VedaVyasa
Praneetha
The Mad Bhagavatam
Chapter 4
Pralaya: The Four Types of Annihilation
(The Four Categories of Universal Annihilation)
This chapter discusses the four kinds of annihilation (constant, occasional, material and final) and the chanting of the holy name of Lord Hari, which is the only means of stopping the cycle of material life.
One thousand cycles of four ages constitute one day of Brahmā, and each day of Brahmā, called a kalpa, contains within it the lifetimes of fourteen Manus. The duration of Brahmā's night is the same as that of his day. During his night Brahmā sleeps, and the three planetary systems meet destruction; this is the naimittika, or occasional, annihilation. When Brahmā's life span of one hundred years is finished, there occurs the prākṛtika, or total material, annihilation. At that time the seven elements of material nature, beginning with the mahat, and the entire universal egg composed of them are destroyed. When a person achieves knowledge of the Absolute, he understands factual reality. He perceives the entire created universe as separate from the Absolute and therefore unreal. That is called the ātyantika, or final, annihilation (liberation). At every moment time invisibly transforms the bodies of all created beings and all other manifestations of matter. This process of transformation causes the living entity to undergo the constant annihilation of birth and death. Those possessed of subtle vision state that all creatures, including Brahmā himself, are always subject to generation and annihilation. Material life means subjugation to birth and death, or generation and annihilation. The only boat suitable for crossing the ocean of material existence, which is otherwise impossible to cross, is the boat of submissive hearing of the nectarean pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
12.4.1
śrī-śuka uvāca
kālas te paramāṇv-ādir
dvi-parārdhāvadhir nṛpa
kathito yuga-mānaṁ ca
śṛṇu kalpa-layāv api
kālas te paramāṇv-ādir
dvi-parārdhāvadhir nṛpa
kathito yuga-mānaṁ ca
śṛṇu kalpa-layāv api
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'Time beginning with the smallest of the atom and culminating in the two halves [or parârdhas] of the life of Brahmâ, o King has been described [in 3.11] together with the duration of the yugas; now listen to the annihilation of the kalpa.
12.4.2
catur-yuga-sahasraṁ tu
brahmaṇo dinam ucyate
sa kalpo yatra manavaś
caturdaśa viśām-pate
brahmaṇo dinam ucyate
sa kalpo yatra manavaś
caturdaśa viśām-pate
(2) A thousand cycles of four yugas is said to be a kalpa, a day of Brahmâ, in which there are fourteen original progenitors of mankind [Manus].
12.4.3
tad-ante pralayas tāvān
brāhmī rātrir udāhṛtā
trayo lokā ime tatra
kalpante pralayāya hi
brāhmī rātrir udāhṛtā
trayo lokā ime tatra
kalpante pralayāya hi
(3) When they are done there is the dissolution described as the night of Brahmâ that is of the same duration; the three worlds remain dissolved till the end of that time.
12.4.4
eṣa naimittikaḥ proktaḥ
pralayo yatra viśva-sṛk
śete 'nantāsano viśvam
ātmasāt-kṛtya cātma-bhūḥ
pralayo yatra viśva-sṛk
śete 'nantāsano viśvam
ātmasāt-kṛtya cātma-bhūḥ
(4) This is said to be the occasional annihilation [or naimittika pralaya] in which [Nârâyana] the creator of the universe lies down upon His bed Ananta, to absorb the universe including Lord Brahmâ.
12.4.5
dvi-parārdhe tv atikrānte
brahmaṇaḥ parameṣṭhinaḥ
tadā prakṛtayaḥ sapta
kalpante pralayāya vai
brahmaṇaḥ parameṣṭhinaḥ
tadā prakṛtayaḥ sapta
kalpante pralayāya vai
(5) After the completion of two parârdhas [viz. the two half life times] of the highest situated living being, Lord Brahmâ, are the seven elements [mahat, ahamkâra and the tanmâtras], subject to destruction.
12.4.6
eṣa prākṛtiko rājan
pralayo yatra līyate
aṇḍa-koṣas tu saṅghāto
vighāṭa upasādite
pralayo yatra līyate
aṇḍa-koṣas tu saṅghāto
vighāṭa upasādite
(6) This, o King, constitutes the elemental annihilation. Therafter this universal egg, this aggregate [of these seven universal principles] reaching the time of its disruption, will dissolve.
It is significant that Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the spiritual master of King Parīkṣit, is broadly discussing cosmic annihilation just before the death of his disciple. By attentively hearing the story of universal destruction, one can easily understand one's personal departure from this temporary world to be an insignificant incident within the gigantic scope of the total material manifestation. By his deep and relevant discussions of the creation of God, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, as an ideal spiritual master, is preparing his disciple for the moment of death.
12.4.7
parjanyaḥ śata-varṣāṇi
bhūmau rājan na varṣati
tadā niranne hy anyonyaṁ
bhakṣyamāṇāḥ kṣudhārditāḥ
kṣayaṁ yāsyanti śanakaiḥ
kālenopadrutāḥ prajāḥ
bhūmau rājan na varṣati
tadā niranne hy anyonyaṁ
bhakṣyamāṇāḥ kṣudhārditāḥ
kṣayaṁ yāsyanti śanakaiḥ
kālenopadrutāḥ prajāḥ
(7) For a hundred years the clouds, o King, will not shower rain upon the earth. The people confounded by the time will, with the famine that follows, in the distress of their hunger [even] consume each other and gradually find themselves destroyed.
12.4.8
sāmudraṁ daihikaṁ bhaumaṁ
rasaṁ sāṁvartako raviḥ
raśmibhiḥ pibate ghoraiḥ
sarvaṁ naiva vimuñcati
rasaṁ sāṁvartako raviḥ
raśmibhiḥ pibate ghoraiḥ
sarvaṁ naiva vimuñcati
(8) The sun with its terrible rays not giving the slightest [precipitation] in return, will drink up all the juice of the earth, the ocean and the living bodies.
12.4.9
sańkarṣaṇa-mukhotthitaḥ
dahaty anila-vegotthaḥ
(9) Then from the mouth of Lord Sankarshana will issue the fire of destruction that raised by the force of the wind will burn the empty regions of the planets [3.11: 30, 8.5: 35].
12.4.10
dahyamānaḿ vibhāty aṇḍaḿ
(10) The universal egg burning on all sides with the flames of the fire from below and the sun above, will glow like a ball of cow-dung.
12.4.11
tataḥ pracaṇḍa-pavano
(11) Next a terrible wind will blow for more than a hundred years and bring annihilation covering the sky gray with dust.
12.4.12
(12) Clusters of multicolored clouds, my dearest, then will pour down rain for a hundred years with tremendous claps of thunder.
12.4.13
brahmāṇḍa-vivarāntaram
(13) The shell of the universe will, filling up, thereupon be one single [cosmic] body of water.
12.4.14
(14) When the water at the time of the flooding drives away the quality of fragrance, the element earth, being deprived of its fragrance, will dissolve [see also 3.26: 49-61, 11.3: 9, 11.24: 22-27].
As clearly explained throughout Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the first element, sky, possesses the unique quality of sound. As creation expands, the second element, air, comes into being, and it possesses sound and touch. The third element, fire, possesses sound, touch and form, and the fourth element, water, possesses sound, touch, form and flavor. The earth possesses sound, touch, form, flavor and aroma. As each element loses its unique distinguishing quality, it naturally becomes indistinguishable from the more subtle elements and is thus effectively dissolved as a unique entity.
12.4.15-19
taijasaś cendriyāṇy ańga
mahān grasaty ahańkāraḿ
pariṇāmādayo guṇāḥ
(15-19) Fire then takes away the taste of water, after which it, deprived of its unique quality, dissolves. Next follows fire that by air is deprived of its form. With the fire merged with the wind the ether takes from the air away its quality [of touch] and then follows the quality of the ether, sound, that is taken away by the original elemental of nature [or false ego in ignorance]. With the ether subsequently merging, the vital power [false ego in passion] takes hold of the senses, my best, and are the gods subject to modification seized [by the false ego of goodness]. Cosmic intelligence seizes that [vaikârika] again along with its qualities [or manifest functions] and that mahat is then absorbed by the gunas of sattva and such. These three modes o King, are then, under the pressure of Time, overtaken by the inexhaustible doer [the original unmanifest form of nature] from whom there is not the transformation and such in divisions of time [shath-ûrmi]; unmanifest without a beginning and an end it is the infallible eternal cause.
12.4.20-21
tamo rajo vā mahad-ādayo 'mī
(20-21) Therein is speech, mind, nor the mode of goodness, passion or ignorance found; the elements of the greater reality - the vital air, the intelligence, the senses and so on - there are not, nor the gods or the arrangement of the different planetary orders. There is no sleeping, waking or deep sleep, nor water, air, ether, fire, earth or sun. That, being like a void or like someone fast asleep, is the substance which defying all logical explanation serves as the root [the pradhâna], so say the authorities.
12.4.22
puruṣāvyaktayor yadā
(22) This is the [prâkritika pralaya] dissolution wherein all the material elements of nature and energies of the unseen Original Person are completely dismantled by Time and helplessly merge.
12.4.23
buddhīndriyārtha-rūpeṇa
dṛśyatvāvyatirekābhyām
(23) It is [nothing but] spiritual knowledge [the consciousness, the Absolute Truth] that manifests in the form of these elements of intelligence, the senses and the sense objects. Whatever that is perceived as having a beginning and an end is, having no existence apart from its cause, insubstantial [being only a reference to it, compare 11.28: 21].
The word dṛśyatva indicates that all subtle and gross material manifestations are made visible by the potency of the Supreme Lord and again become invisible, or unmanifest, at the time of annihilation. They are therefore in essence not separate from the source of their expansion and withdrawal.
12.4.24
(24) A lamp, an eye perceiving and the form perceived do not stand apart from the light [that is treated by them]. The same way intelligence, the senses and sense perceptions do no stand apart from the [one] reality that is quite different [see also siddhânta and B.G. 9.15].
12.4.25
buddher jāgaraṇaḿ svapnaḥ
suṣuptir iti cocyate
(25) Wakefulness, sleep and deep sleep belong to the intelligence and are thus called a deception of the senses. This o King is the duality as it is experienced by the soul.
Pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness exists beyond the various stages of material awareness. Just as darkness vanishes in the presence of light, so illusory material intelligence, which is experienced as normal perception, dreaming and deep sleep, completely vanishes in the brilliant presence of pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the constitutional condition of every living entity.
12.4.26
avayavy udayāpyayāt
(26) Just as clouds in the sky are there and are not there within the Absolute of the Truth, similarly this whole universe with its different parts being generated and dissolved is there and not there.
12.4.27
sarvāvayavinām iha
vinārthena pratīyeran
paṭasyevāńga tantavaḥ
(27) The ingredient cause, my best, of any composite entity out here, is something real thus is stated [in the Vedânta-sûtra], just as it is with the threads of a fabric that can be perceived apart from the cloth they form [see also 6.3: 12, 11.12: 21].
12.4.28
anyonyāpāśrayāt sarvam
(28) Whatever one may experience in terms of having a general cause and a specific effect is a form of illusion, because everything that in depending on something else is subject to a beginning and an end is insubstantial [viz. a fixation of matter is an illusion, but the energy constituting that matter is real].
The nature of a material cause cannot be perceived without perception of the effect. For example, the burning nature of fire cannot be perceived without observing the effect of fire, such as a burning object or ashes. Similarly, the saturating quality of water cannot be understood without observing the effect, a saturated cloth or paper. The organizational power of a man cannot be understood without observing the effect of his dynamic work, namely a solid institution. In this way, not only do effects depend upon their causes, but the perception of the cause also depends upon observation of the effect. Thus both are defined relatively and have a beginning and an end. The conclusion is that all such material causes and effects are essentially temporary and relative, and consequently illusory.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, although the cause of all causes, has no beginning or end. Therefore He is neither material nor illusory. Lord Kṛṣṇa's opulences and potencies are absolute reality, beyond the interdependence of material cause and effect.
12.4.29
vikāraḥ khyāyamāno 'pi
(29) A single atom subject to transformation is, even though it manifests, without the Direct Evidence [in the form of Time] of the Supreme Self not conceivable [or even perceivable], even if it the same way [as the immutable soul] remains without change.
A mirage of water appearing in the desert is actually a manifestation of light; the false appearance of water is a specific transformation of light. That which falsely appears as independent material nature is similarly a transformation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Material nature is the external potency of the Lord.
12.4.30
nānātvaḿ chidrayor yadvaj
jyotiṣor vātayor iva
(30) There cannot be different types of Absolute Truth; if an ignorant person thinks of it in terms of opposites is that as having two skies, two daylights or two winds.
12.4.31
(31) Just as gold to men appears in many forms depending on its use is similarly the Supreme Lord Adhokshaja who is inconceivable to the senses, described in various terms by the commoner as well as by the vedic person.
All those who are not pure devotees of the Supreme Lord are basically trying to exploit the Lord and His energies. According to their strategy of exploitation, they conceive of and describe the Absolute Truth in various ways. In Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam the Absolute Truth presents Himself as He actually is for the benefit of sincere people who do not foolishly try to conceptually manipulate the Supreme Godhead.
12.4.32
yathā ghano 'rka-prabhavo 'rka-darśito
brahmāḿśakasyātmana ātma-bandhanaḥ
(32) The way a cloud as a product of the sun is made visible by the sun and factually as a partial expansion of the sun is darkness [of casting a shadow] to the eyes, is likewise the I-awareness a quality of God, that visible through Him and as a partial expansion of Him the same time serves as an individual soul [with a clouded vision] who lives in bondage relative to the Supreme Soul.
12.4.33
ghano yadārka-prabhavo vidīryate
(33) When a cloud that was produced by the sun is riven the eye then sees the sun in its proper form, the same way is, as soon as the superficial false ego which covers the spirit soul is destroyed by spiritual inquiry, the proper remembrance acquired.
Just as the sun can burn away the clouds that prevent one from seeing it, the Supreme Lord (and He alone) can remove the false ego that prevents one from seeing Him. There are some creatures, however, like owls, who are averse to seeing the sun. In the same way, those who are not interested in spiritual knowledge will never receive the privilege of seeing God.
12.4.34
chittvācyutātmānubhavo 'vatiṣṭhate
(34) When one this way by means of this sword of discrimination has cut away the deluding false ego [of fixations] that is the cause of the bondage of the soul and has developed a firm realization of the Infallible Supreme Soul [of the Living Being], is that what one calls the ultimate annihilation [âtyantika pralaya], my dear.
12.4.35
brahmādīnāḿ parantapa
(35) O subduer of the enemies, by some expert knowers of the subtle is asserted that the creation and destruction that all created beings beginning with Brahmâ undergo is something constantly taking place.
12.4.36
kāla-sroto-javenāśu
pariṇāmināḿ avasthās tā
(36) The various conditions [stages of existence] of the things subject to change are swiftly overtaken by the force of the mighty current of Time; they constitute the proof of their constantly being born and annihilated [called nityah pralaya].
12.4.37
anādy-antavatānena
kāleneśvara-mūrtinā
(37) The different stages created by beginningless and endless Time - itself representing Îs'vara [the Controller in the impersonal sphere] - are, as you know, not directly seen, just as the movements of the planets in outer space [or one's different conditionings] are not immediately seen [see also 3.10; 10-14].
Although everyone knows that the sun is constantly moving in the sky, one cannot normally see the sun moving. Similarly, no one can directly perceive his hair or nails growing, although with the passing of time we perceive the fact of growth. Time, the potency of the Lord, is very subtle and powerful and is an insurmountable barrier to fools who are trying to exploit the material creation.
12.4.38
nityo naimittikaś caiva
(38) This way the progress of Time [kâla] is described as being of a continuous [nitya], occasional [naimittika], natural [elemental or prâkritika] and final [âtyantika] annihilation.
12.4.39
(39) These narrations about the lîlâ of the creator of the universe, Nârâyana, the reservoir of all existences, have in summary been related to you o best of the Kurus; not even the Unborn One [Brahmâ] can enumerate them completely.
12.4.40
nānyaḥ plavo bhagavataḥ puruṣottamasya
(40) For the person who suffers as a consequence of the fire of the various forms of misery and desires to cross over the hard to overcome ocean of material existence, there is no other boat but the rendering of service to the Fortunate One, the Supreme Personality, according to the personal taste for the narrations of His pastimes.
Although it is not possible to completely describe the pastimes of the Lord, even a partial appreciation can save one from the unbearable miseries of material existence. The fever of material existence can be removed only by the medicine of the holy name and pastimes of the Supreme Lord, which are perfectly narrated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
12.4.41
ṛṣir nārāyaṇo 'vyayaḥ
(41) This essential compendium of all the classical stories was previously by the infallible Lord Nara-Nârâyana spoken to Nârada who repeated it to Krishna Dvaipâyana [Vyâsa, the writer; see 5.19: 10-15].
12.4.42
(42) He, that powerful Lord Bâdarâyana, was sure to teach this Bhâgavatam, this anthology equal in status to the four Vedas, to me o Mahârâja.
12.4.43
ṛṣibhyo naimiṣālaye
sampṛṣṭaḥ śaunakādibhiḥ
(43) Sûta Gosvâmî, sitting here with us, will [on his turn] pass it on to the sages present in the forest of Naimishâranya for a lengthy sacrifice presided by S'aunaka, o best of the Kurus [see 1.1].'
Thus end of the Twelfth Canto, Fourth Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "The Four Categories of Universal Annihilation."
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