38 verses
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: O King! I have already described to you the measurements of time, beginning from the smallest unit up to the total life span of Lord Brahmā. I have also discussed the measurement of the yugas. Now hear about maintenance and annihilation.
One thousand cycles of four ages constitute a single day of Brahmā, known as a kalpa. In that period, O King, there are fourteen Manus.
After one day of Brahmā, annihilation occurs during his night, which is of the same duration. At that time all the three planetary systems are subject to destruction.1
Tāvat means one thousand cycles of four yugas.
This is called the naimittika, or occasional, annihilation, during which the original creator, Lord Nārāyaṇa, lies down upon the bed of Ananta Śeṣa and absorbs the universe within himself while Lord Brahmā also enters.
The naimittika destruction is the first of the four types of destruction. Nārāyaṇa withdraws the universe into himself and sleeps. Brahmā also enters Nārāyaṇa and sleeps. Taking Brahmās sleep as the cause (nimitta), the Lord destroys the three worlds. Thus this destruction is called naimittika. This is a daily destruction.
When the two halves of the lifetime of Lord Brahmā, the most elevated created being, are complete, the seven basic elements of creation are annihilated.
The destruction into prakṛti is described in two verses. The first half of Brahmās life has passed. When the second half is completed, when Brahmās life has ended, the seven elements consisting of mahat-tattva, ahaḍkāra, and the five tan-mātrās are destroyed.
O King! That is called the prākṛtika destruction in which the universe made of al the elements merges in prakṛti when it is time for that destruction.
It is called the prākrṭika destruction because all the objects created from prakṛti reenter prakṛti. When the time of destruction arrives, the universe made of the combination of elements like mahat-tattva (saḍghātaḥ) is destroyed.
O King! There will be no rain upon the earth for one hundred years. Drought will lead to famine, and the starving populace will consume one another. The inhabitants of the earth, bewildered by the force of time, will gradually be destroyed.
The way in which that destruction takes place is now described.
The sun in its annihilating form will drink up with its terrible rays all the water of the ocean, of living bodies and of the earth itself. But the devastating sun will not give back anything.
Pibati means it draws up.
Next the great fire of annihilation, rising from the mouth of Lord Saḍkarṣaṇa, and increased by the force of the wind, will burn the universe, scorching the lifeless planets.
Burned from all sidesfrom above by the blazing sun and from below by the fire of Lord Saḍkarṣaṇathe universal sphere will glow like a burning ball of cow dung.
A great and terrible wind of destruction will begin to blow for more than one hundred years, and the sky, covered with dust, will turn gray.
A wind will for a little more than a hundred years, and then the sky covered with dust will turn gray.
After that, O King, groups of multicolored clouds, roaring terribly with thunder, will pour down rain for one hundred years.
At that time, the shell of the universe will fill up with water, forming a single cosmic ocean.
As the entire universe is flooded, the water will rob the earth of its unique quality of fragrance, and the element earth, deprived of its distinguishing quality, will be dissolved.
Pralayatvāya comes from prakṛṣṭo layaḥ: a long destruction. A state of long destruction is called pralayatvā.
līyate cānile tejo vāyoḥ khaṁ grasate guṇam sa vai viśati khaṁ rājaṁs tataś ca nabhaso guṇam
śabdaṁ grasati bhūtādir
nabhas tam anu līyate
taijasaś cendriyāṇy aḍga
devān vaikāriko guṇaiḥ
mahān grasaty ahaḍkāraṁ
guṇāḥ sattvādayaś ca tam
grasate 'vyākṛtaṁ rājan
guṇān kālena coditam
na tasya kālāvayavaiḥ
pariṇāmādayo guṇāḥ
anādy anantam avyaktaṁ
nityaṁ kāraṇam avyayam
The element fire then swallows up the taste from the element water, which, deprived of its unique quality, taste, merges into fire. Air swallows up the form inherent in fire, and then fire, deprived of form, merges into air. The element ether swallows up the quality of air, namely touch, and that air enters into ether. Then, O King, false ego in ignorance swallows up sound, the quality of ether, after which ether also merges into false ego in ignorance. False ego in passion consumes of the senses, and false ego in goodness absorbs the devatās. Then the total mahat-tattva consumes false ego along with its various functions, and that mahat-tattva is consumed by the three basic modes of naturegoodness, passion and ignorance. My dear King Parīkṣit, these modes are further swallowed up by prakṛti, impelled by time. That prakṛti is not subject to the six kinds of transformation caused by the influence of time. Rather, it has no birth, no death, no existence, no increase, no change, and no decrease. It is the cause of the universe.
The verb grasati should be added to the first line of verse 15. Bhūtādiḥ means ahaḍkāra in tamas. Ahaḍkāra in rajas swallows up the senses. Mahat-tattva swallows up ahaḍkāra along with its transformation of guṇas (ahaḍkāra in the modes of tamas, rajas and sattva). The guṇas swallow up mahat-tattva (tam). Avyākṛtam means pradhāna or prakṛti. Prakṛti is not subject to the transformation and other factors produced by the limbs of time, by days and nights. Pariṇāma or development is the fourth change (vikāra) among six which are not present in prakṛti. The first is birth. But prakrṭi has no beginning (anādi). It has no end (anantam). Avyaktam means that it does not show itself as existing for some time. Nityam means that prakṛti is always in one form. It does not increase or grow. It does not decline (avyayam). Thus the six transformations are absent in prakṛti.2
na svapna-jāgran na ca tat suṣuptaṁ na khaṁ jalaṁ bhūr anilo 'gnir arkaḥ saṁsupta-vac chūnya-vad apratarkyaṁ tan mūla-bhūtaṁ padam āmananti
In pradhāna, there is no expression of words, no mind and no manifestation of the subtle elements beginning from the mahat-tattva, nor are there the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance. There is no life air or intelligence, nor any senses or devatās. There is no arrangement of planetary systems, nor are there present the different stages of consciousnesssleep, wakefulness and deep sleep. There is no ether, water, earth, air, fire or sun. The situation is just like that of complete sleep, or of voidness. It is indescribable. Authorities in spiritual science explain, however, that since pradhāna is the original substance, it is the basis of material creation.
Two verses explain how prakṛti has no transformations like objects we perceive with passion and other qualities. Loka-kalpaḥ means that there is no construction of planets.
The annihilation is called prākṛtika when the energies belonging to the Supreme Person and prakṛti, disassembled by the force of time, merge together totally.
Energies like sattva-guṇa merge into prakṛti. However the Lord and prakṛti never are affected at any time.
Brahman manifests in the forms of intelligence, the senses and the objects of sense perception, and it is their ultimate basis. Whatever has a beginning and an end is insubstantial because of being an object perceived by limited senses and because of being nondifferent from its own cause.
The state of being one with brahman in ātyantika-pralaya by those desiring impersonal liberation is now described. That oneness with Brahman that they desire will be produced when there is realization of the insubstantiality of the world of duality, which is an effect of Brahman. Thinking boldly in this way, they say this world is illusory. That is explained in nine verses. That Brahman (jñānam) appears in the form of intelligence, senses and objects, since they are transformations of the śakti of Brahman. What is this Brahman? It is the shelter of intelligence, senses and objects of this world since it is their cause. Neuter gender of aśrayam is poetic license. What is produced in this world as intelligence has a birth and a destruction. Though this is perceived as real, from the spiritual point of view it is not real since the world does not last forever. Two other reasons are given for the unreality of the world: it is visible and it is not different from its cause (avyatirekha). Because of these two reasons, the world is considered unreal.
The methodology is as follows. Because the world is visible, and because it has a beginning and end, and because it is not different from its cause, it is like a golden earring. From the spiritual point of view it is insubstantial.
Even if one maintains that the world is illusory, following the later descriptions of things related to Brahman being similarly cit and non-different from Paramātmā (cit-sama ātmavat) in verse 29, there should be visible, spiritual variety. Otherwise the reasoning will be erroneous. Śruti says tāsāṁ madhye sākṣād brahma gopāla-purī: aong all these abodes, the residence of Gopāla is directly the Absolute Truth. (Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad) Man-niketaṁ tu nirguṇam: my abode is beyond the guṇas. (SB 11.25.25) Nirguṇo mad-apāśrayaḥ: a worker who has taken shelter of me is understood to be transcendental to the modes of nature. (SB 11.25.26) By these words of the Lord it is understood that though the abode and other spiritual objects are visible, they are eternal, since they are beyond the guṇas.
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A lamp, the eye that views by the light of that lamp, and the visible form that is viewed are non-different from the element light. In the same way, intelligence, the senses and sense perceptions have no existence separate from the supreme reality, although that Absolute Truth remains totally distinct from them.
An example is given. Just as a lamp, the eye and form are aspects of light element, and are not different from light, which is their cause, so intelligence, senses and sense objects are not different from Brahman. Just as the lamp, eye and formthe effects--are said to be fire or light, so intelligence, senses and sense objectsthe effects of Brahman--are said to be Brahman. But if cause and effect are one, and the effect is unreal, then the cause is unreal since the effect is simply a transformation of the cause. The Brahman is completely different from their effects, and even from prakṛti, the cause of those effects.
The three states of intelligence are called waking consciousness, sleep and deep sleep. But, my dear King, the variegated experiences created for the pure living entity by these different states are nothing more than illusion.
The jīva has various states: waking, dream and deep sleep, which are three aspects of intelligence. These states are also false. That is explained in this verse. Waking, sleeping and deep sleep are called functions of intelligence. The variety created in the jīva (prayag-ātmani) by states of consciousness is false (māyā-mātram) since it is a covering on Brahman.
Just as clouds in the sky come into being and are then destroyed, the material universe with its parts is created and destroyed within Brahman.
Non-difference of cause and effect in pariṇāma-vāda was shown. Now the real existence of the Supreme Lord, the cause of the universe which has beginning and end, is shown according to arambha-vāda in two verses. Just as clouds are created and destroyed in the sky, the universe is created and destroyed in Brahman. The example of sky is used to show that the Paramātmā is not contaminated by the universe, just as the sky is not contaminated by formation of clouds. The universe with its parts such as a pot, with a beginning and an end, is not factual through all time since it has a beginning and end.
O King! The cause of the universe is said to be factual since the cause is perceived to have a separate existence from the universe, just threads of a cloth are separate form the cloth.
The cause (Brahman) of the parts (universe) is shown to be factual in this world, O King, since even without the parts, the cause is perceived separately, just as the threads of a cloth are perceived separate from the cloth. This has been stated in the Seventh Canto:
kārya-kāraṇa-vastv-aikya-darśanaṁ paṭa-tantuvat
avastutvād vikalpasya bhāvādvaitaṁ tad ucyate
Non-difference of conception is seeing the effect and the cause as one, like threads related to a cloth, since all these are unreal, arising from misconception.
SB 7.15.63
This conception allows one to realize oneness of Brahman.
What is experienced as cause and effect is an illusion since they are mutually dependent. Everything has a beginning and end and therefore unreal.
According to vivarta-vāda (theory of illusion), just as the effect of Brahman, the universe, is unreal, so Brahman as the cause is also unreal. What is perceived as cause and effect is perceived through error since they are mutually dependent, and thus impossible to determine. The meaning is this. Just as one mistakes a rope for a snake out of ignorance, (the rope is the cause and the effect snake, is false), so Brahman is mistaken to be the universe out of ignorance. How can Brahman be the cause, when it is dependent on the effect, the universe, which does not exist?
This universe and even a single atom within it have no definition without reference to the Supreme Soul. If that is so, then objects related to the Lord are also spiritual and non-different from the Lord.
This universe, famous as being subject to change, and even an atom in it, cannot be defined without Paramātmā. Everything is Paramātmā. The universe is imposed on Paramātmā. The illusion of water in a mirage will not take place at all without light. It is all light. The illusion of water is imposed on light. However, some famous objects are perceived as real and spiritual, such as bhakti and things produced by bhakti or within bhakti, and the abodes of the Lord.
lakṣaṇaṁ bhakti-yogasya nirguṇasya hy udāhṛtam
ahaituky avyavahitā yā bhaktiḥ puruṣottame
It is said that the quality of bhakti beyond the guṇas is that bhakti which is devoid of other results other than bhakti and which is unobstructed by other processes. SB 3.29.12
The Lord says mat-sevāyāṁ tu nirguṇā: faith in my devotional service is purely transcendental. (SB 11.25.27) He has also said man nitekaṁ tu nirguṇam, nirguṇo mad apaśṛayaḥ, and man niṣṭaṁ nirguṇam smrṭam: my abode is beyond the guṇas, the devotee is beyond the guṇas, knowledge of the Lord is beyond the guṇas. (SB 11.25.26, 24, 25) All objects related to bhakti are beyond the guṇas. Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad says tāsaṁ madhye sākṣād brahma-gopāla-purī hi: among them, the abode of Gopāla is Brahman. Saccidānandaika-rase bhakti-yoge tiṣṭhati: the Lord resides in bhakti, filled with eternity, knowledge and bliss. The planet of the Lord and bhakti-yoga are beyond the guṇas and thus the highest truth. That is explained in this verse. If it is defined as being beyond the guṇas, it is cit-samaḥ, the same cit. Paramātmā is beyond the guṇas. Since all these objects are the expansions of Paramātmā, they are the one Paramātmā (ātmavat).
There is no material duality in the Absolute Truth. If a person thinks there is duality he is ignorant like seeing space in two pots as different space, or two lamps as different fire or two prāṇas in two bodies as different prāṇa, when actually there is only one space, one fire and one prāṇa.
How does one conceive of oneness? There is no duality in the supreme truth. If one considers duality in the absolute one is ignorant. An ignorant person, on seeing two pots with cavities thinks the first pot has some space in it and the other pot has different space in it. Similarly on seeing two lamps an ignorant person thinks that the first lamp is one fire and the second lamp a different fire. Or on seeing prāṇa in one body and another body, he will think that it is different prāṇa.
Just gold is perceived in different forms by various types of manufacturing in the ordinary world, the Supreme Lord, inaccessible to material senses, is described in various words, both ordinary and Vedic, by different types of men.
Though at the time of creation the universe is seen to support various actions, the jñānī should know that there is only one Brahman. By various fabrications, gold appears as earrings or bracelets. By common words and Vedic verses, the Lord is described in many ways.
The cloud is a product of the sun and is revealed by the sun. But the cloud covers the eye, another portion of the sun. The effects of Brahman are revealed by Brahman. Similarly the ahaḍkāra, the effect of Brahman, helps the jīva, a portion of Brahman, to bind himself up.
If everything is Brahman because everything is the effect of Brahman, how can the jīvas, portions of Brahman, be covered by ahaḍkāra, the effect of Brahman, which is illusory? And being covered, how do they become bewildered? An example is given. The rays of the sun, transformed into clouds, become rain. It is said:
agnau prāptāhūtiḥ samyag ādityam upatiṣtḥate
ādityāj jāyate vṛṣtir vṛṣter annaṁ tataḥ prajāḥ
Oblations to fire go to the sun. From the sun they transform into rain. Rain transforms into food and then into living entities.
The product of the sun is a cloud. Thus clouds are manifested by the sun. They cause a covering of the eye (blocking the sun), though the eye is a portion of the sun as well. Similarly ahaḍkāra, an effect of Brahman, binds up the jīva, a portion of Brahman. Ātma-bandhanaḥ means the jīva binds himself.
When the cloud produced from the sun is destroyed, the eye can see the actual form of the sun. Similarly, when the spirit soul destroys his material covering of false ego by inquiring into the transcendental science, he realizes Brahman.
When the ahaḍkāra, a covering on the jīva, is destroyed, one realizes Brahman. This is explained through an example. When the cloud is destroyed, the eye sees the sun it its true form. The human eye and not the eye of the owl sees the sun. Similarly the eye of the jñānī who has some bhakti sees Brahman, and not the person without bhakti. Bhakyāham ekayā grāhyaḥ: I am only achieved by bhakti. (SB 11.14.21) When ahaḍkāra is destroyed, one realizes Brahman.
O King! When the illusory false ego that binds the soul has been cut off with the sword of discriminating knowledge and one remains with firm meditation on Acyuta, the Supreme Soul, it is called the ātyantika-pralaya.
For the destruction of ahaḍkāra one practices bhakti-miśra-jñāna. That is described in this verse. After cutting the bondage of ahaḍkāra by jñāna-śāstra (viveka-hetinā), one remains with firm mediation of the mind upon Acyuta. Or, for the accomplished yogī, after destroying ahaḍkāra complete realization of Brahman (acyutāmānaubhavaḥ) remains steady. Being fixed in that state is called ātyantika-pralaya (samplavam).
Experts in the subtle workings of nature, O subduer of the enemy, have declared that there are continuous processes of creation and annihilation that all created beings, beginning with Brahmā, constantly undergo.
This verse speaks of the nitya-pralaya (destruction at every moment).
The various states of the bodies of living entities which are quickly destroyed by the force of the flow of time are indications of continual birth and death.
The cause is explains. Hriyamānasya should be hriyamānānām. The various states of the bodies of living entities, such as bālya, paugaṇdā etc., which are quickly destroyed by the force of the flow of time are indications of continual birth and death. The bodies and other objects are at every moment born and dying. Because of these various conditions of their bodies they are compared to flames.
These stages of existence created by beginningless and endless time, which is representative of the Supreme Lord, are not visible, just as the infinitesimal changes of position of the planets in the sky cannot be directly seen.
If these states are there at every moment, why are they not seen? The argument in question is without proof. The states of birth and death caused by time without beginning and end are not seen, just as the movements of the planets in the sky are not seen. Just as one must infer the movement of a planet at every moment so that it attains a different visible position, one must infer subtle states of change between the stages of infancy and youth which are visible. Thus the argument is not without proof.
In this way, the progress of time is described in terms of the four kinds of annihilationcontinual (bodies), occasional (night of Brahmā), elemental (destruction of the universe at end of Brahmās life) and final (liberation).
This is a summary.
O best of the Kurus! I have related to you these narrations of the pastimes of Lord Nārāyaṇa, the creator of this world and the abode of all living entities, in a brief summary. Even Lord Brahmā himself is incapable of describing them entirely.
Topics of the Lord are summarized.
For a person who is suffering in the fire of countless miseries and even for persons who desires to cross the insurmountable ocean of material existence, there is no suitable boat except cultivating the nectar of the narrations of the Supreme Lord's pastimes.
The topics of the Lord are the life-sustaining medicine for all types of devotees, and even for those desiring liberation. Even those who desire liberation cannot achieve liberation without these topics. That is described in this verse. Or this is the answer to the question you asked at the beginning What should a dying person do? Other than food, there is nothing that can satisfy intolerable hunger. There is no other means of crossing material existence, such as jñāna. That would be like giving a garland and sandalwood to a person suffering from hunger. This will be explained later. You should not accept jñāna by which I cover the great secret of bhakti as the recommended process. Rasa in this verse means sweetness produced by the topics of the Lords pastimes. One should not prescribe any other medicine except this nectar for persons suffering in the great fire of material life.
Long ago, this anthology of all the Purāṇas was spoken by wise Viṣṇu to Bṛahmā. Brahmā, with undiminished bhakti, taught it to Nārada. Nārada spoke it to Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vedavyāsa.
One should study, teach, hear, and have others hear Bhāgavatam following a pure, unbroken line of guru-parampara. That is the intention of this verse. Wise Nārāyaṇa taught this to Brahmā. The missing word Brahmā should be supplied. Brahmā, without decrease in bhakti because of having no offenses (avyayaḥ), taught it to Nārada.
O King! The great Vyāsadeva taught me this same scripture, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is equal in stature to the four Vedas.
The phrases purāna-saṁhitām etam, and imam bhāgavatīm saṁhitām are in two separate sentences and thus there is no fault of too much repetition.
O best of the Kurus! That person Sūta Gosvāmī who is sitting before us will speak this Bhāgavatam to the sages assembled in the great sacrifice at Naimiṣāraṇya, when questioned by the members of the assembly, headed by Śaunaka.
Pointing out Sūta in the assembly with his finger, he says That Suta (asau sūta).
Thus ends the commentary on the Fourth Chapter of the Twelfth Canto of the Bhāgavatam for the pleasure of the devotees, in accordance with the previous ācāryas.
In the Fourth Chapter, Śukadeva concludes the sweet topics of Kṛṣṇa by describing the four types of destruction.