Śrī Maitreya said: After hearing the words of Brahmā, the creator, which were free from all sinful purposes and as sweet as nectar, the Lord heartily laughed and accepted his prayer with a glance laden with love (1). The Lord, who had appeared from the nostril of Brahmā, sprang and aimed His mace at the chin of His enemy, the Hiraṇyākṣa demon, who was stalk ing fearlessly before Him (2).Struck by the de mon’s mace, however, the Lord’s mace slipped from His hand and looked splendid as it fell down whirling. This was miraculous, for the mace was blazing wonderfully (3).

Even though the demon had an excellent opportunity to strike his unarmed foe without obstruction, he respected the law of single combat, thereby kin dling the fury of the Supreme Lord (4).As the Lord’s mace fell to the ground and a cry of alarm arose from the witnessing crowd of gods and ṛṣis, the Personality of Godhead acknowl edged the demon’s love of righteousness and therefore invoked His Sudarśana discus (5). As the discus began to revolve in the Lord’s hands and the Lord contended at close quarters with the chief of His Vaikuṇṭha attendants, who had been born as Hiraṇyākṣa, a vile son of Diti, there issued from every direction strange ex pressions uttered by those who were witnessing from airplanes. They had no knowledge of the Lord’s reality, and they cried, “May victory at tend You! Pray dispatch him. Play no more with him” (6).

When the demon saw the Per sonality of Godhead, who had eyes just like lo tus petals, standing in position before him, armed with His Sudarśana discus, his senses were overpowered by indignation. He began to hiss like a serpent, and he bit his lip in great resentment (7).The demon, who had fearful tusks, stared at the Personality of Godhead as though to burn Him. Springing into the air, he aimed his mace at the Lord, exclaiming at the same time, “You are slain!” (8) O saintly Vidura, while His enemy looked on, the Lord in His boar form, the enjoyer of all sacrificial offerings, playfully knocked down the mace with His left foot, even as it came upon Him with the force of a tempest (9).

 The Lord then said: “Take up your weapon and try again, ea ger as you are to conquer Me.” Challenged in these words, the demon aimed his mace at the Lord and once more loudly roared (10).When the Lord saw the mace flying toward Him, He stood firmly where He was and caught it with the same ease as Garuḍa, the king of birds, would seize a serpent (11). His valor thus frustrated, the great demon felt humiliated and was put out of countenance. He was reluctant to take back the mace when it was offered by the Personality of Godhead (12).He now took a trident which was as rapa cious as a flaming fire and hurled it against the Lord, the enjoyer of all sacrifices, even as one would use penance for a malevolent purpose against a holy brāhmaṇa (13).

Hurled by the mighty demon with all his strength, the flying trident shone brightly in the sky. The Personal ity of Godhead, however, tore it to pieces with His discus Sudarśana, which had a sharp-edged rim, even as Indra cut off a wing of Garuḍa (14).The demon was enraged when his trident was cut to pieces by the discus of the Personal ity of Godhead. He therefore advanced toward the Lord and, roaring aloud, struck his hard fist against the Lord’s broad chest, which bore the mark of Śrīvatsa. Then he went out of sight (15). Hit in this manner by the demon, O Vidura, the Lord, who had appeared as the first boar, did not feel the least quaking in any part of His body, any more than an elephant would when struck with a wreath of flowers (16).

The de mon, however, employed many conjuring tricks against the Personality of Godhead, who is the Lord of yoga-māyā. At the sight of this the people were filled with alarm and thought that the dissolution of the universe was near (17). Fierce winds began to blow from all di rections, spreading darkness occasioned by dust and hail storms; stones came in volleys from every corner, as if thrown by machine guns (18).The luminaries in outer space disap peared due to the sky’s being overcast with masses of clouds, which were accompanied by lightning and thunder. The sky rained pus, hair, blood, stool, urine and bones (19).

O sinless Vidura, mountains discharged weapons of var ious kinds, and naked demonesses armed with tridents appeared with their hair hanging loose (20).Cruel and savage slogans were uttered by hosts of ruffian Yakṣas and Rākṣasas, who all either marched on foot or rode on horses, ele phants or chariots (21). The Lord, the personal enjoyer of all sacri fices, now discharged His beloved Sudarśana, which was capable of dispersing the magical forces displayed by the demon (22). At that very moment, a shudder suddenly ran through the heart of Diti, the mother of Hiraṇyākṣa. She recalled the words of her husband, Kaśyapa, and blood flowed from her breasts (23).

When the demon saw his magic forces dispelled, he once again came into the presence of the Per sonality of Godhead, Keśava, and, full of rage, tried to embrace Him within his arms to crush Him. But to his great amazement he found the Lord standing outside the circle of his arms (24).The demon now began to strike the Lord with his hard fists, but Lord Adhokṣaja slapped him in the root of the ear, even as Indra, the lord of the Maruts, hit the demon Vṛtra (25). Though struck indifferently by the Lord, the conqueror of all, the demon’s body began to wheel. His eyeballs bulged out of their sockets. His arms and legs broken and the hair on his head scattered, he fell down dead, like a gigan tic tree uprooted by the wind (26).Aja [Brahmā] and others arrived on the spot to see the fear fully tusked demon lying on the ground, biting his lip. The glow of his face was yet unfaded, and Brahmā admiringly said: Oh, who could meet such blessed death? (27)

 Brahmā contin ued: He was struck by a forefoot of the Lord, whom yogīs, seeking freedom from their unreal material bodies, meditate upon in seclusion in mystic trance. While gazing on His counte nance, this crest jewel of Diti’s sons has cast off his mortal coil (28).These two personal assis tants of the Supreme Lord, having been cursed, have been destined to take birth in demoniac families. After a few such births, they will re turn to their own positions (29). The demigods addressed the Lord: All obeisances unto You! You are the enjoyer of all sacrifices, and You have assumed the form of a boar, in pure goodness, for the purpose of main taining the world. Fortunately for us, this de mon, who was a torment to the worlds, has been slain by You, and we too, O Lord, are now at ease, in devotion to Your lotus feet (30).

Śrī Maitreya continued: After thus killing the most formidable demon Hiraṇyākṣa, the Supreme Lord Hari, the origin of the boar spe cies, returned to His own abode, where there is always an uninterrupted festival. The Lord was praised by all the demigods, headed by Brahmā (31). Maitreya continued: My dear Vidura, I have explained to you the Personality of God head’s coming down as the first boar incarna tion and killing in a great fight a demon of un precedented prowess as if he were just a play thing. This has been narrated by me as I heard it from my predecessor spiritual master (32).

 Śrī Sūta Gosvāmī continued: My dear brāhmaṇa, Kṣattā [Vidura] the great devotee of the Lord achieved transcendental bliss by hear ing the narration of the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead from the authoritative source of the sage Kauṣārava [Maitreya], and he was very pleased (33).What to speak of hearing the pastimes of the Lord, whose chest is marked with Śrīvatsa, people may take tran scendental pleasure even in hearing of the works and deeds of the devotees, whose fame is immortal (34).The Personality of Godhead delivered the king of the elephants, who was at tacked by an alligator and who meditated upon the lotus feet of the Lord. At that time the fe male elephants who accompanied him were crying, and the Lord saved them from the im pending danger (35).

 What grateful soul is there who would not render his loving service to such a great master as the Personality of Godhead? The Lord can be easily pleased by spotless devotees who resort exclusively to Him for protection, though the unrighteous man finds it difficult to propitiate Him (36).O brāhmaṇas, anyone who hears, chants, or takes pleasure in the wonderful narration of the kill ing of the Hiraṇyākṣa demon by the Lord, who appeared as the first boar in order to deliver the world, is at once relieved of the results of sinful activities, even the killing of a brāhmaṇa (37).This most sacred narrative confers ex traordinary merit, wealth, fame, longevity and all the objects of one’s desire. On the field of battle it promotes the strength of one’s vital or gans and organs of action. One who listens to it at the last moment of his life is transferred to the supreme abode of the Lord, O dear Śaunaka (38).

Maitreya continued: The proud and falsely glorious Daitya paid little heed to the words of Varuṇa. O dear Vidura, he learned from Nārada the whereabouts of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and hurriedly betook himself to the depths of the ocean (1).He saw there the all powerful Personality of Godhead in His boar incarnation, bearing the earth upward on the ends of His tusks and robbing him of his splen dor with His reddish eyes. The demon laughed: Oh, an amphibious beast! (2)

 The demon ad dressed the Lord: O best of the demigods, dressed in the form of a boar, just hear me. This earth is entrusted to us, the inhabitants of the lower regions, and You cannot take it from my presence and not be hurt by me (3).You rascal, You have been nourished by our enemies to kill us, and You have killed some demons by re maining invisible. O fool, Your power is only mystic, so today I shall enliven my kinsmen by killing You (4).

The demon continued: When You fall dead with Your skull smashed by the mace hurled by my arms, the demigods and sages who offer You oblations and sacrifice in devotional service will also automatically cease to exist, like trees without roots (5). Although the Lord was pained by the shaft like abusive words of the demon, He bore the pain. But seeing that the earth on the ends of His tusks was frightened, He rose out of the wa ter just as an elephant emerges with its female companion when assailed by an alligator (6).

The demon, who had golden hair on his head and fearful tusks, gave chase to the Lord while He was rising from the water, even as an alligator would chase an elephant. Roaring like thunder, he said: Are You not ashamed of run ning away before a challenging adversary? There is nothing reproachable for shameless creatures! (7) The Lord placed the earth within His sight on the surface of the water and transferred to her His own energy in the form of the ability to float on the water. While the enemy stood look ing on, Brahmā, the creator of the universe, ex tolled the Lord, and the other demigods rained flowers on Him (8).The demon, who had a wealth of ornaments, bangles and beautiful golden armor on his body, chased the Lord from behind with a great mace. The Lord toler ated his piercing ill words, but in order to reply to him, He expressed His terrible anger (9).

The Personality of Godhead said: Indeed, We are creatures of the jungle, and We are searching after hunting dogs like you. One who is freed from the entanglement of death has no fear from the loose talk in which you are in dulging, for you are bound up by the laws of death (10). Certainly We have stolen the charge of the inhabitants of Rasātala and have lost all shame. Although bitten by your power ful mace, I shall stay here in the water for some time because, having created enmity with a powerful enemy, I now have no place to go (11).You are supposed to be the commander of many foot soldiers, and now you may take prompt steps to overthrow Us. Give up all your foolish talk and wipe out the cares of your kith and kin by slaying Us. One may be proud, yet he does not deserve a seat in an assembly if he fails to fulfill his promised word (12).

Śrī Maitreya said: The demon, being thus challenged by the Personality of Godhead, be came angry and agitated, and he trembled in an ger like a challenged cobra (13). Hissing indig nantly, all his senses shaken by wrath, the de mon quickly sprang upon the Lord and dealt Him a blow with his powerful mace (14).The Lord, however, by moving slightly aside, dodged the violent mace-blow aimed at His breast by the enemy, just as an accomplished yogī would elude death (15).The Personality of Godhead now exhibited His anger and rushed to meet the demon, who bit his lip in rage, took up his mace again and began to repeatedly brandish it about (16).

Then with His mace the Lord struck the enemy on the right of his brow, but since the demon was expert in fighting, O gentle Vidura, he protected himself by a ma neuver of his own mace (17).In this way, the demon Haryakṣa and the Lord, the Personality of Godhead, struck each other with their huge maces, each enraged and seeking his own vic tory (18).There was keen rivalry between the two combatants; both had sustained injuries on their bodies from the blows of each other’s pointed maces, and each grew more and more enraged at the smell of blood on his person. In their eagerness to win, they performed maneu vers of various kinds, and their contest looked like an encounter between two forceful bulls for the sake of a cow (19).

 O descendant of Kuru, Brahmā, the most independent demigod of the universe, accompanied by his followers, came to see the terrible fight for the sake of the world between the demon and the Personality of Godhead, who appeared in the form of a boar (20).After arriving at the place of combat, Brahmā, the leader of thousands of sages and transcendentalists, saw the demon, who had at tained such unprecedented power that no one could fight with him. Brahmā then addressed Nārāyaṇa, who was assuming the form of a boar for the first time (21).

 Lord Brahmā said: My dear Lord, this de mon has proved to be a constant pinprick to the demigods, the brāhmaṇas, the cows and inno cent persons who are spotless and always de pendent upon worshiping Your lotus feet. He has become a source of fear by unnecessarily harassing them. Since he has attained a boon from me, he has become a demon, always searching for a proper combatant, wandering all over the universe for this infamous purpose (22-23).Lord Brahmā continued: My dear Lord, there is no need to play with this serpen tine demon, who is always very skilled in con juring tricks and is arrogant, self-sufficient and most wicked (24).

Brahmā continued: My dear Lord, You are infallible. Please kill this sinful demon before the demoniac hour arrives and he presents another formidable approach favora ble to him. You can kill him by Your internal potency without doubt (25).My Lord, the dark est evening, which covers the world, is fast ap proaching. Since You are the Soul of all souls, kindly kill him and win victory for the demi gods (26).The auspicious period known as ab hijit, which is most opportune for victory, com menced at midday and has all but passed; there fore, in the interest of Your friends, please dis pose of this formidable foe quickly (27).This demon, luckily for us, has come of his own ac cord to You, his death ordained by You; there fore, exhibiting Your ways, kill him in the duel and establish the worlds in peace (28).

Śrī Maitreya said: The demigods, the in habitants of the higher planets, were freed from all fear upon hearing the cause of the darkness explained by Brahmā, who was born from Viṣṇu. Thus they all returned to their respective planets (1). The virtuous lady Diti had been very appre hensive of trouble to the gods from the children in her womb, and her husband predicted the same. She brought forth twin sons after a full one hundred years of pregnancy (2).

On the birth of the two demons there were many natu ral disturbances, all very fearful and wonderful, in the heavenly planets, the earthly planets and in between them (3).There were earthquakes along the mountains on the earth, and it ap peared that there was fire everywhere. Many in auspicious planets like Saturn appeared, along with comets, meteors and thunderbolts (4).There blew winds which were most uninvit ing to the touch, hissing again and again and uprooting gigantic trees. They had storms for their armies and clouds of dust for their ensigns (5).

The luminaries in the heavens were screened by masses of clouds, in which light ning sometimes flashed as though laughing. Darkness reigned everywhere, and nothing could be seen (6).The ocean with its high waves wailed aloud as if stricken with sorrow, and there was a commotion among the creatures in habiting the ocean. The rivers and lakes were also agitated, and lotuses withered (7).Misty halos appeared around the sun and the moon during solar and lunar eclipses again and again. Claps of thunder were heard even without clouds, and sounds like those of rattling chari ots emerged from the mountain caves (8).

In the interior of the villages she-jackals yelled por tentously, vomiting strong fire from their mouths, and jackals and owls also joined them with their cries (9). Raising their necks, dogs cried here and there, now in the manner of sing ing and now of wailing (10). O Vidura, the asses ran hither and thither in herds, striking the earth with their hard hooves and wildly braying (11). Frightened by the braying of the asses, birds flew shrieking from their nests, while cat tle in the cowsheds as well as in the woods passed dung and urine (12).Cows, terrified, yielded blood in place of milk, clouds rained pus, the images of the gods in the temples shed tears, and trees fell down without a blast of wind (13).Ominous planets such as Mars and Saturn shone brighter and surpassed the auspi cious ones such as Mercury, Jupiter and Venus as well as a number of lunar mansions. Taking seemingly retrograde courses, the planets came in conflict with one another (14).

 Marking these and many other omens of evil times, eve ryone but the four sage sons of Brahmā, who were aware of the fall of Jaya and Vijaya and of their birth as Diti’s sons, was seized with fear. They did not know the secrets of these portents and thought that the dissolution of the universe was at hand (15). These two demons who appeared in ancient times soon began to exhibit uncommon bodily features; they had steel-like frames which be gan to grow just like two great mountains (16).Their bodies became so tall that they seemed to kiss the sky with the crests of their gold crowns. They blocked the view of all di rections and while walking shook the earth at every step. Their arms were adorned with bril liant bracelets, and they stood as if covering the sun with their waists, which were bound with excellent and beautiful girdles (17).

Prajāpati  Kaśyapa, the creator of the living entities, gave his twin sons their names; the one who was born first he named Hiraṇyākṣa, and the one who was first conceived by Diti he named Hiraṇyakaśipu (18). The elder child, Hiraṇyakaśipu, was un afraid of death from anyone within the three worlds because he received a benediction from Lord Brahmā. He was proud and puffed up due to this benediction and was able to bring all three planetary systems under his control (19).His younger brother, Hiraṇyākṣa, was al ways ready to satisfy his elder brother by his activities. Hiraṇyākṣa took a club on his shoul der and traveled all over the universe with a fighting spirit just to satisfy Hiraṇyakaśipu (20).

Hiraṇyākṣa’s temper was difficult to con trol. He had anklets of gold tinkling about his feet, he was adorned with a gigantic garland, and he rested his huge mace on one of his shoulders (21). His mental and bodily strength as well as the boon conferred upon him had made him proud. He feared death at the hands of no one, and there was no checking him. The gods, therefore, were seized with fear at his very sight, and they hid themselves even as snakes hide themselves for fear of Garuḍa (22).On not finding Indra and the other demi gods, who had previously been intoxicated with power, the chief of the Daityas, seeing that they had all vanished before his might, roared loudly (23).After returning from the heavenly king dom, the mighty demon, who was like an ele phant in wrath, for the sake of sport dived into the deep ocean, which was roaring terribly (24).

On his entering the ocean, the aquatic ani mals who formed the host of Varuṇa were stricken with fear and ran far away. Thus Hiraṇyākṣa showed his splendor without deal ing a blow (25).Moving about in the ocean for many, many years, the mighty Hiraṇyākṣa smote the gigantic wind-tossed waves again and again with his iron mace and reached Vibhāvarī, the capital of Varuṇa (26).Vibhāvarī is the home of Varuṇa, lord of the aquatic crea tures and guardian of the lower regions of the universe, where the demons generally reside. There Hiraṇyākṣa fell at Varuṇa’s feet like a lowborn man, and to make fun of him he said with a smile, “Give me battle, O Supreme Lord!” (27)

 You are the guardian of an entire sphere and a ruler of wide fame. Having crushed the might of arrogant and conceited warriors and having conquered all the Daityas and Dānavas in the world, you once performed a Rājasūya sacrifice to the Lord (28). Thus mocked by an enemy whose vanity knew no bounds, the worshipful lord of the wa ters waxed angry, but by dint of his reason he managed to curb the anger that had sprung up in him, and he replied: O dear one, we have now desisted from warfare, having grown too old for combat (29).

 You are so skilled in war that I do not see anyone else but the most an cient person, Lord Viṣṇu, who can give satis faction in battle to you. Therefore, O chief of the asuras, approach Him, whom even heroes like you mention with praise (30).Varuṇa con tinued: On reaching Him you will be rid of your pride at once and will lie down on the field of battle, surrounded by dogs, for eternal sleep. It is in order to exterminate wicked fellows like you and to show His grace to the virtuous that He assumes His various incarnations like Varāha (31).

Lord Brahmā said: After thus congratulat ing the sages for their nice words, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose abode is in the kingdom of God, spoke as follows (1). The Personality of Godhead said: These attendants of Mine, Jaya and Vijaya by name, have committed a great offense against you be cause of ignoring Me (2).

O great sages, I ap prove of the punishment that you who are de voted to Me have meted out to them (3).To Me, the brāhmaṇa is the highest and most beloved personality. The disrespect shown by My at tendants has actually been displayed by Me be cause the doormen are My servitors. I take this to be an offense by Myself; therefore I seek your forgiveness for the incident that has arisen (4).A wrong act committed by a servant leads people in general to blame his master, just as a spot of white leprosy on any part of the body pollutes all of the skin (5).

Anyone in the entire world, even down to the caṇḍāla, who lives by cooking and eating the flesh of the dog, is im mediately purified if he takes bath in hearing through the ear the glorification of My name, fame, etc. Now you have realized Me without doubt; therefore I will not hesitate to lop off My own arm if its conduct is found hostile to you (6).The Lord continued: Because I am the ser vitor of My devotees, My lotus feet have be come so sacred that they immediately wipe out all sin and I have acquired such a disposition that the goddess of fortune does not leave Me, even though I have no attachment for her, while others praise her beauty and observe sacred vows to secure from her even a slight favor (7).I do not enjoy the oblations offered by the sacri ficers in the sacrificial fire, which is one of My own mouths, with the same relish as I do the delicacies overflowing with ghee which are of fered to the mouths of the brāhmaṇas who have dedicated to Me the results of their activities and who are ever satisfied with My prasāda (8).

I am the master of My unobstructed internal energy, and the water of the Ganges is the rem nant left after My feet are washed. That water sanctifies the three worlds, along with Lord Śiva, who bears it on his head. If I can take the dust of the feet of the Vaiṣṇava on My head, who will refuse to do the same? (9) The brāhmaṇas, the cows and the defenseless crea tures are My own body. Those whose faculty of judgment has been impaired by their own sin look upon these as distinct from Me. They are just like furious serpents, and they are angrily torn apart by the bills of the vulturelike messen gers of Yamarāja, the superintendent of sinful persons (10).

On the other hand, they captivate My heart who are gladdened in heart and who, their lotus faces enlightened by nectarean smiles, respect the brāhmaṇas, even though the brāhmaṇas utter harsh words. They look upon the brāhmaṇas as My own Self and pacify them by praising them in loving words, even as a son would appease an angry father or as I am paci fying you (11).These servants of Mine have transgressed against you, not knowing the mind of their master. I shall therefore deem it a favor done to Me if you order that, although reaping the fruit of their transgression, they may return to My presence soon and the time of their exile from My abode may expire before long (12).

 Brahmā continued: Even though the sages had been bitten by the serpent of anger, their souls were not satiated with hearing the Lord’s lovely and illuminating speech, which was like a series of Vedic hymns (13).The Lord’s excel lent speech was difficult to comprehend be cause of its momentous import and its most profound significance. The sages heard it with wide-open ears and pondered it as well. But alt hough hearing, they could not understand what He intended to do (14).

The four brāhmaṇa sages were nevertheless extremely delighted to behold Him, and they experienced a thrill throughout their bodies. They then spoke as fol lows to the Lord, who had revealed the multi glories of the Supreme Personality through His internal potency, yoga-māyā (15). The sages said: O Supreme Personality of Godhead, we are unable to know what You in tend for us to do, for even though You are the supreme ruler of all, You speak in our favor as if we had done something good for You (16).O Lord, You are the supreme director of the brah minical culture. Your considering the brāhmaṇas to be in the highest position is Your example for teaching others. Actually You are the supreme worshipable Deity, not only for the gods but for the brāhmaṇas also (17).

You are the source of the eternal occupation of all living entities, and by Your multimanifestations of Personalities of Godhead, You have always protected religion. You are the supreme objec tive of religious principles, and in our opinion You are inexhaustible and unchangeable eter nally (18).Mystics and transcendentalists, by the mercy of the Lord, cross beyond nescience by ceasing all material desires. It is not possi ble, therefore, that the Supreme Lord can be fa vored by others (19).The goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī, the dust of whose feet is worn on the head by others, waits upon You, as appointed, for she is anxious to secure a place in the abode of the king of bees, who hovers on the fresh wreath of tulasī leaves offered at Your feet by some blessed devotee (20).

O Lord, You are exceedingly attached to the activities of Your pure devotees, yet You are never attached to the goddesses of fortune who constantly engage in Your transcendental loving service. How can You be purified, therefore, by the dust of the path traversed by the brāhmaṇas, and how can You be glorified or made fortunate by the marks of Śrīvatsa on Your chest? (21) O Lord, You are the personification of all re ligion. Therefore You manifest Yourself in three millenniums, and thus You protect this universe, which consists of animate and inani mate beings. By Your grace, which is of pure goodness and is the bestower of all blessings, kindly drive away the elements of rajas and ta mas for the sake of the demigods and twice born (22).

O Lord, You are the protector of the highest of the twice-born. If You do not protect them by offering worship and mild words, then certainly the auspicious path of worship will be rejected by people in general, who act on the strength and authority of Your Lordship (23).Dear Lord, You never want the auspicious path to be destroyed, for You are the reservoir of all goodness. Just to benefit people in gen eral, You destroy the evil element by Your mighty potency. You are the proprietor of the three creations and the maintainer of the entire universe. Therefore Your potency is not re duced by Your submissive behavior. Rather, by submission You exhibit Your transcendental pastimes (24).

O Lord, whatever punishment You wish to award to these two innocent per sons, or also to us, we shall accept without du plicity. We understand that we have cursed two faultless persons (25). The Lord replied: O brāhmaṇas, know that the punishment you inflicted on them was orig inally ordained by Me, and therefore they will fall to a birth in a demoniac family. But they will be firmly united with Me in thought through mental concentration intensified by an ger, and they will return to My presence shortly (26).

 Lord Brahmā said: After seeing the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha, the Supreme Personality of God head, in the self-illuminated Vaikuṇṭha planet, the sages left that transcendental abode (27).The sages circumambulated the Supreme Lord, offered their obeisances and returned, ex tremely delighted at learning of the divine opu lences of the Vaiṣṇava (28).The Lord then said to His attendants, Jaya and Vijaya: Depart this place, but fear not. All glories unto you. Though I am capable of nullifying the brāhmaṇas’ curse, I would not do so. On the contrary, it has My approval (29).This depar ture from Vaikuṇṭha was foretold by Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune. She was very angry be cause when she left My abode and then re turned, you stopped her at the gate while I was sleeping (30).

The Lord assured the two Vaikuṇṭha inhabitants, Jaya and Vijaya: By practicing the mystic yoga system in anger, you will be cleansed of the sin of disobeying the brāhmaṇas and within a very short time return to Me (31).After thus speaking at the door of Vaikuṇṭha, the Lord returned to His abode, where there are many celestial airplanes and all-surpassing wealth and splendor (32).But those two gatekeepers, the best of the demi gods, their beauty and luster diminished by the curse of the brāhmaṇas, became morose and fell from Vaikuṇṭha, the abode of the Supreme Lord (33).

Then, as Jaya and Vijaya fell from the Lord’s abode, a great roar of disappoint ment arose from all the demigods, who were sitting in their splendid airplanes (34).Lord  Brahmā continued: Those two principal door keepers of the Personality of Godhead have now entered the womb of Diti, the powerful se men of Kaśyapa Muni having covered them (35).It is the prowess of these twin asuras [de mons] that has disturbed you, for it has mini mized your power. There is no remedy within my power, however, for it is the Lord Himself who desires to do all this (36)

.My dear sons, the Lord is the controller of the three modes of na ture and is responsible for the creation, preser vation and dissolution of the universe. His won derful creative power, yoga-māyā, cannot be easily understood even by the masters of yoga. That most ancient person, the Personality of Godhead, will alone come to our rescue. What purpose can we serve on His behalf by deliber ating on the subject? (37)

Śrī Maitreya said: My dear Vidura, Diti, the wife of the sage Kaśyapa, could understand that the sons within her womb would be a cause of disturbance to the demigods. As such, she continuously bore the powerful semen of Kaśyapa Muni, which was meant to give trou ble to others, for one hundred years (1).By the force of the pregnancy of Diti, the light of the sun and moon was impaired in all the planets, and the demigods of various planets, being dis turbed by that force, asked the creator of the universe, Brahmā, “What is this expansion of darkness in all directions?” (2)

 The fortunate demigods said: O great one, just see this darkness, which you know very well and which is causing us anxieties. Because the influence of time cannot touch you, there is nothing unmanifest before you (3). O god of the demigods, sustainer of the universe, head jewel of all the demigods in other planets, you know the intentions of all living entities, in both the spiritual and material worlds (4). O original source of strength and scientific knowledge, all obeisances unto you! You have accepted the differentiated mode of passion from the Su preme Personality of Godhead. With the help of external energy you are born of the unmani fested source. All obeisances unto you! (5)

 O lord, all these planets exist within your self, and all the living entities are generated from you. Therefore you are the cause of this universe, and anyone who meditates upon you without deviation attains devotional service (6).There is no defeat in this material world for persons who control the mind and senses by controlling the breathing process and who are therefore expe rienced, mature mystics. This is because by such perfection in yoga they have attained your mercy (7). All the living entities within the uni verse are conducted by the Vedic directions, as a bull is directed by the rope attached to its nose. No one can violate the rules laid down in the Vedic literatures. To the chief person, who has contributed the Vedas, we offer our respect! (8)

 The demigods prayed to Brahmā: Please look upon us mercifully, for we have fallen into a miserable condition; because of the darkness, all our work has been suspended (9).As fuel overloads a fire, so the embryo created by the semen of Kaśyapa in the womb of Diti has caused complete darkness throughout the uni verse (10). Śrī Maitreya said: Thus Lord Brahmā, who is understood by transcendental vibration, tried to satisfy the demigods, being pleased with their words of prayer (11). Lord Brahmā said: My four sons Sanaka, Sanātana, Sanandana and Sanat-kumāra, who were born from my mind, are your predeces sors. Sometimes they travel throughout the ma terial and spiritual skies without any definite desire (12).

After thus traveling all over the uni verses, they also entered into the spiritual sky, for they were freed from all material contami nation. In the spiritual sky there are spiritual planets known as Vaikuṇṭhas, which are the residence of the Supreme Personality of God head and His pure devotees and are worshiped by the residents of all the material planets (13). In the Vaikuṇṭha planets all the residents are similar in form to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They all engage in devotional service to the Lord without desires for sense gratifica tion (14).

In the Vaikuṇṭha planets is the Su preme Personality of Godhead, who is the orig inal person and who can be understood through the Vedic literature. He is full of the uncontam inated mode of goodness, with no place for pas sion or ignorance. He contributes religious pro gress for the devotees (15).In those Vaikuṇṭha planets there are many forests which are very auspicious. In those forests the trees are desire trees, and in all seasons they are filled with flowers and fruits because everything in the Vaikuṇṭha planets is spiritual and personal (16).

 In the Vaikuṇṭha planets the inhabitants fly in their airplanes, accompanied by their wives and consorts, and eternally sing of the character and activities of the Lord, which are always de void of all inauspicious qualities. While singing the glories of the Lord, they deride even the presence of the blossoming mādhavī flowers, which are fragrant and laden with honey (17).When the king of bees hums in a high pitch, singing the glories of the Lord, there is a temporary lull in the noise of the pigeon, the cuckoo, the crane, the cakravāka, the swan, the parrot, the partridge and the peacock. Such transcendental birds stop their own singing simply to hear the glories of the Lord (18).

Alt hough flowering plants like the mandāra, kunda, kurabaka, utpala, campaka, arṇa, punnāga, nāgakeśara, bakula, lily and pārijāta are full of transcendental fragrance, they are still conscious of the austerities performed by tulasī, for tulasī is given special preference by the Lord, who garlands Himself with tulasī leaves (19).The inhabitants of Vaikuṇṭha travel in their airplanes made of lapis lazuli, emerald and gold. Although crowded by their consorts, who have large hips and beautiful smiling faces, they cannot be stimulated to passion by their mirth and beautiful charms (20).

 The ladies in the Vaikuṇṭha planets are as beautiful as the goddess of fortune herself. Such transcendentally beautiful ladies, their hands playing with lotuses and their leg bangles tinkling, are sometimes seen sweeping the mar ble walls, which are bedecked at intervals with golden borders, in order to receive the grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead (21).The goddesses of fortune worship the Lord in their own gardens by offering tulasī leaves on the coral-paved banks of transcendental reservoirs of water. While offering worship to the Lord, they can see on the water the reflection of their beautiful faces with raised noses, and it appears that they have become more beautiful because of the Lord’s kissing their faces (22).

 It is very much regrettable that unfortunate people do not discuss the description of the Vaikuṇṭha planets but engage in topics which are unworthy to hear and which bewilder one’s intelligence. Those who give up the topics of Vaikuṇṭha and take to talk of the material world are thrown into the darkest region of ignorance (23).Lord Brahmā said: My dear demigods, the human form of life is of such importance that we also desire to have such life, for in the human form one can attain perfect religious truth and knowledge. If one in this human form of life does not under stand the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His abode, it is to be understood that he is very much affected by the influence of external na ture (24).

Persons whose bodily features change in ecstasy and who breathe heavily and perspire due to hearing the glories of the Lord are pro moted to the kingdom of God, even though they do not care for meditation and other austerities. The kingdom of God is above the material uni verses, and it is desired by Brahmā and other demigods (25).Thus the great sages Sanaka, Sanātana, Sanandana and Sanat-kumāra, upon reaching the above-mentioned Vaikuṇṭha in the spiritual world by dint of their mystic yoga per formance, perceived unprecedented happiness. They found that the spiritual sky was illumi nated by highly decorated airplanes piloted by the best devotees of Vaikuṇṭha and was pre dominated by the Supreme Personality of God head (26).

 After passing through the six entrances of Vaikuṇṭha-purī, the Lord’s residence, without feeling astonishment at all the decorations, they saw at the seventh gate two shining beings of the same age, armed with maces and adorned with most valuable jewelry, earrings, dia monds, helmets, garments, etc (27).The two doormen were garlanded with fresh flowers which attracted intoxicated bees and which were placed around their necks and between  their four blue arms. From their arched eye brows, discontented nostrils and reddish eyes, they appeared somewhat agitated (28). The great sages, headed by Sanaka, had opened doors everywhere. They had no idea of “ours” and “theirs.” With open minds, they entered the seventh door out of their own will, just as they had passed through the six other doors, which were made of gold and diamonds (29).

The four boy-sages, who had nothing to cover their bod ies but the atmosphere, looked only five years old, even though they were the oldest of all liv ing creatures and had realized the truth of the self. But when the porters, who happened to possess a disposition quite unpalatable to the Lord, saw the sages, they blocked their way with their staffs, despising their glories, alt hough the sages did not deserve such treatment at their hands (30).When the Kumāras, alt hough by far the fittest persons, were thus for bidden entrance by the two chief doorkeepers of Śrī Hari while other divinities looked on, their eyes suddenly turned red because of anger due to their great eagerness to see their most beloved master, Śrī Hari, the Personality of Godhead (31).

The sages said: Who are these two persons who have developed such a discordant mental ity even though they are posted in the service of the Lord in the highest position and are ex pected to have developed the same qualities as the Lord? How are these two persons living in Vaikuṇṭha? Where is the possibility of an en emy’s coming into this kingdom of God? The Supreme Personality of Godhead has no en emy. Who could be envious of Him? Probably these two persons are imposters; therefore they suspect others to be like themselves (32).In the Vaikuṇṭha world there is complete harmony be tween the residents and the Supreme Personal ity of Godhead, just as there is complete har mony within space between the big and the small skies. Why then is there a seed of fear in this field of harmony? These two persons are dressed like inhabitants of Vaikuṇṭha, but wherefrom can their disharmony come into ex istence? (33)

 Therefore let us consider how these two contaminated persons should be pun ished. The punishment should be apt, for thus benefit can eventually be bestowed upon them. Since they find duality in the existence of Vaikuṇṭha life, they are contaminated and should be removed from this place to the mate rial world, where the living entities have three kinds of enemies (34). When the doormen of Vaikuṇṭhaloka, who were certainly devotees of the Lord, found that they were going to be cursed by the brāhmaṇas, they at once became very much afraid and fell down at the feet of the brāhmaṇas in great anx iety, for a brāhmaṇa’s curse cannot be counter acted by any kind of weapon (35).

After being cursed by the sages, the doormen said: It is quite apt that you have punished us for neglect ing to respect sages like you. But we pray that due to your compassion at our repentance, the illusion of forgetting the Supreme Personality of Godhead will not come upon us as we go progressively downward (36). At that very moment, the Lord, who is called Padmanābha because of the lotus grown from His navel and who is the delight of the right eous, learned about the insult offered by His own servants to the saints. Accompanied by His spouse, the goddess of fortune, He went to the spot on those very feet sought for by recluses and great sages (37).

The sages, headed by Sanaka Ṛṣi, saw that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, who was formerly visible only within their hearts in ecstatic trance, had now actually become visible to their eyes. As He came forward, accompanied by His own as sociates bearing all paraphernalia, such as an umbrella and a cāmara fan, the white bunches of hair moved very gently, like two swans, and due to their favorable breeze the pearls garland ing the umbrella also moved, like drops of nec tar falling from the white full moon or ice melt ing due to a gust of wind (38).

The Lord is the reservoir of all pleasure. His auspicious pres ence is meant for everyone’s benediction, and His affectionate smiling and glancing touch the core of the heart. The Lord’s beautiful bodily color is blackish, and His broad chest is the resting place of the goddess of fortune, who glorifies the entire spiritual world, the summit of all heavenly planets. Thus it appeared that the Lord was personally spreading the beauty and good fortune of the spiritual world (39).He was adorned with a girdle that shone brightly on the yellow cloth covering His large hips, and He wore a garland of fresh flowers which was distinguished by humming bees. His lovely wrists were graced with bracelets, and He rested one of His hands on the shoulder of Garuḍa, His carrier, and twirled a lotus with an other hand (40).His countenance was distin guished by cheeks that enhanced the beauty of His alligator-shaped pendants, which outshone lightning. His nose was prominent, and His head was covered with a gem-studded crown. A charming necklace hung between His stout arms, and His neck was adorned with the gem known by the name Kaustubha (41).

The ex quisite beauty of Nārāyaṇa, being many times magnified by the intelligence of His devotees, was so attractive that it defeated the pride of the goddess of fortune in being the most beautiful. My dear demigods, the Lord who thus mani fested Himself is worshipable by me, by Lord Śiva and by all of you. The sages regarded Him with unsated eyes and joyously bowed their heads at His lotus feet (42). When the breeze carrying the aroma of tulasī leaves from the toes of the lotus feet of the Per sonality of Godhead entered the nostrils of those sages, they experienced a change both in body and in mind, even though they were at tached to the impersonal Brahman understand ing (43).

The Lord’s beautiful face appeared to them like the inside of a blue lotus, and the Lord’s smile appeared to be a blossoming jas mine flower. After seeing the face of the Lord, the sages were fully satisfied, and when they wanted to see Him further, they looked upon the nails of His lotus feet, which resembled ru bies. Thus they viewed the Lord’s transcenden tal body again and again, and so they finally achieved meditation on the Lord’s personal fea ture (44). This is the form of the Lord which is meditated upon by the followers of the yoga process, and it is pleasing to the yogīs in medi tation. It is not imaginary but factual, as proved by great yogīs. The Lord is full in eight kinds of achievement, but for others these achieve ments are not possible in full perfection (45).

 The Kumāras said: Our dear Lord, You are not manifested to rascals, even though You are seated within the heart of everyone. But as far as we are concerned, we see You face to face, although You are unlimited. The statements we have heard about You from our father, Brahmā, through the ears have now been actually real ized by Your kind appearance (46).We know that You are the Supreme Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, who manifests His transcendental form in the uncontaminated mode of pure goodness. This transcendental, eternal form of Your personality can be under stood only by Your mercy, through unflinching devotional service, by great sages whose hearts have been purified in the devotional way (47).

 Persons who are very expert and most intelli gent in understanding things as they are engage in hearing narrations of the auspicious activi ties and pastimes of the Lord, which are worth chanting and worth hearing. Such persons do not care even for the highest material benedic tion, namely liberation, to say nothing of other less important benedictions like the material happiness of the heavenly kingdom (48).O Lord, we pray that You let us be born in any hellish condition of life, just as long as our hearts and minds are always engaged in the ser vice of Your lotus feet, our words are made beautiful [by speaking of Your activities] just as tulasī leaves are beautified when offered unto Your lotus feet, and as long as our ears are always filled with the chanting of Your tran scendental qualities (49). O Lord, we therefore offer our respectful obeisances unto Your eter nal form as the Personality of Godhead, which You have so kindly manifested before us. Your supreme, eternal form cannot be seen by unfor tunate, less intelligent persons, but we are so much satisfied in our mind and vision to see it (50).

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: After hearing from the great sage Maitreya about the Lord’s incarnation as Varāha, Vidura, who had taken a vow, begged him with folded hands to please narrate further transcendental activities of the Lord, since he [Vidura] did not yet feel satisfied (1). Śrī Vidura said: O chief amongst the great sages, I have heard by disciplic succession that Hiraṇyākṣa, the original demon, was slain by the same form of sacrifices, the Personality of Godhead [Lord Boar] (2).

What was the reason, O brāhmaṇa, for the fight between the demon king and Lord Boar while the Lord was lifting the earth as His pastime? My mind has become very inquisitive, and therefore I am not satisfied with hearing the narration of the Lord’s appear ance. Please, therefore, speak more and more to a devotee who is faithful (3). The great sage Maitreya said: O warrior, the inquiry made by you is just befitting a dev otee because it concerns the incarnation of the Personality of Godhead. He is the source of lib eration from the chain of birth and death for all those who are otherwise destined to die (4).

By hearing these topics from the sage [Nārada], the son of King Uttānapāda [Dhruva] was enlight ened regarding the Personality of Godhead, and he ascended to the abode of the Lord, placing his feet over the head of death (5).This history of the fight between the Lord as a boar and the demon Hiraṇyākṣa was heard by me in a year long ago as it was described by the foremost of the demigods, Brahmā, when he was ques tioned by the other demigods (6).Diti, daughter of Dakṣa, being afflicted with sex desire, begged her husband, Kaśyapa, the son of Marīci, to have intercourse with her in the evening in order to beget a child (7).

The sun was setting, and the sage was sitting in trance after offering oblations to the Supreme Person ality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, whose tongue is the sacrificial fire (8). In that place the beautiful Diti expressed her desire: O learned one, Cupid is taking his arrows and distressing me forcibly, as a mad el ephant troubles a banana tree (9). Therefore you should be kind towards me by showing me complete mercy. I desire to have sons, and I am much distressed by seeing the opulence of my co-wives. By performing this act, you will be come happy (10).

 A woman is honored in the world by the benediction of her husband, and a husband like you will become famous by hav ing children because you are meant for the ex pansion of living entities (11).In days long ago, our father, the most opulent Dakṣa, who was af fectionate to his daughters, asked each of us separately whom we would prefer to select as our husband (12).Our well-wishing father, Dakṣa, after knowing our intentions, handed over thirteen of his daughters unto you, and since then we have all been faithful (13).

O lo tus-eyed one, kindly bless me by fulfilling my desire. When someone in distress approaches a great person, his pleas should never go in vain (14). O hero [Vidura], Diti, being thus afflicted by the contamination of lust, and therefore poor and talkative, was pacified by the son of Marīci in suitable words (15).O afflicted one, I shall forthwith gratify whatever desire is dear to you, for who else but you is the source of the three perfections of liberation? (16)

As one can cross over the ocean with seagoing vessels, one can cross the dangerous situation of the material ocean by living with a wife (17). O respectful one, a wife is so helpful that she is called the better half of a man’s body because of her shar ing in all auspicious activities. A man can move without anxiety entrusting all responsibilities to his wife (18).

As a fort commander very easily conquers invading plunderers, by taking shelter of a wife one can conquer the senses, which are unconquerable in the other social orders (19). O queen of the home, we are not able to act like you, nor could we repay you for what you have done, even if we worked for our entire life or even after death. To repay you is not possible, even for those who are admirers of personal qualities (20). Even though it is not possible to repay you, I shall satisfy your sex desire imme diately for the sake of begetting children. But you must wait for only a few seconds so that others may not reproach me (21).This particu lar time is most inauspicious because at this time the horrible-looking ghosts and constant companions of the lord of the ghosts are visible (22).

Lord Śiva, the king of the ghosts, sitting on the back of his bull carrier, travels at this time, accompanied by ghosts who follow him for their welfare (23).Lord Śiva’s body is red dish, and he is unstained, but he is covered with ashes. His hair is dusty from the whirlwind dust of the burning crematorium. He is the younger brother of your husband, and he sees with his three eyes (24).Lord Śiva regards no one as his relative, yet there is no one who is not con nected with him. He does not regard anyone as very favorable or abominable. We respectfully worship the remnants of his foodstuff, and we vow to accept what is rejected by him (25).

Alt hough no one in the material world is equal to or greater than Lord Śiva, and although his un impeachable character is followed by great souls to dismantle the mass of nescience, he nevertheless remains as if a devil to give salva tion to all devotees of the Lord (26). Unfortu nate, foolish persons, not knowing that he is en gaged in his own self, laugh at him. Such fool ish persons engage in maintaining the body which is eatable by dogs with dresses, orna ments, garlands and ointments (27). Demigods like Brahmā also follow the religious rites ob served by him. He is the controller of the mate rial energy, which causes the creation of the material world. He is great, and therefore his devilish characteristics are simply imitation (28).

Maitreya said: Diti was thus informed by her husband, but she was pressed by Cupid for sexual satisfaction. She caught hold of the clothing of the great brāhmaṇa sage, just like a shameless public prostitute (29). Understand ing his wife’s purpose, he was obliged to per form the forbidden act, and thus after offering his obeisances unto worshipable fate, he lay with her in a secluded place (30).Thereafter the brāhmaṇa took his bath in the water and con trolled his speech by practicing trance, meditat ing on the eternal effulgence and chanting the holy Gāyatrī hymns within his mouth (31).O son of the Bharata family, Diti, after this, went nearer to her husband, her face lowered because of her faulty action. She spoke as follows (32).

The beautiful Diti said: My dear brāhmaṇa, kindly see that my embryo is not killed by Lord Śiva, the lord of all living enti ties, because of the great offense I have com mitted against him (33).Let me offer my obei sances unto the angry Lord Śiva, who is simul taneously the very ferocious great demigod and the fulfiller of all material desires. He is all-aus picious and forgiving, but his anger can imme diately move him to chastise (34).

Let him be pleased with us, since he is my brother-in-law, the husband of my sister Satī. He is also the worshipable lord of all women. He is the per sonality of all opulences and can show mercy towards women, who are excused even by the uncivilized hunters(35). Maitreya said: The great sage Kaśyapa thus addressed his wife, who was trembling because of fear that her husband was offended. She un derstood that he had been dissuaded from his daily duties of offering evening prayers, yet she desired the welfare of her children in the world (36).

 The learned Kaśyapa said: Because of your mind’s being polluted, because of defile ment of the particular time, because of your negligence of my directions, and because of your being apathetic to the demigods, every thing was inauspicious (37).O haughty one, you will have two contemptuous sons born of your condemned womb. Unlucky woman, they will cause constant lamentation to all the three worlds! (38) They will kill poor, faultless living entities, torture women and enrage the great souls (39).At that time the Lord of the universe, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the well-wisher of all living entities, will de scend and kill them, just as Indra smashes the mountains with his thunderbolts (40).

 Diti said: It is very good that my sons will be magnanimously killed by the arms of the Personality of Godhead with His Sudarśana weapon. O my husband, may they never be killed by the wrath of the brāhmaṇa devotees (41).A person who is condemned by a brāhmaṇa or is always fearful to other living entities is not favored either by those who are already in hell or by those in the species in which he is born (42). The learned Kaśyapa said: Because of your lamentation, penitence and proper delib eration, and also because of your unflinching faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead and your adoration for Lord Śiva and me, one of the sons [Prahlāda] of your son [Hiraṇyakaśipu] will be an approved devotee of the Lord, and his fame will be broadcast equally with that of the Personality of Godhead (43-44).

 In order to follow in his footsteps, saintly persons will try to emulate his character by practicing freedom from animosity, just as the purifying processes rectify gold of inferior quality (45).Everyone will be pleased with him because the Personality of Godhead, the su preme controller of the universe, is always sat isfied with a devotee who does not wish for an ything beyond Him (46).That topmost devotee of the Lord will have expanded intelligence and expanded influence and will be the greatest of the great souls. Due to matured devotional ser vice, he will certainly be situated in transcen dental ecstasy and will enter the spiritual sky after quitting this material world (47).

He will be a virtuously qualified reservoir of all good qualities; he will be jolly and happy in others’ happiness, distressed in others’ distress, and will have no enemies. He will be a destroyer of the lamentation of all the universes, like the pleasant moon after the summer sun (48).Your grandson will be able to see, inside and outside, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose wife is the beautiful goddess of fortune. The Lord can assume the form desired by the devo tee, and His face is always beautifully deco rated with earrings (49). The sage Maitreya said: Hearing that her grandson would be a great devotee and that her sons would be killed by Kṛṣṇa, Diti was highly pleased in mind (50).

ŚrīŚukadeva Gosvāmī said: O King, after hearing all these most virtuous topics from the sage Maitreya, Vidura inquired further on the topics of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, which he adored to hear (1). Vidura said: O great sage, what did Svāyambhuva, the dear son of Brahmā, do after obtaining his very loving wife? (2)

O best of the virtuous, the original king of kings [Manu] was a great devotee of the Personality of Godhead Hari, and thus it is worth hearing of his sublime character and activities. Please describe them. I am very eager to hear (3).Persons who hear from a spiritual master with great labor and for a long time must hear from the mouths of pure devotees about the character and activities of pure devotees. Pure devotees always think within their hearts of the lotus feet of the Per sonality of Godhead, who awards His devotees liberation (4).

ŚrīŚukadeva Gosvāmī said: The Personal ity of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, was pleased to place His lotus feet on the lap of Vidura because Vidura was very meek and gentle. The sage Maitreya was very pleased with Vidura’s words, and, being influenced by his spirit, he attempted to speak (5). The sage Maitreya said to Vidura: After his appearance, Manu, the father of mankind, along with his wife, thus addressed the reser voir of Vedic wisdom, Brahmā, with obei sances and folded hands (6).You are the father of all living entities and the source of their sub sistence because they are all born of you. Please order us how we may be able to render service unto you (7).

O worshipful one, please give us your direction for the execution of duty within our working capacity so that we can follow it for fame in this life and progress in the next (8). Lord Brahmā said: My dear son, O lord of the world, I am very pleased with you, and I desire all blessings for both you and your wife. You have without reservation surrendered yourself unto me with your heart for my in structions (9).O hero, your example is quite be fitting a son in relationship with his father. This sort of adoration for the superior is required. One who is beyond the limit of envy and who is sane accepts the order of his father with great delight and executes it to his full capacity (10).

Since you are my very obedient son, I ask you to beget children qualified like yourself in the womb of your wife. Rule the world in pur suance of the principles of devotional service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and thus worship the Lord by performances of yajña (11).O King, if you can give proper pro tection to the living beings in the material world, that will be the best service for me. When the Supreme Lord sees you to be a good protector of the conditioned souls, certainly the master of the senses will be very pleased with you (12).

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Janārdana [Lord Kṛṣṇa], is the form to accept all the results of sacrifice. If He is not satisfied, then one’s labor for advancement is futile. He is the ultimate Self, and therefore one who does not satisfy Him certainly neglects his own in terests (13). Śrī Manu said: O all-powerful lord, O killer of all sins, I shall abide by your order. Now please let me know my place and that of the liv ing entities born of me (14).O master of the demigods, please attempt to lift the earth, which is merged in the great water, because it is the dwelling place for all the living entities. It can be done by your endeavor and by the mercy of the Lord (15).

 Śrī Maitreya said: Thus, seeing the earth merged in the water, Brahmā gave his attention for a long time to how it could be lifted (16).Brahmā thought: While I have been en gaged in the process of creation, the earth has been inundated by a deluge and has gone down into the depths of the ocean. What can we do who are engaged in this matter of creation? It is best to let the Almighty Lord direct us (17). O sinless Vidura, all of a sudden, while Brahmā was engaged in thinking, a small form of a boar came out of his nostril. The measure ment of the creature was not more than the up per portion of a thumb (18).

 O descendant of Bharata, while Brahmā was observing Him, that boar became situated in the sky in a won derful manifestation as gigantic as a great ele phant (19). Struck with wonder at observing the wonderful boarlike form in the sky, Brahmā, with great brāhmaṇas like Marīci, as well as the Kumāras and Manu, began to argue in various ways (20).Is this some extraordinary entity come in the pretense of a boar? It is very won derful that He has come from my nose(21). First of all this boar was seen no bigger than the tip of a thumb, and within a moment He was as large as a stone. My mind is perturbed. Is He the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu?(22)

While Brahmā was deliberating with his sons, the Supreme Personality of God head, Viṣṇu, roared tumultuously like a great mountain (23).The omnipotent Supreme Per sonality of Godhead enlivened Brahmā and the other highly elevated brāhmaṇas by again roar ing with His uncommon voice, which echoed in all directions (24).When the great sages and thinkers who are residents of Janaloka, Tapo loka and Satyaloka heard the tumultuous voice of Lord Boar, which was the all-auspicious sound of the all-merciful Lord, they chanted auspicious chants from the three Vedas (25).Playing like an elephant, He entered into the water after roaring again in reply to the Ve dic prayers by the great devotees. The Lord is the object of the Vedic prayers, and thus He un derstood that the devotees’ prayers were meant for Him (26).

Before entering the water to res cue the earth, Lord Boar flew in the sky, slash ing His tail, His hard hairs quivering. His very glance was luminous, and He scattered the clouds in the sky with His hooves and His glit tering white tusks (27).He was personally the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu and was therefore tran scendental, yet because He had the body of a hog, He searched after the earth by smell. His tusks were fearful, and He glanced over the devotee-brāhmaṇas engaged in offering pray ers. Thus He entered the water (28).Diving into the water like a giant mountain, Lord Boar di vided the middle of the ocean, and two high waves appeared as the arms of the ocean, which cried loudly as if praying to the Lord, “O Lord of all sacrifices, please do not cut me in two! Kindly give me protection!” (29)

 Lord Boar penetrated the water with His hooves, which were like sharp arrows, and found the limits of the ocean, although it was unlimited. He saw the earth, the resting place for all living beings, lying as it was in the beginning of creation, and He personally lifted it (30). Lord Boar very easily took the earth on His tusks and got it out of the water. Thus He ap peared very splendid. Then, His anger glowing like the Sudarśana wheel, He immediately killed the demon [Hiraṇyākṣa], although he tried to fight with the Lord (31).Thereupon Lord Boar killed the demon within the water, just as a lion kills an elephant. The cheeks and tongue of the Lord became smeared with the blood of the demon, just as an elephant be comes reddish from digging in the purple earth (32)

Then the Lord, playing like an elephant, suspended the earth on the edge of His curved white tusks. He assumed a bluish complexion like that of a tamāla tree, and thus the sages, headed by Brahmā, could understand Him to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead and of fered respectful obeisances unto the Lord (33). All the sages uttered with great respect: O unconquerable enjoyer of all sacrifices, all glo ries and all victories unto You! You are moving in Your form of the personified Vedas, and in the hair holes of Your body the oceans are sub merged. For certain reasons [to uplift the earth] You have now assumed the form of a boar (34).

O Lord, Your form is worshipable by per formances of sacrifice, but souls who are simply miscreants are unable to see it. All the Vedic hymns, Gāyatrī and others, are in the touch of Your skin. In Your bodily hairs is the kuśa grass, in Your eyes is the clarified butter, and in Your four legs are the four kinds of fru itive activities (35).O Lord, Your tongue is a plate of sacrifice, Your nostril is another plate of sacrifice, in Your belly is the eating plate of sacrifice, and another plate of sacrifice is the holes of Your ears. In Your mouth is the Brahmā plate of sacrifice, Your throat is the plate of sacrifice known as soma, and whatever You chew is known as agni-hotra (36).

Moreo ver, O Lord, the repetition of Your appearance is the desire for all kinds of initiation. Your neck is the place for three desires, and Your tusks are the result of initiation and the end of all desires. Your tongue is the prior activities of initiation, Your head is the fire without sacri fice as well as the fire of worship, and Your liv ing forces are the aggregate of all desires (37). O Lord, Your semen is the sacrifice called soma-yajña. Your growth is the ritualistic per formances of the morning. Your skin and touch sensations are the seven elements of the ag niṣṭoma sacrifice. Your bodily joints are sym bols of various other sacrifices performed in twelve days. Therefore You arethe object of all sacrifices called soma and asoma, and You are bound by yajñas only (38).

O Lord, You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead and are wor shipable by universal prayers, Vedic hymns and sacrificial ingredients. We offer our obei sances unto You. You can be realized by the pure mind freed from all visible and invisible material contamination. We offer our respect ful obeisances to You as the supreme spiritual master of knowledge in devotional service (39).O lifter of the earth, the earth with its mountains, which You have lifted with Your tusks, is situated as beautifully as a lotus flower with leaves sustained by an infuriated elephant just coming out of the water (40). O Lord, as the peaks of great mountains become beautiful when decorated with clouds, Your transcen dental body has become beautiful because of Your lifting the earth on the edge of Your tusks (41).

O Lord, for the residential purposes of all inhabitants, both moving and nonmoving, this earth is Your wife, and You are the supreme fa ther. We offer our respectful obeisances unto You, along with mother earth, in whom You have invested Your own potency, just as an ex pert sacrificer puts fire in the araṇi wood (42).Who else but You, the Supreme Personal ity of Godhead, could deliver the earth from within the water? It is not very wonderful for You, however, because You acted most won derfully in the creation of the universe. By Your energy You have created this wonderful cosmic manifestation (43).O Supreme Lord, undoubtedly we are inhabitants of the most pi ous planets the Jana, Tapas and Satya lokas but still we have been purified by the drops of water sprinkled from Your shoulder hairs by the shaking of Your body (44).

O Lord, there is no limit to Your wonderful activities. Anyone who desires to know the limit of Your activities is certainly nonsensical. Everyone in this world is conditioned by the powerful mystic poten cies. Please bestow Your causeless mercy upon these conditioned souls (45). The sage Maitreya said: The Lord, being thus worshiped by all the great sages and tran scendentalists, touched the earth with His hooves and placed it on the water (46).

In this manner the Personality of Godhead, Lord Viṣṇu, the maintainer of all living entities, raised the earth from within the water, and hav ing placed it afloat on the water, He returned to His own abode (47).If one hears and describes in a devotional service attitude this auspicious narration of Lord Boar, which is worthy of de scription, the Lord, who is within the heart of everyone, is very pleased (48).

Nothing remains unachieved when the Supreme Personality of Godhead is pleased with someone. By tran scendental achievement one understands eve rything else to be insignificant. One who en gages in transcendental loving service is ele vated to the highest perfectional stage by the Lord Himself, who is seated in everyone’s heart (49).Who, other than one who is not a human being, can exist in this world and not be inter ested in the ultimate goal of life? Who can re fuse the nectar of narrations about the Person ality of Godhead’s activities, which by itself can deliver one from all material pangs? (50)

Śrī Maitreya said: O learned Vidura, so far I have explained to you the glories of the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His feature of kāla. Now you can hear from me about the creation of Brahmā, the reservoir of all Vedic knowledge (1). Brahmā first created the nescient engagements like self-deception, the sense of death, anger after frustration, the sense of false ownership, and the illusory bod ily conception, or forgetfulness of one’s real identity (2).

Seeing such a misleading creation as a sinful task, Brahmā did not feel much pleasure in his activity, and therefore he puri fied himself by meditation on the Personality of Godhead. Then he began another term of crea tion (3).In the beginning, Brahmā created four great sages named Sanaka, Sananda, Sanātana and Sanat-kumāra. All of them were unwilling to adopt materialistic activities because they were highly elevated due to their semen’s flow ing upwards (4).

Brahmā spoke to his sons after generating them. “My dear sons,” he said, “now generate progeny.” But due to their being at tached to Vāsudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they aimed at liberation, and there fore they expressed their unwillingness (5).On the refusal of the sons to obey the order of their father, there was much anger generated in the mind of Brahmā, which he tried to control and not express (6).Although he tried to curb his an ger, it came out from between his eyebrows, and a child mixed blue and red was immedi ately generated (7).After his birth he began to cry: O destiny maker, teacher of the universe, kindly designate my name and place (8).

The all-powerful Brahmā, who was born from the lotus flower, pacified the boy with gentle words, accepting his request, and said: Do not cry. I shall certainly do as you desire (9).Thereafter Brahmā said: O chief of the dem igods, you shall be called by the name Rudra by all people because you have so anxiously cried (10).My dear boy, I have already selected the following places for your residence: the heart, the senses, the air of life, the sky, the air, the fire, the water, the earth, the sun, the moon and austerity (11).Lord Brahmā said: My dear boy Rudra, you have eleven other names: Manyu, Manu, Mahinasa, Mahān, Śiva, Ṛtadhvaja, Ugraretā, Bhava, Kāla, Vāmadeva and Dhṛtav rata (12).

O Rudra, you also have eleven wives, called the Rudrāṇīs, and they are as follows: Dhī, Dhṛti, Rasalā, Umā, Niyut, Sarpi, Ilā, Am bikā, Irāvatī, Svadhā and Dīkṣā (13). My dear boy, you may now accept all the names and places designated for you and your different wives, and since you are now one of the masters of the living entities, you may increase the pop ulation on a large scale (14). The most powerful Rudra, whose bodily color was blue mixed with red, created many offspring exactly resembling him in features, strength and furious nature (15). The sons and grandsons generated by Rudra were unlimited in number, and when they assembled together they attempted to devour the entire universe. When Brahmā, the father of the living entities, saw this, he became afraid of the situation (16).

Brahmā told Rudra: O best among the demigods, there is no need for you to generate living entities of this nature. They have begun to devastate everything on all sides with the fiery flames from their eyes, and they have even attacked me (17). My dear son, you had better situate yourself in penance, which is aus picious for all living entities and which will bring all benediction upon you. By penance only shall you be able to create the universe as it was before (18).By penance only can one even approach the Personality of Godhead, who is within the heart of every living entity and at the same time beyond the reach of all senses (19). Śrī Maitreya said: Thus Rudra, having been ordered by Brahmā, circumambulated his father, the master of the Vedas. Addressing him with words of assent, he entered the forest to perform austere penances (20).

 Brahmā, who was empowered by the Su preme Personality of Godhead, thought of gen erating living entities and begot ten sons for the extension of the generations (21). Marīci, Atri, Aṅgirā, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Bhṛgu, Va siṣṭha, Dakṣa, and the tenth son, Nārada, were thus born (22).Nārada was born from the delib eration of Brahmā, which is the best part of the body. Vasiṣṭha was born from his breathing, Dakṣa from a thumb, Bhṛgu from his touch, and Kratu from his hand (23).Pulastya was gener ated from the ears, Aṅgirā from the mouth, Atri from the eyes, Marīci from the mind and Pulaha from the navel of Brahmā (24). Religion was manifested from the breast of Brahmā, wherein is seated the Supreme Personality of Godhead Nārāyaṇa, and irreligion appeared from his back, where horrible death takes place for the living entity (25).

Lust and desire became man ifested from the heart of Brahmā, anger from between his eyebrows, greed from between his lips, the power of speaking from his mouth, the ocean from his penis, and low and abominable activities from his anus, the source of all sins (26).Sage Kardama, husband of the great Devahūti, was manifested from the shadow of Brahmā. Thus all became manifested from ei ther the body or the mind of Brahmā (27). O Vidura, we have heard that Brahmā had a daughter named Vāk who was born from his body and who attracted his mind toward sex, although she was not sexually inclined towards him (28).Thus, finding their father so deluded in an act of immorality, the sages headed by Marīci, all sons of Brahmā, spoke as follows with great respect (29).

O father, this perfor mance in which you are endeavoring to compli cate yourself was never attempted by any other Brahmā, nor by anyone else, nor by you in pre vious kalpas, nor will anyone dare to attempt it in the future. You are the supreme being in the universe, so how is it that you want to have sex with your daughter and cannot control your de sire? (30) Even though you are the most pow erful being, this act does not suit you because your character is followed for spiritual im provement by people in general (31).Let us of fer our respectful obeisances unto the Personal ity of Godhead, who, by His own effulgence, while situated in Himself, has manifested this cosmos. May He also protect religion for all goodness (32).

 The father of all Prajāpatis, Brahmā, thus seeing all his Prajāpati sons speaking in that way, became very much ashamed and at once gave up the body he had accepted. Later that body appeared in all direc tions as the dangerous fog in darkness (33). Once upon a time, when Brahmā was think ing of how to create the worlds as in the past millennium, the four Vedas, which contain all varieties of knowledge, became manifested from his four mouths (34).The four kinds of paraphernalia for conducting the fire sacrifice became manifest: the performer [the chanter], the offerer, the fire, and the action performed in terms of the supplementary Vedas. Also the four principles of religiosity [truth, austerity, mercy and cleanliness] and the duties in the four social orders all became manifest (35).

 Vidura said: O great sage whose only wealth is penance, kindly explain to me how and with whose help Brahmā established the Vedic knowledge which emanated from his mouth (36). Maitreya said: Beginning from the front face of Brahmā, gradually the four Vedas Ṛk, Yajur, Sāma and Atharva became manifest. Thereafter, Vedic hymns which had not been pronounced before, priestly rituals, the subject matters of the recitation, and transcendental ac tivities were all established, one after another (37).He also created the medical science, mili tary art, musical art and architectural science, all from the Vedas. They all emanated one after another, beginning from the front face (38).

Then he created the fifth Veda the Purāṇas and the histories from all his mouths, since he could see all the past, present and future (39).All the different varieties of fire sacrifices [ṣoḍaśī, uktha, purīṣi, agniṣṭoma, āptoryāma, atirātra, vājapeya and gosava] became mani fested from the eastern mouth of Brahmā (40). Education, charity, penance and truth are said to be the four legs of religion, and to learn this there are four orders of life with different clas sifications of castes according to vocation. Brahmā created all these in systematic order (41).

Then the thread ceremony for the twice born was inaugurated, as were the rules to be followed for at least one year after acceptance of the Vedas, rules for observing complete ab stinence from sex life, vocations in terms of Vedic injunctions, various professional duties in household life, and the method of maintain ing a livelihood without anyone’s cooperation by picking up rejected grains (42).The four di visions of retired life are the vaikhānasas, vālakhilyas, audumbaras and phenapas. The four divisions of the renounced order of life are the kuṭīcakas, bahvodas, haṁsas and niṣkriyas. All these were manifested from Brahmā (43).

 The science of logical argument, the Vedic goals of life, and also law and order, moral codes and the celebrated hymns bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ and svaḥ all became manifested from the mouths of Brahmā, and the praṇava oṁkāra was manifested from his heart (44).Thereafter the art of literary expression, uṣṇik, was gener ated from the hairs on the body of the almighty Prajāpati. The principal Vedic hymn, gāyatrī, was generated from the skin, triṣṭup from the flesh, anuṣṭup from the veins, and jagatī from the bones of the lord of the living entities (45).The art of writing verse, paṅkti, became manifested from the bone marrow, and that of bṛhatī, another type of verse, was generated from the life-breath of the lord of the living en tities (46).

Brahmā’s soul was manifested as the touch alphabets, his body as the vowels, his senses as the sibilant alphabets, his strength as the intermediate alphabets and his sensual ac tivities as the seven notes of music (47).Brahmā is the personal representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the source of tran scendental sound and is therefore above the conception of manifested and unmanifested. Brahmā is the complete form of the Absolute Truth and is invested with multifarious ener gies (48).

Thereafter Brahmā accepted another body, in which sex life was not forbidden, and thus he engaged himself in the matter of further crea tion.O son of the Kurus, when Brahmā saw that in spite of the presence of sages of great po tency there was no sufficient increase in popu lation, he seriously began to consider how the population could be increased.Brahmā thought to himself: Alas, it is wonderful that in spite of my being scattered all over, there is still insuf ficient population throughout the universe. There is no other cause for this misfortune but destiny.While he was thus absorbed in contem plation and was observing the supernatural power, two other forms were generated from his body. They are still celebrated as the body of Brahmā.The two newly separated bodies united together in a sexual relationship (49 52).

Out of them, the one who had the male form became known as the Manu named Svāyambhuva, and the woman became known as Śatarūpā, the queen of the great soul Manu (53).Thereafter, by sex indulgence, they gradu ally increased generations of population one af ter another (54).O son of Bharata, in due course of time he [Manu] begot in Śatarūpā five chil dren two sons, Priyavrata and Uttānapāda, and three daughters, Ākūti, Devahūti and Prasūti (55). The father, Manu, handed over his first daughter, Ākūti, to the sage Ruci, the middle daughter, Devahūti, to the sage Kardama, and the youngest, Prasūti, to Dakṣa. From them, all the world filled with population (56).

The material manifestation’s ultimate parti cle, which is indivisible and not formed into a body, is called the atom. It exists always as an invisible identity, even after the dissolution of all forms. The material body is but a combina tion of such atoms, but it is misunderstood by the common man (1).Atoms are the ultimate state of the manifest universe. When they stay in their own forms without forming different bodies, they are called the unlimited oneness. There are certainly different bodies in physical forms, but the atoms themselves form the com plete manifestation (2).

 One can estimate time by measuring the movement of the atomic com bination of bodies. Time is the potency of the almighty Personality of Godhead, Hari, who controls all physical movement although He is not visible in the physical world (3). Atomic time is measured according to its covering a particular atomic space. That time which co vers the unmanifest aggregate of atoms is called the great time (4). The division of gross time is calculated as follows: two atoms make one double atom, and three double atoms make one hexatom. This hexatom is visible in the sunshine which enters through the holes of a window screen. One can clearly see that the hexatom goes up towards the sky (5).

 The time duration needed for the integration of three trasareṇus is called a truṭi, and one hundred truṭis make one vedha. Three vedhas make one lava (6).The duration of time of three lavas is equal to one nimeṣa, the com bination of three nimeṣas makes one kṣaṇa, five kṣaṇas combined together make one kāṣṭhā, and fifteen kāṣṭhās make one laghu (7).Fifteen laghus make one nāḍikā, which is also called a daṇḍa. Two daṇḍas make one muhūrta, and six or seven daṇḍas make one fourth of a day or night, according to human calculation (8).

The measuring pot for one nāḍikā, or daṇḍa, can be prepared with a six-pala-weight [fourteen ounce] pot of copper, in which a hole is bored with a gold probe weighing four māṣa and measuring four fingers long. When the pot is placed on water, the time before the water over flows in the pot is called one daṇḍa (9).It is cal culated that there are four praharas, which are also called yāmas, in the day and four in the night of the human being. Similarly, fifteen days and nights are a fortnight, and there are two fortnights, white and black, in a month (10).

The aggregate of two fortnights is one month, and that period is one complete day and night for the Pitā planets. Two of such months comprise one season, and six months comprise one complete movement of the sun from south to north (11). Two solar movements make one day and night of the demigods, and that combi nation of day and night is one complete calen dar year for the human being. The human being has a duration of life of one hundred years (12). Influential stars, planets, luminaries and atoms all over the universe are rotating in their respec tive orbits under the direction of the Supreme, represented by eternal kāla (13).

 There are five different names for the orbits of the sun, moon, stars and luminaries in the firmament, and they each have their own saṁvatsara (14). O Vidura, the sun enlivens all living entities with his un limited heat and light. He diminishes the dura tion of life of all living entities in order to re lease them from their illusion of material at tachment, and he enlarges the path of elevation to the heavenly kingdom. He thus moves in the firmament with great velocity, and therefore everyone should offer him respects once every five years with all ingredients of worship (15).

 I now understand the life durations of the residents of the Pitā planets and heavenly plan ets as well as that of the human beings. Now kindly inform me of the durations of life of those greatly learned living entities who are be yond the range of a kalpa (16). O spiritually powerful one, you can understand the move ments of eternal time, which is the controlling form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because you are a self-realized person, you can see everything by the power of mystic vision (17).

 Maitreya said: O Vidura, the four millenni ums are called the Satya-, Tretā-, Dvāpara- and Kali-yuga. The aggregate number of years of all of these combined is equal to twelve thou sand years of the demigods.The duration of the Satya millennium equals 4,800 years of the years of the demigods; the duration of the Tretā millennium equals 3,600 years of the demi gods; the duration of the Dvāpara millennium equals 2,400 years; and that of the Kali millen nium is 1,200 years of the demigods (19).The transitional periods before and after every mil lennium, which are a few hundred years as aforementioned, are known as yuga-sandhyās, or the conjunctions of two millenniums, ac cording to the expert astronomers. In those pe riods all kinds of religious activities are per formed (20).

 O Vidura, in the Satya millennium mankind properly and completely maintained the principles of religion, but in other millenni ums religion gradually decreased by one part as irreligion was proportionately admitted (21). Outside of the three planetary systems [Svarga, Martya and Pātāla], the four yugas multiplied by one thousand comprise one day on the planet of Brahmā. A similar period comprises a night of Brahmā, in which the creator of the universe goes to sleep (22). After the end of Brahmā’s night, the creation of the three worlds begins again in the daytime of Brahmā, and they con tinue to exist through the life durations of four teen consecutive Manus, or fathers of mankind (23).Each and every Manu enjoys a life of a lit tle more than seventy-one sets of four millenni ums (24).After the dissolution of each and every Manu, the next Manu comes in order, along with his descendants, who rule over the different planets; but the seven famous sages, and demigods like Indra and their followers, such as the Gandharvas, all appear simultane ously with Manu (25).

In the creation, during Brahmā’s day, the three planetary systems Svarga, Martya and Pātāla revolve, and the in habitants, including the lower animals, human beings, demigods and Pitās, appear and disap pear in terms of their fruitive activities (26). In each and every change of Manu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears by manifesting His internal potency in different incarnations, as Manu and others. Thus He maintains the uni verse by discovered power (27). At the end of the day, under the insignificant portion of the mode of darkness, the powerful manifestation of the universe merges in the darkness of night. By the influence of eternal time, the innumera ble living entities remain merged in that disso lution, and everything is silent (28).

When the night of Brahmā ensues, all the three worlds are out of sight, and the sun and the moon are with out glare, just as in the due course of an ordi nary night (29). The devastation takes place due to the fire emanating from the mouth of Saṅkarṣaṇa, and thus great sages like Bhṛgu 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 (30). 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 (31).

The Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, lies down in the water on the seat of Ananta, with His eyes closed, and the inhabit ants of the Janaloka planets offer unto the Lord their glorious prayers with folded hands (32). Thus the process of the exhaustion of the du ration of life exists for every one of the living beings, including Lord Brahmā. One’s life en dures for only one hundred years, in terms of the times in the different planets (33).The one hundred years of Brahmā’s life are divided into two parts, the first half and the second half. The first half of the duration of Brahmā’s life is al ready over, and the second half is now current (34). In the beginning of the first half of Brahmā’s life, there was a millennium called Brāhma-kalpa, wherein Lord Brahmā ap peared. The birth of the Vedas was simultane ous with Brahmā’s birth (35).

The millennium which followed the first Brāhma millennium is known as the Pādma-kalpa because in that mil lennium the universal lotus flower grew out of the navel reservoir of water of the Personality of Godhead, Hari (36).O descendant of Bha rata, the first millennium in the second half of the life of Brahmā is also known as the Vārāha millennium because the Personality of God head appeared in that millennium as the hog in carnation (37). The duration of the two parts of Brahmā’s life, as above mentioned, is calcu lated to be equal to one nimeṣa [less than a sec ond] for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is unchanging and unlimited and is the cause of all causes of the universe (38). Eternal time is certainly the controller of dif ferent dimensions, from that of the atom up to the superdivisions of the duration of Brahmā’s life; but, nevertheless, it is controlled by the Su preme. Time can control only those who are body conscious, even up to the Satyaloka or the other higher planets of the universe (39).

This phenomenal material world is expanded to a di ameter of four billion miles, as a combination of eight material elements transformed into six teen further categories, within and without, as follows (40). The layers or elements covering the universes are each ten times thicker than the one before, and all the universes clustered to gether appear like atoms in a huge combination. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is therefore said to be the original cause of all causes. Thus the spiritual abode of Viṣṇu is eternal without a doubt, and it is also the abode of Mahā-Viṣṇu, the origin of all manifes tations (41).

c (1).O greatly learned one, kindly eradicate all my doubts, and let me know of all that I have inquired from you from the begin ning to the end (2). Sūta Gosvāmī said: O son of Bhṛgu, the great sage Maitreya Muni, thus hearing from Vidura, felt very much enlivened. Everything was in his heart, and thus he began to reply to the questions one after another (3).

 The greatly learned sage Maitreya said: O Vidura, Brahmā thus engaged himself in pen ances for one hundred celestial years, as ad vised by the Personality of Godhead, and ap plied himself in devotional service to the Lord (4). Thereafter Brahmā saw that both the lotus on which he was situated and the water on which the lotus was growing were trembling due to a strong, violent wind (5).Long penance and transcendental knowledge of self-realiza tion had matured Brahmā in practical knowledge, and thus he drank the wind com pletely, along with the water (6).Thereafter he saw that the lotus on which he was situated was spread throughout the universe, and he contem plated how to create all the planets, which were previously merged in that very same lotus (7).

Thus engaged in the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Brahmā entered into the whorl of the lotus, and as it spread all over the universe he divided it into three divi sions of worlds and later into fourteen divisions (8). Lord Brahmā is the most exalted personal ity in the universe because of his causeless de votional service unto the Lord in mature tran scendental knowledge. He therefore created all the fourteen planetary divisions for inhabitation by the different types of living entities (9). Vidura inquired from Maitreya: O my lord, O greatly learned sage, kindly describe eternal time, which is another form of the Supreme Lord, the wonderful actor. What are the symp toms of that eternal time? Please describe them to us in detail (10).

Maitreya said: Eternal time is the primeval source of the interactions of the three modes of material nature. It is unchangeable and limit less, and it works as the instrument of the Su preme Personality of Godhead for His pastimes in the material creation (11).This cosmic mani festation is separated from the Supreme Lord as material energy by means of kāla, which is the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Lord. It is situated as the objective manifestation of the Lord under the influence of the same mate rial energy of Viṣṇu (12).This cosmic manifes tation is as it is now, it was the same in the past, and it will continue in the same way in the fu ture (13).There are nine different kinds of cre ations besides the one which naturally occurs due to the interactions of the modes. There are three kinds of annihilations due to eternal time, the material elements and the quality of one’s work (14).Of the nine creations, the first one is the creation of the mahat-tattva, or the sum total of the material ingredients, wherein the modes interact due to the presence of the Supreme Lord. In the second, the false ego is generated, in which the material ingredients, material knowledge and material activities arise (15).

The sense perceptions are created in the third creation, and from these the elements are generated. The fourth creation is the creation of knowledge and of working capacity (16). The fifth creation is that of the controlling deities by the interaction of the mode of goodness, of which the mind is the sum total. The sixth cre ation is the ignorant darkness of the living en tity, by which the master acts as a fool (17). All the above are natural creations by the ex ternal energy of the Lord. Now hear from me about the creations by Brahmā, who is an incar nation of the mode of passion and who, in the matter of creation, has a brain like that of the Personality of Godhead (18).

The seventh crea tion is that of the immovable entities, which are of six kinds: the fruit trees without flowers, trees and plants which exist until the fruit is ripe, creepers, pipe plants, creepers which have no support, and trees with flowers and fruits (19). All the immovable trees and plants seek their subsistence upwards. They are almost un conscious but have feelings of pain within. They are manifested in variegatedness (20).The eighth creation is that of the lower species of life, and they are of different varieties, number ing twenty-eight. They are all extensively fool ish and ignorant. They know their desirables by smell, but are unable to remember anything within the heart (21).O purest Vidura, of the lower animals the cow, goat, buffalo, kṛṣṇa stag, hog, gavaya animal, deer, lamb and camel all have cloven hooves (22).The horse, mule, ass, gaura, śarabha bison and wild cow all have only one hoof. Now you may hear from me about the animals who have five nails (23).

The dog, jackal, tiger, fox, cat, rabbit, sajāru, lion, monkey, elephant, tortoise, alligator, gosāpa, etc., all have five nails in their claws. They are known as pañca-nakhas, or animals having five nails (24). The heron, vulture, crane, hawk, bhāsa, bhallūka, peacock, swan, sārasa, cakravāka, crow, owl and others are the birds (25).The creation of the human beings, who are of one species only and who stock their eatables in the belly, is the ninth in the rotation. In the human race, the mode of passion is very prom inent. Humans are always busy in the midst of miserable life, but they think themselves happy in all respects (26). O good Vidura, these last three creations and the creation of demigods (the tenth creation) are vaikṛta creations, which are different from the previously described prākṛta (natural) crea tions. The appearance of the Kumāras is both (27).

The creation of the demigods is of eight varieties: (1) the demigods, (2) the forefathers, (3) the asuras, or demons, (4) the Gandharvas and Apsarās, or angels, (5) the Yakṣas and Rākṣasas, (6) the Siddhas, Cāraṇas and Vidyādharas, (7) the Bhūtas, Pretas and Piśācas, and (8) the superhuman beings, celes tial singers, etc. All are created by Brahmā, the creator of the universe (28).Now I shall de scribe the descendants of the Manus. The crea tor, Brahmā, as the incarnation of the passion mode of the Personality of Godhead, creates the universal affairs with unfailing desires in every millennium by the force of the Lord’s energy (29).