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The Bhagavatam describes a repeating series of devastations and partial devastations by fire and water...
Canto 3
Nârada Muni
Chapter 11: Division of Time Expanding from the Atom
(1) Maitreya said: 'One should know that the ultimate presence of that what shows itself in the manifold as being indivisible, consists of an infinitesimal particle [paramânu] the combination of which [into material forms] creates illusion in man. (2) The supreme oneness of that particle being present within material bodies, keeps its original form till the end of time, it is of a continual, unrivaled uniformity. (3) Time, my best one, besides being known as the supreme, non-manifest Almighty Lord who controls all physical action, can therefore also be measured by the motion of the minutest and largest forms of combinations of particles. (4) The time of that infinitesimal particle is the time it takes to occupy [or vibrate in] a certain atomic space. The greatest of time is the time taken by the existence of the complete of all atoms.
(5) Two infinitesimal particles constitute an atom [an anu] and three atoms make a trasarenu of which one is reminded by a beam of sunlight falling through a lattice window in which one sees something [a dust-particle] going up in the sky. (6) The time taken by the combination of three trasarenus is called a truthi [calculated as 1/16.875 of a second] of which one hundred are called a vedha. Three of them are called a single lava. (7) The duration of three lavas equals one nimesha [± 0.53 second] and the time of three of them is called a kshana [± 1.6 seconds], five of those make a kâshthhâ [± 8 seconds] and a laghu consists of fifteen of them [± 2 minutes]. (8) A number of fifteen of those laghus is called a nâdikâ [or danda, ± 30 minutes] and two of them make a muhûrta [about an hour], while six to seven of them form one yâma [a quarter of a light day or night] depending the human calculation [the season, the latitude]. (9) The measuring pot (water-clock) has the weight of six palas [14 ounces] and has a four mâsha [17 karats] golden probe four fingers long covering a hole through which it fills with water till 'prastha' [solid, till it sinks]. (10) Four yâmas form the duration of both the day and the night of the human being and fifteen days [of eight yâmas each] make one pakshah [fortnight] which measured is known as being either black or white [depending on whether there is a full moon or new moon in it]. (11) The aggregate of such a 'day' and 'night' is called an ancestral [traditional or solar] month with two of them forming a season. There are six of them [respectively 'cold' or hemanta, 'dew' or s'is'ira, 'spring' or vasanta, 'warm' or grîshma, 'rainy' or varshâs and 'autumn' or s'arad, counting from December 22] corresponding to the movement of the sun going through the southern and northern sky. (12) This movement of the sun is said to form one day of the demigods and is called a vatsara [a tropical year] of twelve months. The duration of life of the human being is estimated to be of a great number [a hundred] of those years [see also the 'full calendar of order'].
(13) The infinitesimal particles and their combinations, the planets, the heavenly bodies [like the moon] and the stars, all rotate in the universe, to complete their orbit in a year of the Almighty [cyclic order, the command] of eternal time. (14) We speak about an orbit of the sun, about an orbit of the other planets, the orbit of the stars [in our galaxy around Sagittarius A in the sky], the orbit of the moon, oh Vidura, and the orbit of the earth as being a single [but differently named] year [respectively a celestial year, a planetary year, a galactic year, a lunation and a tropical year]. (15) With attention for all His five different types of years, one should be of respect for the One [Lord of Time] who, differing from all that was created, moves under the name of Eternal Time and who with His energy in different ways invigorates the seeds of creation while during the day dissipating the darkness of the living entities. By thus performing sacrifices one develops quality in one's material existence.'
(16) Vidura said: 'You pointed out the ultimate measure of time of the life periods of the ancestors, the gods and the human beings. Can you now, oh great sage, give a description of the time periods of the lives of the elevated souls that cover more than a millennium? (17) Oh mighty master, you know the movements of the Supreme Lord in the form of eternal time, for you, in the control of your yogic command, have the eyes of a self-realized soul to oversee the entire universe.'
(18) Maitreya said: 'The four yugas [ages or millennia] called Satya, Tretâ, Dvâpara and Kali together take approximately 12.000 years [or one mahâyuga] of the demigods [comprising 360 vatsaras each]. (19) The subsequent yugas starting with Satya-yuga are each respectively four, three, two and one times 1.200 demigod years long. (20) Experts say that the transitional periods at the beginning and end of each yuga cover several hundreds of demigod years. They are millennia [like the millennium we live in now] wherein all kinds of religious activities take place. (21) The dutifulness of mankind concerning the four principles of religion [of satya, dayâ, tapas, s'auca; truth, compassion, penance and purity] was during Satya-yuga properly maintained, but in the other yugas the principles gradually declined one by one [first penance, then compassion, then purity]. (22) Next to the one thousand [mahâ-]yugas that, oh dear one, together constitute one day of Brahmâ [of 4.32 billion years] of the three worlds [the heavenly, svarga; earthly, martya and lower, pâtâla ones], there is also a night just as long wherein the Creator of the universe goes asleep. (23) Following the end of the night when another day of Lord Brahmâ begins, the creation of the three worlds, that in its totality covers the lives of fourteen Manus, starts all over. (24) Each Manu thus enjoys a time of living of a little more than seventy-one [mahâ-]yugas.
(25) After the end of each Manu, the next one appears together with his descendants, the seven sages, the God-conscious souls and the king of the demigods [Indra] as also all those who follow them. (26) This is Lord Brahmâ's day to day creation wherein the lower animals, the human beings, the forefathers and the gods wander around, appearing in the three worlds because of their karma. (27) With the change of each Manu, the Supreme Lord manifests His goodness in His different incarnations, as the Manu Himself and as others, and thus unfolding His divine potencies He maintains this universe. (28) At the end of the day [of Brahmā] the Almighty Time arrests its manifestation, whereupon, with the complete whole fallen in darkness, all living entities remain merged in silence. (29) Just as it happens during an ordinary night, all three worlds that disappeared from sight, therewith are bereft of the light of the sun and the moon. (30) When the three worlds are set ablaze by the potency of the fire emanating from the mouth of Lord Sankarshana [see 3.8: 3], sage Bhrigu and the other inhabitants who are agitated by the heat, move from the world of the saints [Maharloka, the fourth world] to the world of the godly people [Janaloka, the next world of celibate saints]. (31) Immediately after the beginning of the devastation of the three worlds all the seas overflow with violent winds and hurricanes that blow the waves high. (32) The Lord, who in His mystical slumber with closed eyes lies down on the bed of Ananta within the water, is glorified by the inhabitants of the worlds of the God-conscious souls.
(33) By the symptoms of days and nights of the advancement of time, his [Brahmâ's] life and also our lives are limited to a duration of a hundred years, even though in his case it takes a hundred of his years [with his life consisting of two parârdhas or 2 times 155.5 trillion human years, see also 3.9: 18]. (34) The first half of his lifetime called one parârdha has passed and now in this age we have begun with the second half. (35) The superior first half started with a grand kalpa called the Brâhma-kalpa in which Lord Brahmâ manifested whom one knows as the [source of the] Vedic sounds. (36) Thereafter, at the end of that enormous span of time, the period called the Pâdma-kalpa came into being in which the lotus of the universe sprouted from the reservoir of water of the Lord's navel. (37) The present kalpa [at the beginning] of the second half, oh descendant of Bharata, is celebrated as the one of Vârâha in which the Lord appeared in the form of a boar [see also 1.3: 7]. (38) The time measured by the two halves of Brahmâ's life takes but a second for the beginningless, unchanging and unlimited Soul of the universe. (39) This eternal time, beginning from the atom up to the final duration of two parârdhas, is never capable of controlling the Supreme Lord, it is the controller of those souls who are identified with their body. (40) As a combination of the basic elements and their transformations this manifest universe has expanded to a diameter of half a billion [yojanas - a dynamic cosmic measure]. (41) [The space occupied by the infinitesimal particles of the primal ether, pradhâna] expanded to the tenfold [of the dimensions of the therefrom condensating basic elements and their transformations] that, appearing like atoms, entered to cluster into many other egg shaped abodes [or galaxies]. (42) That cause of all causes [containing all the universes] is said to be the imperishable Absolute Truth, the supreme abode of the direct, personal manifestation of the Supreme Soul: Lord Vishnu.'
See also the page: "S'rîmad Bhâgavatam & Bhagavad Gîtâ Time Quotes".
Chapter 8: Manifestation of Brahmâ from Garbhodakas'âyî Vishnu
(1) S'rî Maitreya said: 'The descendants of King Pûru deserve the respect of the sages because their kings are chiefly devoted to the Supreme Personality; and with you who are also born in this chain of devotional activity in respect of the Invincible One, there is step by step [with every question you ask] constantly new light shed on this subject matter. (2) Let me therefore now discuss this Bhâgavatam, this Vedic supplement that originally by the Supreme Lord in person was spoken to the seers for the mitigation of the great distress of the human beings who experience so little happiness.
(3) The son of Brahmâ [Sanat-kumâra] as the leader of the great sages [the four boy-saints, the Kumâras], questioned just like you Lord Sankarshana about the truth concerning the Original Personality [the first plenary portion and companion of the Lord] who always clear in His knowledge resides at the basis of the universe. (4) He in that position with Him whom one in great esteem calls Vâsudeva had turned His vision inwards, but to encourage the highly learned sages He slightly opened His lotuslike eyes. (5) With the hairs on their heads wet from the water of the Ganges they touched the shelter of His lotus feet that is worshiped by the daughters of the serpent-king, with great devotion and with various paraphernalia, in the desire for a good husband. (6) Known with His pastimes they, with words and with great affection in rhythmic accord, repeatedly glorified the activities while from the thousands of raised hoods [of Ananta, the serpent king] the glowing effulgence emanated of the valuable stones upon their thousands of helmets. (7) Oh Vidura one says that He then discussed the purport of the Bhâgavatam with Sanat-kumâra who had taken the [yoga] vow of renunciation and, as was requested, passed it on to Sânkhyâyana who had also taken the vow. (8) When the great sage Sânkhyâyana as the chief of the transcendentalists reciting this Bhâgavatam [thereafter] expounded on it, both the spiritual master Parâs'ara whom I followed and Brihaspati were present. (9) Urged on by sage Pulastya, he [Parâs'ara] kindheartedly told me this finest one of the Purânas that I in my turn will relate to you, my dear son, for you are an ever faithfull follower.
(10) At the time the three worlds were submerged in the waters, He [Garbhodakas'âyî Vishnu] was lying down there alone, inactively with almost closed eyes, upon the snake bed Ananta desiring nothing more than the satisfaction of His internal potency. (11) The way the power of fire is hidden in wood, He resided there in His place in the water, keeping all living beings in their subtlety within His transcendental body from where He gives life in the form of Time [kâla]. (12) For the duration of thousand times four yugas [4.32 billion years] He with His internal potency lay dormant for the sake of the further development - by means of His force called kâla [time] - of the worlds of the living beings who depend on fruitive activities. That role gave His body a bluish look [the blue of the refuge of the vivifying water]. (13) In accordance with the purpose of His internal attention for the subtle subject matter of creation, there was in due course of time, because of the material activity of the basic qualities of nature, the agitation [of the subtle elements, the entities] that then most subtly broke forth from His abdomen [from the ether]. (14) With the Time that roused the karma to activity, soon from the original self [of Vishnu] with that [agitation] a lotus bud appeared that, just like a sun, illumined the vast waters with its effulgence.
(15) That lotus flower of factually the universe was entered by Vishnu as the reservoir of all qualities from which He in the beginning generated the personality of Vedic wisdom, the controller of the universe [Brahmâ] who, so one says, was born from himself. (16) [Brahmâ] in that water situated on the whorl of the lotus could not discern the world and spying all around in the four directions he [thus] received his four heads. (17) [Brahmâ] seated upon and sheltered by the lotus flower that, because of the stormy sky at the end of the yuga, had appeared from the restless waters, could in his bewilderment not fathom the mystery of creation, nor understand that he was the first demigod. (18) 'Who am I, seated on top of this lotus? Wherefrom has it originated? There must be something in the water below. Being present here implies the existence of that from which it sprouted!' (19) This way contemplating the stem of the lotus, he by following that channel in the water towards the navel [of Vishnu], despite his entering there and extensively thinking about its origin, could not understand the foundation. (20) Groping in the dark, oh Vidura, with his contemplating this way it thus came to pass that the enormity of the three-dimensional reality of time [tri-kâlika] was generated that, as a weapon [a cakra], inspires fear in the embodied unborn soul by limiting his span of life to a hundred years [compare 2.2: 24-25].
(21) When he failed to achieve the object of his desire, the godhead gave up the endeavor and seated himself upon the lotus again to control with confidence, step by step, his breath, withdraw his mind and unify his consciousness in meditation. (22) [Thus] practicing yoga for the duration of his life, the unborn one in due course of time developed the understanding and saw how in his heart, out of its own, that manifested what he could not see before. (23) On the bed of the completely white gigantic S'esha-nâga [snake] lotusflower the Original Person was lying all alone under the umbrella of the serpent hood that was bedecked with head jewels by the glow of which the darkness in the water of devastation was dissipated. (24) The view of His hands, legs, jewels, flower garland and dress, derided the panorama of the green coral of the evening splendor of the sun over the great, golden mountain summits with their waterfalls and herbs, flowers and trees. (25) The totality of the three worlds in all its variety was, with the length and width of the measurement of His transcendental presence, covered by the beauty of the divine radiance of the ornaments that dressed His body.
(26) According to the desire of the human being who, in worship of the lotus feet that reward each desire, follows the path of devotional service, He in His causeless mercy, with the moonlike radiance of His toe- and fingernails, showed the most beautiful [flowerlike] division. (27) With His smiling face adorned with the beauty of His earrings, with the view of the light reflected by His lips and with the reaction of His pleasing nose and eyebrows, He dispelled the distress of the world. (28) Dear Vidura, His waist was well decorated with a belt and with cloth with the saffron color of kadamba flowers, there was a priceless necklace and on His chest there was the attractive S'rîvatsa mark [a few white hairs]. (29) The way trees in the world have their separate existence and with their thousands of branches spread their high value [of flowers and fruits] as if they are ornamented with precious jewels, so too the Lord, the ruler of Ananta, [Garbhodakas'âyî Vishnu] is ornamented with the hoods above His shoulders. (30) The Supreme Lord, just like a mountain, is the abode for all living beings mobile and immobile. As the friend of Anantadeva He, like a mountain, is submerged in the water and with His thousands of golden helmets [and jewels] and with His Kaustubha jewel He manifests Himself like a mountain range of gold in the ocean. (31) With around His neck the flower garland of His personal glories in the form of the sweet, beautiful sounds of Vedic wisdom, the Lord of the sun, the moon, the air and fire was most difficult to approach for all the three worlds [so did Brahmâ discover] because He was surrounded by His personal weapons [like His cakra]. (32) Thus it happened that the godhead of the universe, the creator of destiny, could behold His navel, the lake, the lotus flower, the waters of destruction, the air with its winds and the sky, but could not glance beyond the created reality of the cosmic manifestation. (33) With the reach of that vision he, as the seed of all worldly activities, thus was invigorated by the mode of passion. Therefore He, in consideration of the living beings eagerly procreating, prayed to Him for the allowance to create, on the transcendental path of the steadfast soul, in service of the Worshipable One.'
The Universal Planetary System
Digest 600: Partial Devastation
Add Commentby Romapada Swami
Written by Romapada Swami
Question: I have 3 questions regarding the Partial Devastation.
How much of the universe is flooded, during partial annihilation?
* Below are two accounts, which appear to contradict one another. In the former description, the 4 upper planets are -NOT- covered in water during the Partial Devastation. In the latter description, all the 3 worlds are covered.
Where does Brahma reside during the Partial Annihilation? How much of the universe does he have to reconstruct at the end of each night?
Where do the living entities reside, during the devastation?
SB 4.7.42 – The demigods said: Dear Lord, formerly, when there was a devastation, You conserved all the different energies of material manifestation. At that time, all the inhabitants of the higher planets, represented by such liberated souls as Sanaka, were meditating on You by philosophical speculation. You are therefore the original person, and You rest in the water of devastation on the bed of the Çeña snake. Now, today, You are visible to us, who are all Your servants. Please give us protection.
PURPORT – The devastation indicated in this verse is the partial devastation of the lower planets within the universe when Lord Brahmä goes to sleep. The higher planetary systems, beginning with Maharloka, Janaloka and Tapoloka, are not inundated at the time of this devastation.
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SB3.11.30-31 – The devastation takes place due to the fire emanating from the mouth of Saìkarñaëa, and thus great sages like Bhågu and other inhabitants of Maharloka transport themselves to Janaloka, being distressed by the warmth of the blazing fire which rages through the three worlds below. At the beginning of the devastation all the seas overflow, and hurricane winds blow very violently. Thus the waves of the seas become ferocious, and in no time at all the three worlds are full of water.
PURPORT—It is said that the blazing fire from the mouth of Saìkarñaëa rages for one hundred years of the demigods, or 36,000 human years. Then for another 36,000 years there are torrents of rain, accompanied by violent winds and waves, and the seas and oceans overflow. These reactions of 72,000 years are the beginning of the partial devastation of the three worlds.
Answer by Romapada Swami:
1. During the partial devastation, Bhur, Bhuvar and Svar are flooded. That is what is commonly referred to as the three worlds. Of course, the subterranean planets below Bhumandala are also flooded. So only the top four lokas are above the universal ocean, which is known as ekarnava (one ocean).
Regarding the two descriptions you provided, I don’t see any contradiction between them. In the first, Mahar, Jana, Tapo and Brahmaloka remain, and those lower are devastated. Similarly, in the second, the three worlds are devastated; these three are Bhur, Bhuvah and Svarga, as mentioned above. The second description also points out that the residents of Mahar move up to Janaloka, not because it is destroyed, but because it got too hot there. As such, in both descriptions, Maharloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka and Brahmaloka remain; though Maharloka becomes unfit for habitation.
2. During the partial annihilation, Lord Brahma remains in Brahmaloka. He also has a residence on top of Mount Meru, but that is part of Svarga and is thus inundated at the time. His abode on Brahmaloka is however, undisturbed. During each of the subsequent days of Brahma, he has to re-create all 10 of the planetary systems which were devastated during his night.
3. There is a conversation wherein Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Maharaja asked Srila Prabhupada about how the bodies of the living entities become manifest after the partial devastation. Srila Prabhupada answered, ” There is no body. They are reserved in the Visnu’s body. And again, when there is creation, they come out.”
The jiva’s who were residing in the devastated lokas enter within the body of Garbhodakasayi Visnu, who is the Supersoul of the universe.
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