Brahma said-

Neither the principles of Siva nor His supreme wonderful forms have been understood by me or by Visnu or by any one else.

At the time of great Dissolution when all the mobile and immobile objects of the world are dissolved everything gets enveloped in darkness, without the sun, planets and stars.

There is no moon. The day and the night are not demarcated. There is no fire, no wind, no earth and no water. There is no unmanifest primordial being. The whole firmament is one complete void, devoid of all Tejas elements.

There is no Dharma or Adharma, no sound, no touch. Smell and color are not manifest. There is no taste. The face of the quarters is not demarcated.

Thus when there is pitch darkness that cannot be pierced with a needle and what is mentioned in the Vedas as “The existent and the Brahman” is alone present.

When the present visible world is not in existence, the Sat Brahman alone is present which Yogins observe perpetually in the inner soul, the inner firmament.

It is incomprehensible to the mind. It cannot at all be expressed by words. It has neither name nor color. It is neither thick nor thin.

It is neither short nor long. It is neither light nor heavy. There is neither increase nor decrease in it.

The Veda says that it envelops whatever is in a surprising way. It is the splendor, the truth, the knowledge, the eternal and the great Bliss.

It is immeasurable, propless, changeless, formless, attributeless, and perceptible to the Yogins, all pervasive and the sole cause of the universe.

It is free from alternatives. It has no beginning. It is free from illusion and its harassment. It has no second. It has neither beginning nor end. It has no development. It is in the form of pure knowledge.

People have doubts about giving it a name. That Being, then after sometime, it is said, wished for a second.

The Being, having no form of its own, wished to create, in the course of its own sport, an auspicious form of its own endowed with all power, qualities and knowledge.

A form that goes everywhere, that has all forms, that sees all, that is the cause of all, that should be respected by all, that is at the beginning of all, that bestows everything, and that sanctifies everything should be created and hence created that form of Isvara of pure nature. The original being without a second, with neither beginning nor end, that illuminates everything, that is in the form of Cit (Pure Knowledge), that which is termed supreme Brahman, the all pervasive and undecaying, vanished. The manifest form of the formless Being is Sadasiva. Scholars of the ancient and succeeding ages have sung of it as Isvara.

Creation of Visnu and Brahma by Siva

Isvara though alone, then created the physical form sakti from his body. This Sakti did not affect his body in anyway.

This Sakti is called by various names. Pradhana, Prakrti, Maya, Gunavati, Para. The mother of Buddhi Tattva, Vikrtivarjita.

That Sakti is Ambika, Prakrti and the goddess of all. She is the prime cause and the mother of the three deities.

She has eight arms. Her face wears a peculiar splendor, the splendor of a thousand moons. Thousands of stars perpetually sparkle round her face.

She is bedecked in various ornaments. She has various weapons. She is capable of various movements. Her eyes beam like a full blown lotus.

She has a brilliance, which could hardly be conceived. She is the generating cause of all. She sprang up singly as Maya. In her union she manifested in various forms.

The supreme Purusa is Siva. He is called Sambhu. He has no other lord over Him. He holds the Mandakini (Ganga) on his head, and the crescent moon on his forehead. He has three eyes.

He has five faces. He is always joyful. He has ten arms. He holds the trident. He is as pure and white as camphor. His body is entirely dusted with the ash.

That Brahman of the form of Kala together with Sakti, simultaneously create the holy center called Sivaloka.

The same is called Kasika, the excellent holy center. It is the seat of salvation shining over and above everything.

The holy center is of the nature of extreme Bliss in as much as the primordial lovers, supremely Blissful, made that beautiful holy center their perpetual abode.

O sage, that holy center is never, even at the time of great Dissolution, free from Siva and Sakti Hence it is called Avimukta.

Since the holy center is the cause of Bliss, the Pinaka bearing lord, Siva, called it “the blissful forest” and later “Avimukta”.

O celestial sage, the blissful, two deities thus sporting in the forest wished, it is said, for another Being to be created.

Siva thought within himself like this-“Another being shall be created by me. Let him create everything, protect it and in the end let him dissolve it with my blessing. Having entrusted everything to him we two, remaining in Kasi shall roam as we please keeping only the prerogative of conferring salvation.

We can stay happily in this blissful forest being free from worries. With the consent of Siva the supreme lord spread the liquorine essence of nectar on his left side, on the tenth limb, nectar that was the outcome of churning the ocean of his mind wherein thoughts were the waves, the Sattva Guna was precious gem, Rajas being coral and Tamas- crocodile. Thereupon a person came into being who was the most charming one in the three worlds, who was calm with Sattva Guna being prominent, and who appeared to be the ocean of immeasurable majesty.

O sage, he was endowed with patience. There was none comparable to him. He had the luster of sapphire. He was glorious with his excellent eyes shining like a lotus.

He was having a golden form and features. He wore two excellent silk garments of golden color. His arms were browny and brilliant. He was indefatigable.

He bowed to Siva Paramesvara and said-“O lord give me names and assign me my task.

Siva said-

“You will be famous as Visnu by name as you are all-pervasive. You will have many other names conferring happiness on devotees.

Perform penance highly conducive to the achievement of the matter in hand, Be firm in it.” Saying so, the lord bestowed on him the Vedas through his nostrils.

Siva vanished accompanied by Sakti and his attendants. After due obeisance to Siva, Visnu began his great penance.

Even after performing the penance for twelve thousand divine years, Visnu could not achieve his desire, the vision of Siva that confers everything.

He became suspicious and respectfully meditating on Siva pondered “What shall I do now?”

In the meantime the auspicious voice of Siva was heard. “Perform penance again for removing your doubts.

On hearing it Visnu performed a terrible penance, for along time, following the path of meditation.

That Being Visnu became enlightened, following the path of meditation. He was delightfully surprised. “O what is that True entity?”

From the body of Visnu who thus exerted himself, water currents of various sorts began to flow as a result of Siva’s Maya.

O great sage, the supreme Brahman in the form of divine waters pervaded the entire void. A mere contact with the same is destructive of sins.

Visnu, the weary person went to sleep amidst the waters. He was in that blissful state of delusion for a long time.

As approved in the Vedas, his name came to be established as Narayana. Excepting for that Primordial Being there was nothing then.

In the meantime, the Principles too were evolved out of evolved out of the Great soul. O wise one of great intellect, listen to my enumeration of the same.

From Prakrti came into being the Mahat (cosmic intellect) and from Mahat the three Gunas. Ahamkara the cosmic ego arose there from in three forms according to the three Gunas.

The Essences, the five elements, the senses of knowledge and action too came into being then.

O most excellent of sages, I have thus enumerated the principles. All these principles originating from Prakrti are insentient, but not the Purusa. These principles are twenty four in number. Visnu, the Purusa, accepted all these, as was the will of Siva, and began his sleep in the Brahman.

Brahma said-

When lord Narayana continued to sleep, an excellent lotus of huge size came out of his navel as desired by Siva.

It was many Yojanas wide and high. It had an endless stalk. The pericarp was of a brilliant hue.

It was very beautiful with the brilliance of ten million suns. It was wonderful, excellent and worthy of vision containing Tattvas.

Exerting himself as before, Siva, the great lord, with Parvati as his better created me from His right limb.

O sage, having deluded me with His illusion immediately, Siva in the course of his sport, produced me through the umbilical lotus of Visnu.

Thus it was that I came to be known as Lotus born and conceived in a golden womb. I had four faces, red complexion and Tripundra marked forehead.

Deluded by his illusion and weakened in knowledge, O dear one, I did not know who the progenitor of my body was, other than the lotus.

My intellect became confused with these doubts. Then I thought “Why shall I be under delusion? It is easy to gain that knowledge. The place of growth of this lotus is below. My progenitor will undoubtedly be there.” Thinking thus I descended from the lotus. O age, for a hundred years the downward trend continued.

The source of lotus was not attained by me. In the doubt tormented state I became eager to go up on to the top of the lotus.

O sage, I climbed up to the lotus by the stalk. But the upper part of the lotus I could not reach. I was disappointed.

Another hundred years elapsed in my wandering up the lotus. I stopped a while in that confounded state.

Then, O sage, by the will of Siva, an auspicious voice “Perform Penance” was heard from the sky, which dispelled my delusion.

On hearing the voice of the sky I exerted myself for twelve years in performing a terrible penance in order to see my progenitor.

At the same time, the four armed lord Visnu of beautiful eyes suddenly appeared before me in order to bless me.

The great lord was holding the conch, the discus, the mace and the lotus in his hands. He was wearing the yellow silken cloth and had cloud blue complexion all over his body.

O foremost of sages, we spent a hundred autumns therein.

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