SECTION –CLXXXVII
(Markandeya-Samasya Parva Continued)
"Then the virtuous king Yudhishthira in all
humility again enquired of the illustrious Markandeya, saying, 'O great Muni,
thou hast seen many thousands of ages pass away. In this world there is none so
longlived as thou! O best of those that have attained the knowledge of Supreme
Spirit, there is none equal to thee in years except the great-minded Brahma
living in the most exalted place. Thou, O Brahmana, worshippest Brahma at the
time of the great dissolution of the universe, when this world is without sky
and without the gods and Danavas. And when that cataclysm ceaseth and the
Grandsire awaketh, thou alone, O regenerate Rishi, beholdest Brahma duly
re-create the four orders of beings after having filled the cardinal points
with air and consigned the waters to their proper place. Thou, O great
Brahmana, hast worshipped in his presence the great Lord and Grandsire of all
creatures with soul rapt in meditation and entirely swallowed up in Him! And, O
Brahmana, thou hast many a time witnessed with thy eyes, the primeval acts of
creation, and, plunged in severe ascetic austerities, thou hast also surpassed
the Prajapatis themselves! Thou art esteemed as one who is nearest to Narayana,
in the next world. Many a time in days of yore hast thou beheld the Supreme
Creator of the universe with eyes of spiritual abstraction and renunciation,
having first opened thy pure and lotus-like heart--the only place where the
multiform Vishnu of universal knowledge may be seen! It is for this, O learned
Rishi, by the grace of God neither all-destroying Death, nor dotage that
causeth the decay of the body, hath any power over thee! When neither the sun,
nor the moon, nor fire, nor earth, nor air, nor sky remains, when all the world
being destroyed looketh like one vast ocean, when the Gods and Asuras and the
great Uragas are annihilated, and when the great-minded Brahma, the Lord of all
creatures, taking his seat on a lotus flower, sleepeth there, then thou alone
remainest to worship him! And, O best of Brahman as thou hast seen all this
that occurred before, with thy own eyes. And thou alone hast witnessed many
things by the senses, and never in all the worlds hath there been any thing
unknown to thee! Therefore do I long to hear any discourse explaining the
causes of things!"
"Markandeya replied, 'Indeed, I shall
explain all, after having bowed down to that Self-existent, Primordial Being,
who is eternal and undeteriorating and inconceivable, and who is at once vested
with and divested of attributes. O tiger among men, this Janardana attired in
yellow robes is the grand Mover and Creator of all, the Soul and Framer of all
things, and the lord of all! He is also called the Great, the Incomprehensible,
the Wonderful and the Immaculate. He is without beginning and without end,
pervades all the world, is Unchangeable and Undeteriorating. He is the Creator
of all, but is himself uncreate and is the Cause of all power. His knowledge is
greater than that of all the gods together. O best of kings and pre-eminent of
men, after the dissolution of the universe, all this wonderful creation again
comes into life. Four thousand years have been said to constitute the Krita
Yuga. Its dawn also, as well as its eve, hath been said to comprise four
hundred years. The Treta-Yuga is said to comprise three thousand years, and its
dawn, as well as its eve, is said to comprise three hundred years. The Yuga
that comes next is called Dwapara, and it hath been computed to consist of two
thousand years. Its dawn, as well as its eve, is said to comprise two hundred
years. The next Yuga, called Kali, is said to comprise one thousand years and
its dawn, as well as eve, is said to comprise one hundred years. Know, O king,
that the duration of the dawn is the same as that of the eve of a Yuga. And
after the Kali Yuga is over, the Krita Yuga comes again. A cycle of the Yugas
thus comprised a period of twelve thousand years. A full thousand of such
cycles would constitute a day of Brahma. O tiger among men, when all this
universe is withdrawn and ensconced within its home--the Creator himself--that
disappearance of all things is called by the learned to be Universal
Destruction. O bull of the Bharata race, towards the end of the last mentioned
period of one thousand years, i.e., when the period wanted to complete a cycle
is short, men generally become addicted to falsehood in speech. O son of
Pritha, then sacrifices and gifts and vows, instead of being performed by
principals are suffered to be performed by representatives!
Brahmanas then perform acts that are reserved for
the Sudras, and the Sudras betake themselves to the acquisition of wealth. Then
Kshatriyas also betake themselves to the practice of religious acts. In the
Kali age, the Brahmanas also abstain from sacrifices and the study of the
Vedas, are divested of their staff and deer-skin, and in respect of food become
omnivorous. And, O son, the Brahmanas in that age also abstain from prayers and
meditation while the Sudras betake themselves to these! The course of the world
looketh contrary, and indeed, these are the signs that foreshadow the Universal
Destruction. And, O lord of men, numerous Mleccha kings then rule over the
earth! And those sinful monarchs, addicted to false speech, govern their
subjects on principles that are false. The Andhhas, the Sakas, the Pulindas,
the Yavanas, the Kamvojas, the Valhikas and the Abhiras, then become, O best of
men, possessed of bravery and the sovereignty of the earth. This, O tiger among
men, becometh the state of the world during the eve, O Bharata, of the Kali age!
Not a single Brahmana then adhereth to the duties of his order. And the
Kshatriyas and the Vaisyas also, O monarch, follow practices contrary to those
that are proper for their own orders. And men become short-lived, weak in
strength, energy, and prowess; and endued with small might and diminutive
bodies, they become scarcely truthful in speech. And the human population
dwindles away over large tracts of country, and the regions of the earth, North
and South, and East and West, become crowded with animals and beasts of prey.
And during this period, they also that utter Brahma, do so in vain. The Sudras
address Brahmanas, saying, Bho, while the Brahmanas address Sudras, saying
Respected Sir. And, O tiger among men, at the end of the Yuga, animals increase
enormously. And, O king, odours and perfumes do not then become so agreeable to
our sense of scent, and, O tiger among men, the very tastes of things do not
then so well accord with our organs of taste as at other periods! And, O king,
women then become mothers of numerous progeny, endued with low statures, and
destitute of good behaviour and good manners. And they also make their very
mouths serve the purposes of the organ of procreation. And famine ravages the
habitations of men, and the highways are infested by women of ill fame, while
females in general, O king, become at such periods hostile to their lords and
destitute of modesty! And, O king, the very kine at such periods yield little
milk, while the trees, sat over with swarms of crows, do not produce many
flowers and fruits. And, O lord of the earth, regenerate classes, tainted with
the sin of slaying Brahmanas, accept gifts from monarchs that are addicted to
falsehood in speech. And filled with covetousness and ignorance, and bearing on
their persons the outward symbols of religion, they set out on eleemosynary
rounds, afflicting the people of the Earth. And people leading domestic lives,
afraid of the burden of taxes, become deceivers, while Brahmanas, falsely
assuming the garb of ascetics, earn wealth by trade, with nails and hair
unpared and uncut. And, O tiger among men, many of the twice-born classes
become, from avarice of wealth, religious mendicants of the Brahmacharin order.
And, O monarch, men at such periods behave contrary to the modes of life to
which they betake themselves, and addicted to intoxicating drinks and capable
of violating the beds of their preceptors, their desires are all of this world,
pursuing matters ministering to the flesh and the blood. And O tiger among men,
at such period the asylums of ascetics become full of sinful and audacious
wretches ever applauding lives of dependence. And the illustrious chastiser of
Paka never showers rain according to the seasons and the seeds also that are
scattered on earth, do not, O Bharata, all sprout forth. And men, unholy in
deed and thought, take pleasure in envy and malice. And, O sinless one, the
earth then becometh full of sin and immorality. And, O lord of the earth, he
that becometh virtuous at such periods doth not live long. Indeed, the earth
becometh reft of virtue in every shape. And, O tiger among men, the merchants
and traders then full of guile, sell large quantities of articles with false
weights and measures. And they that are virtuous do not prosper; while they that
are sinful proper exceedingly. And virtue loseth her strength while sin
becometh all powerful. And men that are devoted to virtue become poor and
short-lived; while they that are sinful become long-lived and win prosperity.
And in such times, people behave sinfully even in places of public amusements
in cities and towns. And men always seek the accomplishment of their ends by
means that are sinful. And having earned fortunes that are really small they
become intoxicated with the pride of wealth. And O monarch, many men at such
periods strive to rob the wealth that hath from trust been deposited with them
in secrecy. And wedded to sinful practices, they shamelessly declare--there is
nothing in deposit. And beasts of prey and other animals and fowl may be seen
to lie down in places of public amusement in cities and towns, as well as in
sacred edifices. And, O king girls of seven or eight years of age do then
conceive, while boys of ten or twelve years beget offspring. An in their
sixteenth year, men are overtaken with decrepitude and decay and the period of
life itself is soon outrun. And O king, when men become so short-lived, more
youths act like the aged; while all that is observable in youth may be noticed
in the old. And women given to impropriety of conduct and marked by evil
manners, deceive even the best of husbands and forget themselves with menials
and slaves and even with animals. And O king, even women that are wives of
heroes seek the companionship of other men and forget themselves with these during
the life-time of their husbands.
"O king, towards the end of those thousands
of years constituting the four Yugas and when the lives of men become so short,
a drought occurs extending for many years. And then, O lord of the earth, men
and creatures endued with small strength and vitality, becoming hungry die by
thousands. And then, O lord of men, seven blazing Suns, appearing in the
firmament, drink up all the waters of the Earth that are in rivers or seas.
And, O bull of the Bharata race, then also everything of the nature of wood and
grass that is wet to dry, is consumed and reduced to ashes. And then, O
Bharata, the fire called Samvartaka impelled by the winds appeareth on the
earth that hath already been dried to cinders by the seven Suns. And then that
fire, penetrating through the Earth and making its appearance, in the nether
regions also, begetteth great terror in the hearts of the gods, the Danavas and
the Yakshas. And, O lord of the earth, consuming the nether regions as also
everything upon this Earth that fire destroyeth all things in a moment. And
that fire called Samvartaka aided by that inauspicious wind, consumeth this
world extending for hundreds and thousands of yojanas. And that lord of all
things, that fire, blazing forth in effulgence consumeth this universe with
gods and Asuras and Gandharvas and Yakshas and Snakes and Rakshasas. And there
rise in the sky deep masses of clouds, looking like herds of elephants and
decked with wreaths of lightning that are wonderful to behold. And some of
those clouds are of the hue of the blue lotus; and some are of the hue of the
water-lily; and some resemble in tint the filaments of the lotus and some are
purple and some are yellow as turmeric and some of the hue of the crows' egg.
And some are bright as the petals of the lotus and some red as vermillion. And
some resemble palatial cities in shape and some herds of elephants. And some
are of the form of lizards and some of crocodiles and sharks. And, O king, the
clouds that gather in the sky on the occasion are terrible to behold and
wreathed with lightnings, roar frightfully. And those vapoury masses, charged
with rain, soon cover the entire welkin. And, O king, those masses of vapour
then flood with water the whole earth with her mountains and forests and mines.
And, O bull among men, urged by the Supreme Lord those clouds roaring
frightfully, soon flood over the entire surface of the earth. And pouring in a
great quantity of water and filling the whole earth, they quench that terrible
inauspicious fire (of which I have already spoken to thee). And urged by the
illustrious Lord those clouds filling the earth with their downpour shower
incessantly for twelve years. And then, O Bharata, the Ocean oversteps his
continents, the mountains sunder in fragments, and the Earth sinks under the
increasing flood. And then moved on a sudden by the impetus of the wind, those
clouds wander along the entire expanse of the firmament and disappear from the
view. And then, O ruler of men, the Self-create Lord--the first Cause of
everything--having his abode in the lotus, drinketh those terrible winds and
goeth to sleep, O Bharata!
"And then when the universe become one dead
expanse of water, when all mobile and immobile creatures have been destroyed,
when the gods and the Asuras cease to be, when the Yakshas and the Rakshasas
are no more, when man is not, when trees and beasts of prey have disappeared,
when the firmament itself has ceased to exist, I alone, O lord of the earth,
wander in affliction. And, O best of kings, wandering over that dreadful expanse
of water, my heart becometh afflicted in consequence of my not beholding any
creature! And, O king, wandering without cessation, through that flood, I
become fatigued, but I obtain no resting place! And some time after I behold in
that expanse of accumulated waters a vast and wide-extending banian tree, O
lord of earth! And I then behold, O Bharata, seated on a conch, O king,
overlaid with a celestial bed and attached to a far-extended bough of that
banian, a boy, O great king, of face fair as the lotus or the moon, and of
eyes, O ruler of men, large as petals of a full blown lotus! And at this sight,
O lord of earth, wonder filled my heart. And I asked myself, 'How doth this boy
alone sit here when the world itself hath been destroyed?' And, O king,
although I have full knowledge of the Past, the Present, and the Future, still
I failed to learn anything of this by means of even ascetic meditation. Endued
with the lustre of the Atasi flower, and decked with the mark of Sreevatsa, he
seemed to me to be like the abode of Lakshmi, herself. And that boy, of eyes
like the petals of the lotus, having the mark of Sreevatsa, and possessed of
blazing effulgence, then addressed me in words highly pleasant to the ear,
saying, 'O sire, I know thee to be fatigued and desirous of rest. O Markandeya
of Bhrigu's race, rest thou here as long as thou wishest. O best of Munis,
entering within my body, rest thou there. That hath been the abode assigned to
thee by me. I have been pleased with thee.' Thus addressed by that boy, a sense
of total disregard possessed me in respect both of my long life and state of
manhood. Then that boy suddenly opened his mouth, and as fate would have it, I
entered his mouth deprived of the power of motion. But O king, having suddenly entered
into the stomach of that boy, I behold there the whole earth teeming with
cities and kingdoms. And, O best of men, while wandering through the stomach of
that illustrious one, I behold the Ganga, the Satudru, the Sita, the Yamuna,
and the Kausiki; the Charmanwati, the Vetravati; the Chandrabhaga, the
Saraswati, the Sindhu, the Vipasa, and the Godavari; the Vaswokasara, the
Nalini and the Narmada; the Tamra, and the Venna also of delightful current and
sacred waters; the Suvenna, the Krishna-venna, the Irama, and the Mahanadi; the
Vitasti, O great king, and that large river, the Cavery; the one also, O tiger
among men, the Visalya, and the Kimpuna also. I beheld all these and many other
rivers that are on the earth! And, O slayer of foes, I also beheld there the
ocean inhabited by alligators and sharks, that mine of gems, that excellent
abode of waters. And I beheld there the firmament also, decked with the Sun and
the Moon, blazing with effulgence, and possessed of lustre of fire of the Sun.
And I beheld there, O king, the earth also, graced with woods and forests. And,
O monarch, I beheld there many Brahmanas also, engaged in various sacrifices;
and the Kshatriyas engaged in doing good to all the orders; and the Vaisyas
employed in pursuits in agriculture; and the Sudras devoted to the service of
the regenerate classes. And, O king, while wandering through the stomach of
that high-souled one, I also beheld the Himavat and the mountains of Hemakuta.
And I also saw Nishada, and the mountains of Sweta abounding in silver. And, O
king, I saw there the mountain Gandhamadana, and, O tiger among men, also
Mandara and the huge mountains of Nila. And, O great king, I saw there the
golden mountains of Meru and also Mahendra and those excellent mountains called
the Vindhyas. And I beheld there the mountains of Malaya and of Paripatra also.
These and many other mountains that are on earth were all seen by me in his
stomach. And all these were decked with jewels and gems. And, O monarch, while
wandering through his stomach, I also beheld lions and tigers and boars and,
indeed, all other animals that are on earth, O great king! O tiger among men,
having entered his stomach, as I wandered around, I also beheld the whole tribe
of the gods with their chief Sakra, the Sadhyas, the Rudras, the Adityas, the
Guhyakas, the Pitris, the Snakes and the Nagas, the feathery tribes, the Vasus,
the Aswins, the Gandharvas, the Apsaras, the Yakshas, the Rishis, the hordes of
the Daityas and the Danavas, and the Nagas also. O king, and the sons of
Singhika and all the other enemies of the gods; indeed what else of mobile and
immobile creatures may be seen on earth, were all seen by me, O monarch, within
the stomach of that high-souled one. And, O lord, living upon fruits I dwelt within
his body for many centuries wandering over the entire universe that is there.
Never did I yet, O king, behold the limits of his body. And when, O lord of
earth, I failed to measure the limits of that high-souled one's body, even
though I wandered within him continuously in great anxiety of mind. I then, in
thought and deed sought the protection of that boon-giving and pre-eminent
Deity, duly acknowledging his superiority. And when I had done this, O king, I
was suddenly projected (from within his body) through that high-souled one's
open mouth by means, O chief of men, of a gust of wind. And, O king, I then
beheld seated on the branch of that very banian that same Being of immeasurable
energy, in the form of a boy with the mark of Sreevatsa (on his breast) having,
O tiger among men, swallowed up the whole universe. And that boy of blazing
effulgence and bearing the mark of Sreevatsa and attired in yellow robes,
gratified with me, smilingly addressed me, saying, 'O Markandeya, O best of
Munis, having dwelt for some time within my body, thou hast been fatigued! I
shall however speak unto thee.' And as he said this to me, at that very moment
I acquired a new sight, so to speak, in consequence of which I beheld myself to
be possessed of true knowledge and emancipated from the illusions of the world.
And, O child, having witnessed the inexhaustible power of that Being of
immeasurable energy, I then worshipped his revered and well-shaped feet with
soles bright as burnished copper and well-decked with toes of mild red hue,
having placed them carefully on my head and joining my palms in humility and
approaching him with reverence. I beheld that Divine Being who is the soul of
all things and whose eyes are like the petals of the lotus. And having bowed
unto him with joined hands I addressed him saying, 'I wish to know thee, O
Divine Being, as also this high and wonderful illusion of thine! O illustrious
one, having entered into thy body through thy mouth, I have beheld the entire
universe in thy stomach! O Divine Being, the gods, the Danavas and the
Rakshasas, the Yakshas, the Gandharvas, and the Nagas, indeed, the whole
universe mobile and immobile, are all within thy body! And though I have
ceaselessly wandered through thy body at a quick pace, through thy grace, O God,
my memory faileth me not. And, O great lord, I have come out of thy body at thy
desire but not of mine! O thou of eyes like lotus leaves, I desire to know thee
who art free from all faults! Why dost thou stay here in the form of a boy
having swallowed up the entire universe? It behoveth thee to explain all this
to me. Why, O sinless one, is the entire universe within thy body? How long
also, O chastiser of foes, wilt thou stay here? Urged by a curiosity that is
not improper for Brahmanas, I desire, O Lord of all the gods, to hear all this
from thee, O thou of eyes like lotus leaves, with every detail and exactly as
it all happens, for all I have seen, O Lord, is wonderful and inconceivable!'
And thus addressed by me, that deity of deities, of blazing effulgence and
great beauty, that foremost of all speakers consoling me properly, spoke unto
me these words."
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