SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM: CANTO 2

(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'In this [Bhâgavatam] there are [ten types of] statements about the following: the creation of the universe, the secondary creation, the different worlds, support [by the Lord], the creative drive, the changes of Manus, following divine instruction, returning to God, finding liberation and the Summum Bonum [description of the actions of Lord Krishna]. (2) For the purpose of doing justice to the Summum Bonum the symptoms of the other nine in this [Bhâgavatam] are described by vedic inference or either more direct explanations or summaries given by the great sages. (3) The five gross elements, the objects of the senses and the senses themselves including the mind give rise to the manifestation which is called the created universe [sarga] of the Creator, while the resultant activities of the interaction to its modes is called the secondary creation [visarga]. (4) The stability of the worlds is the victory of the Lord of Vaikunthha, His support is His causeless mercy, the reign of the Manus sets the perfection of duty and the creative drive is about the propensity to fruitive labor. (5) The following to divine instruction as said deals with the various narrations describing the activities of the Lord descending and the persons that are His followers. (6) Returning to God is about the resting in the Original Person of souls along with the energies while liberation is about giving up other forms [of existence] for the sake of the permanence of the constitutional Original One.

(7) He is of both the cosmic manifestation and its returning to God, the source from which all takes place and thus He is called the reservoir of the Supreme Spirit or the Supersoul. (8) From being the personality in possession of his senses [adhyâtmika] He is as well the controlling deity [adhidaivika] as the person separate therefrom perceived as another embodied living being [adhibhautika]. (9) The one who sees that each one of the three is not understood in the absence of one of the others, knows that He is the soul that is its own shelter in this spiritual division.(10) As He [expanding in space-time] separated the Universes, came He as the same Original Person out of Himself to rest in the [causal] waters desiring for the created the most pure of transcendence. (11) In that residing in Himself for a thousand of His godly years, is He in the matter of His own creation known by the name of Nârâyana [the path, the lead of God relating to man], for He, resting in the causal waters, emanated from the Original Person. (12) The physical elements, the activities, the time and surely also the living entities all exist by His mercy and cease to exist on neglect. (13) Being on Himself He, from His mystic slumber, desired the variety and thus generated the golden hue of the seminal demigod to the created external energy perfect in its three features.

(14) Let me now tell you about how the Lord, as the One only, divided the potency of His Lordship in three deities ruling the sensing, controlling and embodied beings.(15) Proceeding from the ether within the body of the Original Person generated the energy of the senses, the mental force and the physical strength and then the life breath [the prâna] ruling over each. (16) The in all living entities endeavoring senses who follow the symptoms of life, find their peace the way all subjects stop endeavoring in following a king as he stops. (17) The living force being agitated generates from the Supreme within hunger and thirst and at first, in order to quench that thirst and still that hunger, the mouth was opened. (18) From the mouth the palate generated showing the tongue after which the various tastes manifested that could be relished by it. (19) With the need to speak from the mouth of the Supreme there came the fire of as well vibrations as speeches, but because He was at rest in the waters, for a very long time that remained suspended. (20) In the nostrils the movement of the respiration was developed upon which from the nose its desire to function the sense to smell odors came about. (21) Being on Himself in the darkness did, on the desire to observe all the coming manifestations of His transcendental body, for His vision the Sun manifest to give all eyes the power of seeing. (22) From the wise desiring to understand from their realization that what He wanted to know, the ears as well manifested to the direction of the power of hearing and its objects. (23) Of the desire to experience the hard, soft, light, weight, heat and cold of all matter, the sense of touch was distributed over the skin with its bodily hair and of having perceived through the touch of that skin the objects of perception from within and without, the three controlling deities manifested as well.

(24) Desiring the different types of work, from them His hands manifested, but to give strength to the manipulation depending on them [the gods and His hands], Indra, the king of the gods, came into being. (25) Wishing to control movement the legs manifested, for the purpose of which the Lord of Sacrifice [Vishnu] Himself manifested motivating the different human beings to the duties according their fruitive activities [karma]. (26) Desiring to taste the nectar of sexual enjoyment appeared the genitals of the male and female organ and found the cherished of the lustful its existence that is the shelter for the both of them [controlled by the Prajâpati]. (27) Desiring to evacuate the refuse of eatables first the opening of the anus and then its sense came about after which Mitra, the controller over the excretion, came to give shelter to the both of them. (28) Wishing to spread everywhere in different bodies, from the one body the navel manifested after which it became the place wherefrom separated the arrest of the vitality and death were found. (29) In the want for food and drink the abdomen with the rivers and seas of the intestines and arteries originated as also the source of the sustaining metabolism of them. (30) Desirous to know His own energy the heart [as the seat of thinking] manifested after which the mind, Candra the controller [the moon] and thus the reality of determination and desire were found. (31) The seven elements of the nails, skin, flesh, blood, fat, marrow and bone are predominantly of earth, water and fire whereas the life breath is there from the ether, the water and the air [see also kosha]. (32) The senses of the material ego are attached to the modes of matter, which thus affect the mind after which all affection follows that shapes the intelligence and its deliberation of soul.

(33) Of all this is the Supreme Lord His form, as I explained to you, known in the eight elements [of earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego] of all the worlds and such, that make for an unlimited external covering. (34) Therefore there are, for the supreme of the finer than the finest, the featureless unmanifested, that is without a beginning, without an intermediate stage and without an end and is thus eternal, the words for the mind to the transcendental. (35) Neither of these forms about the Supreme Lord as I described to you are, because of their external manifestation, ever taken for granted by the learned ones of consciousness. (36) He by His incarnations and activities, His transcendental qualities and entourage, as the Supreme Lord of the Spirit, accepts in the pastimes of His forms the work of transcendence that is free from material interest. (37-40) O King, know that all the happiness and distress and their mixture as experienced by the members of the family of Brahmâ, the Manus, the godly, the wise, the inhabitants of Pitriloka [forefathers] and Siddhaloka [the perfected], the Câranas [the venerable], Gandharvas [singers of heaven], Vidyâdharas [scientists], Asuras [the unenlightened or the demons], Yakshas [treasure-keeper or evil spirits], Kinnaras [of superpowers] and angels, the snake-like, the monkey-shaped Kimpurushas, the human beings, the inhabitants of Mâtriloka [of the place of the mother], the demons and Pis'âcas [yellow flesh-eating demons], as also the ghosts, spirits, lunatics and evil spirits, the ones of good and evil stars, as well as the birds, the forest-dwelling and domestic animals, the reptiles, those of the mountains, the moving and standing living entities, the living entities born from embryos, from eggs, from heat [microorganisms] and from seeds, and all others, whether they be in the water, land or the sky, is with all of them there as the result of deeds in the past [karma].

(41) To the modes of goodness, passion and slowness we thus have the three of the godly, the human and the suffering ones and even others, o King, when one divides it to moving in habits developed in each of the three in relation to the other two. (42) Without doubt in this does He, the Maintainer of the entire universe, the Supreme Lord, assume the form of the principles of righteousness, in order to reclaim, after the creation of the universes, the godless, the human and the godly ones. (43) At the end of the era all that is with Him will be completely annihilated by fire in the form of Rudra [S'iva the destroyer], the way in time the wind does with clouds. (44) With these features concerning the matter of creation and destruction is by the great transcendentalists the Supreme Lord described, but the great devotees deserve to see more of the most glorious than these features alone. (45) Never is in the matter of creation and so on the Supreme in the beyond described as the engineer, for that [idea of having a Supreme position] is to counteract what by the material energy is manifested. (46) This all but exemplifies the regulative principles by which the Creator operates for the duration of his time [described as a day of Brahmâ] and the duration of the universes. Herein, in summary, is the generating of the entire dispersed material creation given. (47) The exact measurement of the time to its form and symptoms of one day of Brahmâ [kalpa] I will explain after first letting you know about this epoch of His descend [also called the Pâdma Kalpa]'."

(48) S'aunaka said: "O Sûta, you told us from your good self about Vidura, who is one of the best devotees, as he took to the places of pilgrimage on this earth, leaving aside the relatives that are so difficult to give up.(49-50) O gentle one, please tell us here about the new things Vidura discussed with Maitreya [a famous rishi] who is so full of transcendental knowledge and anything else he asked His grace and got answered from him back then. Why did Vidura actually give up his activities and his associates and why did he return home afterwards?"

(51) Sûta replied: "Please listen while I explain to you what the great sage [S'uka] spoke about in his answering according the questions of King Parîkchit."

S'rî S'uka said: 'In this [Bhâgavatam] there are [ten types of] statements about the following: the creation of the universe, the secondary creation, the different worlds, support [by the Lord], the creative drive, the changes of Manus, following divine instruction, returning to God, finding liberation and the Summum Bonum [description of the actions of Lord Krishna].

S'rî S'ukadeva Gosvâmî said: In the S'rîmad-Bhâgavatam there are ten divisions of statements regarding the following: the creation of the universe, subcreation, planetary systems, protection by the Lord, the creative impetus, the change of Manus, the science of God, returning home, back to Godhead, liberation, and the summum bonum. (Vedabase)

Text 2

For the purpose of doing justice to the Summum Bonum the symptoms of the other nine in this [Bhâgavatam] are described by vedic inference or either more direct explanations or summaries given by the great sages.

The elementary creation of sixteen items of matter--namely the five elements [fire, water, land, air and sky], sound, form, taste, smell, touch, and the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin and mind--is known as sarga, whereas subsequent resultant interaction of the modes of material nature is called visarga. (Vedabase)

Text 3

The five gross elements, the objects of the senses and the senses themselves including the mind give rise to the manifestation which is called the created universe [sarga] of the Creator, while the resultant activities of the interaction to its modes is called the secondary creation [visarga].

The elementary creation of sixteen items of matter--namely the five elements [fire, water, land, air and sky], sound, form, taste, smell, touch, and the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin and mind--is known as sarga, whereas subsequent resultant interaction of the modes of material nature is called visarga. (Vedabase)

Text 4

The stability of the worlds is the victory of the Lord of Vaikunthha, His support is His causeless mercy, the reign of the Manus sets the perfection of duty and the creative drive is about the propensity to fruitive labor.

The right situation for the living entities is to obey the laws of the Lord and thus be in perfect peace of mind under the protection of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Manus and their laws are meant to give right direction in life. The impetus for activity is the desire for fruitive work. (Vedabase)

Text 5

The following to divine instruction as said deals with the various narrations describing the activities of the Lord descending and the persons that are His followers.

The science of God describes the incarnations of the Personality of Godhead and His different activities together with the activities of His great devotees. (Vedabase)

Text 6

Returning to God is about the resting in the Original Person of souls along with the energies while liberation is about giving up other forms [of existence] for the sake of the permanence of the constitutional Original One.

The merging of the living entity, along with his conditional living tendency, with the mystic lying down of the Mahâ-Vishnu is called the winding up of the cosmic manifestation. Liberation is the permanent situation of the form of the living entity after he gives up the changeable gross and subtle material bodies. (Vedabase)

Text 7

He is of both the cosmic manifestation and its returning to God, the source from which all takes place and thus He is called the reservoir of the Supreme Spirit or the Supersoul.

The supreme one who is celebrated as the Supreme Being or the Supreme Soul is the supreme source of the cosmic manifestation as well as its reservoir and winding up. Thus He is the Supreme Fountainhead, the Absolute Truth. (Vedabase)

Text 8

From being the personality in possession of his senses [adhyâtmika] He is as well the controlling deity [adhidaivika] as the person separate therefrom perceived as another embodied living being [adhibhautika].

The individual person possessing different instruments of senses is called the adhyâtmic person, and the individual controlling deity of the senses is called adhidaivic. The embodiment seen on the eyeballs is called the adhibhautic person. (Vedabase)

Text 9

The one who sees that each one of the three is not understood in the absence of one of the others, knows that He is the soul that is its own shelter in this spiritual division.

All three of the above-mentioned stages of different living entities are interdependent. In the absence of one, another is not understood. But the Supreme Being who sees every one of them as the shelter of the shelter is independent of all, and therefore He is the supreme shelter. (Vedabase)

Text 10

As He [expanding in space-time] separated the Universes, came He as the same Original Person out of Himself to rest in the [causal] waters desiring for the created the most pure of transcendence.

After separating the different universes, the gigantic universal form of the Lord [Mahâ-Vishnu], which came out of the causal ocean, the place of appearance for the first purusha-avatâra, entered into each of the separate universes, desiring to lie on the created transcendental water [Garbhodaka]. (Vedabase)

Text 11

In that residing in Himself for a thousand of His godly years, is He in the matter of His own creation known by the name of Nârâyana [the path, the lead of God relating to man], for He, resting in the causal waters, emanated from the Original Person.

That Supreme Person is not impersonal and therefore is distinctively a nara, or person. Therefore the transcendental water created from the Supreme Nara is known as nâra. And because He lies down on that water, He is known as Nârâyana. (Vedabase)

Text 12

The physical elements, the activities, the time and surely also the living entities all exist by His mercy and cease to exist on neglect.

One should definitely know that all material ingredients, activities, time and modes, and the living entities who are meant to enjoy them all, exist by His mercy only, and as soon as He does not care for them, everything becomes nonexistent. (Vedabase)

Text 13

Being on Himself He, from His mystic slumber, desired the variety and thus generated the golden hue of the seminal demigod to the created external energy perfect in its three features.

The Lord, while lying on His bed of mystic slumber, generated the seminal symbol, golden in hue, through external energy out of His desire to manifest varieties of living entities from Himself alone. (Vedabase)

Text 14

Let me now tell you about how the Lord, as the One only, divided the potency of His Lordship in three deities ruling the sensing, controlling and embodied beings.

Just hear from me how the potency of His Lordship divides one into three, called the controlling entities, the controlled entities and the material bodies, in the manner mentioned above. (Vedabase)

Text 15

Proceeding from the ether within the body of the Original Person generated the energy of the senses, the mental force and the physical strength and then the life breath [the prâna] ruling over each.

From the sky situated within the transcendental body of the manifesting Mahâ-Vishnu, sense energy, mental force and bodily strength are all generated, as well as the sum total of the fountainhead of the total living force. (Vedabase)

Text 16

The in all living entities endeavoring senses who follow the symptoms of life, find their peace the way all subjects stop endeavoring in following a king as he stops.

As the followers of a king follow their lord, similarly when the total energy is in motion, all other living entities move, and when the total energy stops endeavoring, all other living entities stop sensual activities. (Vedabase)

Text 17

The living force being agitated generates from the Supreme within hunger and thirst and at first, in order to quench that thirst and still that hunger, the mouth was opened.

The living force, being agitated by the virâth-purusha, generated hunger and thirst, and when He desired to drink and eat, the mouth opened. (Vedabase)

Text 18:

From the mouth the palate generated showing the tongue after which the various tastes manifested that could be relished by it.

From the mouth the palate became manifested, and thereupon the tongue was also generated. After this all the different tastes came into existence so that the tongue can relish them. (Vedabase)

Text 19:

With the need to speak from the mouth of the Supreme there came the fire of as well vibrations as speeches, but because He was at rest in the waters, for a very long time that remained suspended.

When the Supreme desired to speak, speeches were vibrated from the mouth. Then the controlling deity Fire was generated from the mouth. But when He was lying in the water, all these functions remained suspended. (Vedabase)

Text 20:

In the nostrils the movement of the respiration was developed upon which from the nose its desire to function the sense to smell odors came about.

Thereafter, when the supreme purusha desired to smell odors, the nostrils and respiration were generated, the nasal instrument and odors came into existence, and the controlling deity of air, carrying smell, also became manifested. (Vedabase)

Text 21:

Being on Himself in the darkness did, on the desire to observe all the coming manifestations of His transcendental body, for His vision the Sun manifest to give all eyes the power of seeing.

Thus when everything existed in darkness, the Lord desired to see Himself and all that was created. Then the eyes, the illuminating god Sun, the power of vision and the object of sight all became manifested. (Vedabase)

Text 22:

From the wise desiring to understand from their realization that what He wanted to know, the ears as well manifested to the direction of the power of hearing and its objects.

By development of the desire of the great sages to know, the ears, the power of hearing, the controlling deity of hearing, and the objects of hearing became manifested. The great sages desired to hear about the Self. (Vedabase)

Text 23:

Of the desire to experience the hard, soft, light, weight, heat and cold of all matter, the sense of touch was distributed over the skin with its bodily hair and of having perceived through the touch of that skin the objects of perception from within and without, the three controlling deities manifested as well.

When there was a desire to perceive the physical characteristics of matter, such as softness, hardness, warmth, cold, lightness and heaviness, the background of sensation, the skin, the skin pores, the hairs on the body and their controlling deities. (the trees) were generated. Within and outside the skin is a covering of air through which sense perception became prominent. (Vedabase)

Text 24:

Desiring the different types of work, from them His hands manifested, but to give strength to the manipulation depending on them [the gods and His hands], Indra, the king of the gods, came into being.

Thereafter when the Supreme Person desired to perform varieties of work, the two hands and their controlling strength, and Indra, the demigod in heaven, became manifested, as also the acts dependent on both the hands and the demigod. (Vedabase)

Text 25:

Wishing to control movement the legs manifested, for the purpose of which the Lord of Sacrifice [Vishnu] Himself manifested motivating the different human beings to the duties according their fruitive activities [karma].

Thereupon, because of His desiring to control movement, His legs became manifested, and from the legs the controlling deity named Vishnu was generated. By His personal supervision of this act, all varieties of human being are busily engaged in dutiful occupational sacrifice. (Vedabase)

Text 26:

Desiring to taste the nectar of sexual enjoyment appeared the genitals of the male and female organ and found the cherished of the lustful its existence that is the shelter for the both of them [controlled by the Prajâpati].

Thereupon, for sexual pleasure, begetting offspring and tasting heavenly nectar, the Lord developed the genitals, and thus there is the genital organ and its controlling deity, the Prajâpati. The object of sexual pleasure and the controlling deity are under the control of the genitals of the Lord. (Vedabase)

Text 27:

Desiring to evacuate the refuse of eatables first the opening of the anus and then its sense came about after which Mitra, the controller over the excretion, came to give shelter to the both of them.

Thereafter, when He desired to evacuate the refuse of eatables, the evacuating hole, anus, and the sensory organ thereof developed along with the controlling deity Mitra. The sensory organ and the evacuating substance are both under the shelter of the controlling deity. (Vedabase)

Text 28:

Wishing to spread everywhere in different bodies, from the one body the navel manifested after which it became the place wherefrom separated the arrest of the vitality and death were found.

Thereafter, when He desired to move from one body to another, the navel and the air of departure and death were combinedly created. The navel is the shelter for both, namely death and the separating force. (Vedabase)

Text 29:

In the want for food and drink the abdomen with the rivers and seas of the intestines and arteries originated as also the source of the sustaining metabolism of them.

When there was a desire to have food and drink, the abdomen and the intestines and also the arteries became manifested. The rivers and seas are the source of their sustenance and metabolism. (Vedabase)

Text 30:

Desirous to know His own energy the heart [as the seat of thinking] manifested after which the mind, Candra the controller [the moon] and thus the reality of determination and desire were found.

When there was a desire to think about the activities of His own energy, then the heart. (the seat of the mind), the mind, the moon, determination and all desire became manifested. (Vedabase)