trying to know your origins and the support for your existence, through the medium of the lotus stem you travelled externally searching for me but failed. But then I have shown you my true form only through your inner mind (from within).

My dear son! It was purely due to My grace that you could render My glories. You are truly dedicated towards penance. You have prayed to Me seeking to fulfill your desire of creating these worlds”.

Haraye namah.

Harayē namah.

Lord Brahma continued, “O Supreme Lord! As long as the person refuses to seek shelter in Your lotus feet he is always anxious and fearful. When he in possession of house, wealth, family, friends and power, he worries for their safety. When they are lost he laments a lot. Excessive greed, jealously and extreme self-centeredness do not leave him. Until he seeks shelter in Your lotus feet the false-ego and pride which cause feelings of ‘me and mine’ in him cannot be destroyed. These feelings are the root for all his fears and anxieties.

Chanting Your holy names and listening to Your divine glories drives away all forms of inauspiciousness. Yet, unfortunate persons who lack the right wisdom lead their lives controlled by their senses, which are opposed towards good deeds. A mind that is completely under the control of desires loses its freedom. Such piteous human beings will eternally strive only for those trivial joys that sensory, sensual pleasures bestow. They engage constantly in inauspicious deeds.

O Lord who possesses infinite energy! O Lord Achyuta! These human beings are eternally tormented by extreme hunger and thirst, diseases caused due to the imbalance of vata, pitta and other dośās in the body, the fire called extreme lustful desires, intense heat, severe cold, strong winds, rain and uncontrollable anger. To add to this, they inflict pain upon each other. My mind deeply grieves seeing them suffer.

O Ishwara! Your all-pervasive illusory power, which resides within human being in the form of his senses and within this external visible world in the form of the subtle sense perceptions such as sound, touch, form, taste and smell, entraps the living entity completely. The individual who is thus bound, while experiencing the consequences of his earlier fruitive deeds, continues to endlessly rotate in the wheel of repeated births and deaths.

This illusory unreal world brings untold suffering to the individual. These worldly bondages do not get destroyed in the person until he realizes his true Self, which is distinct from the body and the senses but which is not distinct from the Supreme Lord.

O Lord! Any person, including a sage, who is not desirous of listening to Your divine glories, engages his mind and senses in various activities during the day and suffers with resultant difficulties. Due to the force of the various desires that are filled in his mind and intellect, at night such person is unable to sleep. These desires trouble him in the form of dreams. Hence even for a second he are unable to go into deep sleep.

Such persons eternally put in efforts to earn wealth, vehicles, gold, house and other materialistic objects. Nevertheless, divine will creates obstacles in their path. Those devoid of devotion cannot be happy even in worldly matters. In this way they constantly rotate in this repeated cycle of re-births.

Tvaṁ bhakti-yoga-paribhāvita-hṛt-saroja

Āsse śrutekṣita-patho nanu nātha puṁsām

Yad-yad-dhiyā ta urugāya vibhāvayanti

Tat-tad-vapuḥ praṇayase sad-anugrahāya

O Lord of pure reputation! By listening to Your divine glories, the path to reach You will be known. When the devotee due to his devotion purifies his heart, You undoubtedly go and reside therein. In order to bless the saintly devotees, You manifest in those forms in which they eternally contemplate upon You. You, the non-dual Supreme Essence, reside within every being in the form of their inner Self and through this You cause their welfare.

Even if celestials, who seek fulfillment of their desires, worship You ostentatiously You are not pleased.  But You are quickly pleased when devotees display feelings of compassion towards all forms of life. Non devotees or evil minded persons can never develop feelings of love and compassion towards all forms of life.

For this reason, human beings should perform Yagna and other sacrificial Vedic rituals, intense austerities and participate in charitable deeds with the desire to obtain Your grace. This is the ultimate result of all good meritorious activities. This is because at no point of time dharma that belongs to You will go for a waste.

O Supreme form of knowledge! With your pure energy, you permanently remove feelings of duality that taint human minds. Creation, sustenance and annihilation which are the transcendental activities of illusory power are nothing but Your sports. You are the Lord of the universe. Again and again I offer my prayerful obeisance to You, O Lord!

yasyāvatāra-guṇa-karma-viḍambanāni nāmāni ye ’su-vigame vivaśā gṛṇanti

te ’naika-janma-śamalaṁ sahasaiva hitvā saṁyānty apāvṛtāmṛtaṁ tam ajaṁ prapadye

Sins of innumerable births get destroyed in the person who, although surviving on external support, at the time of death consciously or unconsciously recollects the divine names of the Lord that extol His supremacy, qualities and activities. Their veil of ignorance is totally shred and they attain supreme liberation. In such a Supreme Lord I seek refuge.

The Lord who is beyond comparison has divided the illusory power, which is dependent upon him, into traits of purity (sattva), action (rajas) and inertia (tamas). Using these traits as His carrier He has incarnated in three forms of Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra. In these three forms He handles the tasks of creation, sustenance and annihilation of the worlds.

This illusory power further undergoes transformation and becomes the basis (carrier) for existence of Marichi, Manu and other Prajapatis (leaders). In this way, with the Trinity as the trunk and Prajapatis as its various branches, the Supreme Lord has manifested in the form of the tree called the universe. To such a Lord I offer my obeisance.

The swadharma called ‘worshipping the Almighty’ brings auspiciousness to human beings. However in persons who, due to negligence towards this swadharama, indulge in sinful deeds, the powerful time truncates their plans and their desire for longevity. In other words, such persons will have a short lifespan. Time is supremely powerful. To the Lord who manifests as eternal time, I offer my obeisance.

Brahma-loka is that supreme plane which is revered by all the other planes of existence. This loka has a span of two parārthas. One parārtha is 1000 maha-yugas. One parārtha is the daytime for Brahma. I, who am the leader for this Brahma-loka, also fear this time”.

Haraye namah.

Upendrāya namah.

The Supreme Lord’s body was glowing luminously due to the radiance of His multi-coloured clothing and glittering jewellery. The toe-nails on His lotus feet were gleaming like Moon-rays. His toes appeared like tender lotus petals. In order to fulfill their varied desires, human beings worship this Supreme Lord in various methods as prescribed by the Vedas. These lotus feet fulfill the desires of all such beings.

His charming and pleasing face dispels grief. His pleasing face gleams brightly with its delicate nose, beautiful eyebrows and glittering earrings that delicately move. His red lower lip shines like the red bimba fruit. With such pleasant face He looks at devotees who reverentially worship Him.

Kadamba-kiñjalka-piśaṅga-vāsasā svalaṅkṛtaṁ mekhalayā nitambe

Hāreṇa cānanta-dhanena vatsa śrīvatsa-vakṣaḥsthala-vallabhena

His waist shines resplendently with yellow clothing that resembles the yellow dust of the Kadamba flowers and with His waist belt. The mark called śrivatsa decorates His chest. The beautiful garland that adorns His neck adds to His beauty.

This primordial cause of the universe is like the supreme sandalwood tree. He is like the tree called the universe. His long arms are like the long branches of that tree. The armlets and other jewels that adorn His arms are like fruits and flowers that adorn the branches. This tree is visible only due to supreme grace and it appears to contain the primary mother root. With arms that appear like the inter-twined hoods of serpent Adishesha, He appears like the sandalwood tree that is a shelter to snakes.

This Lord who is surrounded by the turbulent waters of dissolution, appeared like a mountain submerged in the water. Mountains are the refuge for trees, creepers, animals, birds and other entities. The Supreme Lord is the shelter for the entire universe consisting of moving and non-moving entities. Just as mountains offer shelter for the large snakes, this Lord appeared to be a relative of the eminent snake Adishesha.

On each of its hoods Adishesha has innumerable gems that glitter like golden mountain peaks. It is a well known fact that mountains are the storehouse of gems. As the Lord appears like a luminous golden mountain, on His waist the Kausthuba gem illumines exquisitely.

Just as bees encircle flowers, Vedas encircle the bright Vanamāla garland that adorns His neck and they render profusely His glories. The Sun, Moon, Fire and other luminous objects fade completely in front of His divine luster. Wind does not even dare to approach Him. Even Sudarshana and other weapons that encircle Him, and prevent even that being who has performed intense penance in all the three worlds and in all the three periods of time from seeing Him, are afraid to approach Him. There is nothing that approaches Him.

At that moment to Lord Brahma who had the intense desire to create the worlds and the knowledge necessary for the same, only the lotus which had emerged from the navel of that Supreme Lord, his own body, the gigantic waters, the devastating winds of dissolution and space were visible. Nothing apart from these five was visible.

Brahma’s mind was filled with the traits of action (rajo guna). He was determined to understand the playful transcendental activities of māya. He desired to create living beings through different methods. As he began to investigate the primary principles pertaining to creation, the above mentioned five elements were visible to him. He then prayed to Lord Srihari.

With this the eight chapter of the third canto comes to an end.

Third Canto Chapter Nine

In this chapter Brahma worshipping Lord Srihari and Srihari bestowing boons upon Brahma are covered.

Brahma prayed to Lord Srihari, “O Supreme Lord! After this very long period of time I have come to know You. The living beings, who consider that they are nothing but material body are truly unfortunate, for they cannot see You. There is nothing apart from You! That which appears to exist is not real. It is all an illusion. Due to the turbulence caused by Your illusory power consisting of the three attributes, You appear as many. You alone are real. You are the truth.

Rūpaṁ yad etad avabodha-rasodayena śaśvan-nivṛtta-tamasaḥ sad-anugrahāya

Ādau gṛhītam avatāra-śataika-bījaṁ yan-nābhi-padma-bhavanād aham āvirāsam

As You inherently illumine, spiritual ignorance which is in the form of darkness stays away from You. For the purpose of blessing noble beings, You have accepted this form. This form of Yours is the primary cause for the many hundreds and thousands of incarnations of Yours. From this form of Yours a lotus was born. From that lotus I emerged.

O Lord who is beyond Nature (Prakriti)! O form of the Self! The veil called ignorance cannot envelop Your power of illumination. Your bliss is beyond all forms of differentiation. I believe that this visible form of Yours is in no way different from it.

This form of Yours, which is beyond any form of comparison, eternally remains over and above the manifested worlds although it is the cause for the manifestation. I surrender to this form of Yours, which is superior and far more powerful than all the elements and the senses.

O well-wisher of the universe! In order to bless me, your ardent devotee, You have appeared to me in this form during my meditation. O Supreme Lord! Again and again I offer my obeisance to You.

The ignorant human beings have extreme attachment and desire towards this material world which is created by Your illusionary energy. They are dedicated towards wasteful speech. Wasting time in unnecessary arguments and debates, they fail to understand You. Due to negligence shown towards You they end up in hell.

O Lord! The Vedas extol the greatness of Your lotus feet in varied ways. Through the ear holes, ardent devotees smell the aroma of Your lotus feet, which is carried by the wind called the Vedas and relish them joyfully. With their devotion they tie down Your lotus feet. You will never distance from the lotus hearts of such devotees. You will never stay away from ardent devotees”.

Janārdhanāya namah.