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2024-04-26, 0:37 AM |
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Chapter
12: Creation
of the Kumâras and Others
(1) Maitreya said: 'Thus far I have described to
you, oh Vidura, the glories of the Supersoul under the name of kâla,
now
try
to
understand
from
me how the repository of the Vedas
[Brahmâ] created the things as they are.
(2) First
[from the five types of
ignorance] the idea came about that one
would die [andha-tâmisra],
then indignation [tâmisra], next all the craving of
infatuation [mahâ-moha] and then there was the delusional
of errors [like identifying oneself with the body etc., moha]
as also the darkness of the nescience about one's own engagements [tamas].
(3) Seeing what a troublesome creation it was he [Brahmâ] could not
really appreciate what he had done and thus he, after being purified by
meditating upon the Supreme Lord, found the mind for another one. (4)
The great self-born one then
created Sanaka, Sananda, Sanâtana and Sanat-kumâra [the
four Kumâras] who are free from all fruitive action and lifelong
celibates ['they whose seed goes upwards']. (5) He from within told his sons: 'Oh my sons, do procreate', but they did not want to,
because they in
their devotion for the Personality of Godhead were vowed to the principles
of liberation. (6) Disrespected by the sons who refused to follow the
order, he did
his best
to check the
anger that rose in him. (7) In spite of the original father his
meditative
control,
out
of
his
anger
from
between
his
eyebrows
instantly
a
child
was
born
that
had
a
color
composed of red [for
passion] and blue [for ignorance]. (8)
The child cried loudly
to the father of all the gods: 'Oh powerful one, oh ruler of destiny,
assign me my names and tell me what my places are oh teacher of the
universe'.
(9) He as the all-powerful one born from the lotus
thus being asked, complied with the request and gently pacified the
child
with the words: 'Do not cry, I will do what you want. (10) Because you oh chief
of
the demigods, as a boy were so anxiously crying loudly, the people will
address you with the name Rudra. (11)
The heart,
the senses, the life air, the ether, the air, fire and water, earth and
the sun, the moon as also austerity are the places reserved for you. (12)
Your names are: Manyu, Manu, Mahinasa, Mahân, S'iva, Ritadhvaja,
Ugraretâ, Bhava, Kâla, Vâmadeva and Dhritavrata. (13) Dhî, Dhriti, Rasalâ, Umâ, Niyut,
Sarpi,
Ilâ, Ambikâ, Irâvatî, Svadhâ and
Dîkshâ are, oh Rudra, your eleven wives [the
Rudrânîs]. (14) Accept these different names and places and
the wives belonging to them and generate progeny with them on a large
scale, for you are the master of the living beings.' (15) The one of the mixture of blue and
red, he the powerful one thus being instructed by his spiritual master, brought
forth
the generations who were of the same strength, features
and furious nature as he was. (16) But when he saw the activities of the sons
generated by Rudra and how their endless numbers together devoured the
entire universe, the father of the living beings got afraid. (17) 'Oh best of the demigods, [he said,]
you have sufficiently created this kind of living beings. They, with
the fiery flames of their eyes, scorch every direction and me also. (18)
Be situated in penance,
that will do you good and bring happiness
to
all
living entities. Only by
doing penance you will be able to bring about the universe the way it
was before. (19)
Through penance alone a person knows the supreme light and can fully
respect the Supreme Lord beyond the senses who resides in the heart of
everyone.'
(20) Maitreya said: 'Thus being instructed by the
self-born one, he [Rudra] circumambulated
the master of the Vedas saying 'So be it' and next entered the forest to do penance. (21)
Determined
to
create
he
[Brahmâ] who by
the Venerable One was empowered
with the potency, then begot ten
sons in order to populate the world: (22)
Marîci,
Atri, Angirâ, Pulastya, Pulaha,
Kratu, Bhrigu, Vasishthha, Daksha and Nârada as number ten. (23)
Nârada sprouted from
his lap, Daksha from the thumb,
from his life-air Vasishthha saw the light, while Bhrigu came forth
from his
touch and sage Kratu from his hand.
(24) Pulaha
generated
from
the
navel,
Pulastya
from
his
ears,
the
great
sage
Angirâ
from
the
mouth,
from
the
eyes
sage
Atri came forth and sage
Marîci appeared from the mind. (25) From the right side of the breast, where
Nârâyana resides, religion manifested while irreligion,
because of which the world fears the horrors of death, appeared from
his
back. (26) From the heart lust manifested, from the
eyebrows anger, from between his lips greed, from the mouth the
urge to speak originated while from his penis the oceans appeared and
from
the
anus, the reservoir of all vices, the lowest activities. (27) From
his shadow Kardama Muni,
the husband of Devahûti, manifested. Thus the complete of this living universe of the
creator evolved from both the
master his body and his mind.
(28) Oh Vidura,
we
have
heard
that
the
daughter
Vâk
who
was
born
from
his
body
distracted
the
mind
of
Brahmâ
and
made
him desirous of her even though she was not
sexually
inclined. (29) The
sons, the sages headed by
Marîci, who thus saw that his mind was seized by immorality, with
due respect submitted the following: (30) 'That
what you are doing now with your
daughter without controlling your sexual desire you, nor anyone else,
has
been doing nor will be doing in the future oh master. (31)
Certainly such an attitude does not befit
the most powerful one whose good behavior and character, oh master of
the universe, is an example that is followed by the world striving for
prosperity. (32) Let
us offer our obeisances to
the Supreme Lord who from within the soul by the power of His own
effulgence brought about this manifestation. May His sense of duty
protect us all.' (33) Seeing
all
his
sons
who
thus
addressed
him
standing
before
him,
the
father
of
all
fathers
of
mankind
ashamed
quitted
his
body in accepting the blame for the fog
everywhere that is known as the darkness. (34) When
the creator of all worlds one day wondered how he should create the
three worlds the way they were before, the Vedic literature manifested itself from his four mouths.
(35) Thus the four functions of [sacrificial]
action [the
offer, the performer, the fire and the offering] and the
supplements of the Veda with their logical conclusions became manifest
as also the
four principles of religion [truth, purity, austerity and compassion]
and the spiritual departments [âs'ramas] and vocational
divisions [varnas].'
(36) Vidura said: 'Please, oh wealth of renunciation, can you tell by what mouth
which Veda was produced by the god
who
is the controller of the creators of the universe?'
(37) Maitreya said: 'The
four Vedas called Rig, Yajur, Sâma
and Atharva appeared, beginning with the front [east, south, west and
north], each from one of the mouths and in the same order followed the
scriptural discussions [the S'âstra for the Hotâ priest],
the
rituals
[the Ijya for the Adhvaryu priest], the recitation material [the
Stutistoma for the Udgâtâ priest] and the
transcendental
service of atonement [the Prâyas'citta for the Brahmâ ritvik]. (38) The same way beginning from the front
mouth in the eastern direction the Vedic sciences of medicine
[Âyurveda], archery [Dhanurveda], music [Ghandarvaveda] and
architecture [Sthâpatyaveda]
were
created [who together are
called the Upavedas]. (39)
Also the Itihâsas - the separate histories - and the
collections of classical stories, the Purânas, who
together are
known as the fifth Veda, manifested from the mouths of him who
can see in all directions. (40) From his eastern
mouth as also from each of the other ones he sent out a pair of
sacrifices:
sodas'î, uktha [from the east], purîshi,
agnishthoma [from the south], âptoryamâ, atirâtra [from
the
west] and vâjapeya
and
gosava [from the north]. (41)
Education [vidyâ,
also
called
purity
through knowledge or s'auca],
charity [dâna], penance [tapas] and truth [satya]
are
the
four
legs
of
religion
that
were
created
to
the
same
number
of
orders
of life
[students, married people,
withdrawn people and the renunciates] and vocations [the laborers,
the traders, the rulers and the intellectuals]. (42) Next
the vows appeared [for regulating the brahmacârî, the celibate student] of Sâvitra [three days of celibacy
after the ceremony of the holy thread], Prâjâpatya
[celibacy
for
one
year],
Brâhma
[celibacy
during
the
study
of
the
Veda]
and
Brihat
[lifelong
celibacy]
as
also the vows [for regulating
household life] of
Vârtâ
[vocations sanctioned by the scriptures], Sañcaya [officiating
at
ceremonies], S'âlîna [to subsist on everything that is
acquired without
asking] and S'îluñcha [to subsist on the remnants left
behind in
the
fields and the market place]. (43)
[Also the directions for] the [vânaprashtas or
the] retired ones [thus manifested:] the vaikhânasas [subsisting
on
produce
from
the
wild],
the
vâlakhilyas [they who give
up their stock upon receiving new foodgrains], the audumbaras [who
subsist
on
the
food
they
find
on
their
way]
and
the
phenapas [those
subsisting on fruits that fell from the
trees, as also the directions
for] the renounced order
[of the sannyâsîs] consisting of the kuthîcakas
[recluses living in a fixed place], bahûdakas [or bahvodhas,
they who prefer knowledge before activities], hamsas [those
fully on the path of transcendental knowledge] and the nishkriyas
or paramahamsas [those who attained spiritual wisdom and
refrain from action]. (44) In the same order [the four
branches of
knowledge] appeared: ânvîkshikî
[spiritual knowledge of liberation], trayî [knowledge of
rituals], vârtâ [technical knowledge] and dandanîti
[political science].
Also the four vyâhritis [of the first line and three words
of the
Gâyatrî mantra] thus appeared together with the Pranava
[the mantra
Aum] flowing from his heart. (45) From
the hair of his body ushnik
[a meter of poetry] was generated, from the skin of the mighty
one gâyatrî [the three-foot] originated, trishthup [another meter] came from
his flesh, anushthup appeared from
the veins and from the bones of the father of
the living beings jagati was generated [two other meters]. (46)
From the marrow of his bones pankti
manifested itself while brihatî
generated from the life breath [two types of
verses]. (47) His individual soul manifested as
the spars'a letters [the hard consonants] of the Sanskrit
alphabet [ka
to ma] while his body expressed itself in the Sanskrit vowels [a, â, i,
î, u, û, ri, rî, l, e, ai, o, au]. His senses are
called the sibilants [s'a, sha sa and ha],
his
strength
became
the
semi-vowels
[ya, la, ra
and va] and from the inner joy of the lord of the living beings
the
seven musical notes manifested [*]. (48) The transcendental sound of His Soul, the
Supersoul, that moves beyond the notion of being manifest or
unmanifest, is the
source from which the Absolute [of the full manifestation of
Brahmâ] that is invested
with multifarious energies, manifested itself in full.
(49) Having accepted another body he [again] put
his mind to the matter of creation. (50)
Oh son of the Kurus, knowing
that in spite of the great, earthly power of the great sages the
population was not growing, he again devoted his heart to the matter.
He thought: (51) 'Alas,
how
surprising
to
be
this
busy
all
the
time
but
not
succeed
in
motivating
my
progeny
for
procreation! There must be some kind of divine ordinance working
against me in this.' (52) While
he thus observed and
contemplated his situation a division in two manifested itself within
his body of which one says that it is the human body created after his
image [kâya - that what belongs to ka -
Brahmâ]. (53)
His form with them being divided then perfectly engaged in a sexual
relationship. (54) The one of
them who was the male became the fully independent father of manhood
[the Manu] called Svâyambhuva and the one who was the woman was
known as S'atarûpâ; she was the queen to the great soul
that he was. (55) Because
of
the
sex
life
according
to
the
regulative
principles
[see
verse
41] from that time on the
generations increased. (56)
Oh
best of all, in due course of
time he begot in S'atarûpâ five children: Priyavrata,
Uttânapâda and three
daughters, o son of Bharata,
Âkûti, Devahûti and Prasûti. (57)
The one named
Âkûti he handed over to sage Ruci, the middle one [Devahûti] he
gave to sage Kardama and Prasûti was given to Daksha. Because of them the whole world
became populated.'
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