SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM: CANTO 3

(1) Maitreya said: 'Thus far I have described to you, o 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 came about [as the five types of ignorance:] the idea 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 well as the darkness of the nescience about one's own engagements [tamas]. (3) Seeing what a troublesome creation it was he [Brahmâ] couldn't 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: 'O my sons, do procreate', but they didn't 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: 'O powerful one, o ruler of destiny, assign me my names and tell me what my places are o 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: 'Don't you cry, I'll do what you want. (10) Because you o 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, o 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) 'O 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 as well. (18) Be situated in penance, that'll 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 as well the master his body as his mind.

(28) O 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 wasn't 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 o master. (31) Certainly such an attitude does not befit the most powerful one whose good behavior and character, o 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 well as the four principles of religion [truth, purity, austerity and compassion] and the spiritual departments [âs'ramas] and vocational divisions [varnas].'

(36) Vidura said: 'Please, o 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'astra 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 [Sthapatyaveda] 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 appeared the vows [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 well as 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 metre] 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 alphabeth [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) O 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) O 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.'

Maitreya said: 'Thus far I have described to you, o 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.

Maitreya said: 'Thus far I described to you, o Vidura, the glories of the Supersoul under the name of kâla, now just try to understand from me how the reservoir of the Veda's came into existence. (Vedabase)

Text 2

First came about [as the five types of ignorance:] the idea 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 well as the darkness of the nescience about one's own engagements [tamas].

First came about the sense of death, then anger upon frustration, next all the false sense of ownership with the sense objects and then there was the illusory conception of darkness as well as the nescience in one's engagements. (Vedabase)

Text 3

Seeing what a troublesome creation it was he [Brahmâ] couldn't really appreciate what he had done and thus he, after being purified by meditating upon the Supreme Lord, found the mind for another one.

Seeing such a troublesome creation he [Brahmâ] did not feel much pleasure; he then, purified by meditating the Supreme Lord, found the mind for another term of creation. (Vedabase)

Text 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'].

To that the great self-born sages Sanaka, Sananda, Sanâtana and Sanat-kumâra found their existence who are free from all fruitive action and who are of the celibate ['whose seed goes upwards']. (Vedabase)

Text 5

He from within told his sons: 'O my sons, do procreate', but they didn't want to, because they in their devotion for the Personality of Godhead were vowed to the principles of liberation.

He commissioned them, his sons, from within: 'O my sons, do procreate', but they did not desire that, pledged as they were to the principles of liberation in devotion for the Personality of Godhead. (Vedabase)

Text 6

Disrespected by the sons who refused to follow the order, he did his best to check the anger that rose in him.

He, thus disrespected by the sons who refused to follow the order, developed an anger which he could not show and to his best tried to put to an end. (Vedabase)

Text 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].

In spite of controlling it by meditation, from between the eyebrows of the original father his anger, instanty a child was born of a color mixed of red [for passion] and blue [for ignorance]. (Vedabase)

Text 8

The child cried loudly to the father of all the gods: 'O powerful one, o ruler of destiny, assign me my names and tell me what my places are o teacher of the universe'.

That child loudly cried out to the father of all the gods: 'O Powerful one, o ruler of destiny, assign me my names and places of commitment, o teacher of the universe.' (Vedabase)

Text 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: 'Don't you cry, I'll do what you want.

Being requested as the all-powerful one born from the lotus, he accepted the plea and gently pacified it with the words: 'Do not cry, I shall do as you desire. (Vedabase)

Text 10

Because you o chief of the demigods, as a boy were so anxiously crying loudly, the people will address you with the name Rudra.

O boy, chief of the demigods, because you were so anxiously crying out aloud, the people will address you by the name of Rudra. (Vedabase)

Text 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.

The heart, the senses, the life air, the sky, the air, fire and water, earth and the sun, the moon and also austerity for sure are all the places that are already selected for you. (Vedabase)

Text 12

Your names are: Manyu, Manu, Mahinasa, Mahân, S'iva, Ritadhvaja, Ugraretâ, Bhava, Kâla, Vâmadeva and Dhritavrata.

All your names are: Manyu, Manu, Mahinasa, Mahan, S'iva, Ritadhvaja, Ugraretâ, Bhava, Kâla, Vâmadeva and Dhritavrata. (Vedabase)

Text 13

Dhî, Dhriti, Rasalâ, Umâ, Niyut, Sarpi, Ilâ, Ambikâ, Irâvatî, Svadhâ and Dîkshâ are, o Rudra, your eleven wives [the Rudrânîs].

Dhî, Dhriti, Rasalâ, Umâ, Niyut, Sarpi, Ilâ, Ambikâ, Irâvatî, Svadhâ and Dîkshâ are, o Rudra, your eleven wives. (Vedabase)

Text 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.'

Accept these different names and places and the wives belonging to them; generate progeny with them on a large scale, since you are the master of the living beings.' (Vedabase)

Text 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.

Thus being ordered by his own spiritual master, the most powerful one of the mix of blue and red brought forth the generations who like himself were of the same strength, features and furious nature. (Vedabase)

Text 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.

Seeing from the activities of the sons that were generated by Rudra that the unlimited number of them all together devoured the entire universe, the father of the living beings became afraid: (Vedabase)

Text 17

'O 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 as well.

'O best of the demigods' he said, 'It is not necessary, all that happens from your kind. The flames of their fiery eyes are burning from all sides and as well affect me. (Vedabase)

Text 18

Be situated in penance, that'll 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.

Be situated in penance, that is auspicious for you. By penance only will the living entities find happiness and will you create a world to your liking as it was before. (Vedabase)

Text 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.'

Only by penance can a person fully know the supreme light of respect for the Supreme Lord beyond the senses who resides in the heart of everyone.' (Vedabase)

Text 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.

Maitreya said: 'Thus on the request of the self-born one, he [Rudra] circumambulated the master of the Veda's, that way confirming Him with mantra's, and entered for the sake of penance into the forest. (Vedabase)

Text 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:

From these considerations about the creation, ten sons were begotten who regarding the Lord were empowered with the potency to cause the extend of the world population. (Vedabase)

Text 22

Marîci, Atri, Angirâ, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Bhrigu, Vasishthha, Daksha and Nârada as number ten.

Thus Marîci, Atri, Angirâ, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Bhrigu, Vasishthha, Daksha and the tenth son, Nârada, were born. (Vedabase)

Text 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.

Deliberating on transcendence Nârada came into being, Daksha came from the thumb, from the life-air Vasishthha saw the light, while Bhrigu came from his touch and the sage Kratu from his hand. (Vedabase)

Text 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.

Pulaha generated from the navel, Pulastya from his ears, the great sage Angirâ from the mouth, from the eyes the sage Atri came forth and the sage Marîci appeared from the mind. (Vedabase)