The beginning of Varaha Kalpa

OM! Glory to Vasudeva! Victory be to you, Pundarikaksha; adoration be to you, Vishvabhavana; glory be to you, Hrishikesha, Mahapurusha, and Purvaja.

Maitreya said:

“Tell me, mighty sage, how, in the commencement of the (present) Kalpa, Narayana, who is named Brahma, created all existent things.”

Parashara said:

“In what manner the divine Brahma, who is one with Narayana, created progeny, and is thence named the lord of progeny (Prajapati), the lord god, you shall hear.

At the close of the past (or Padma) Kalpa, the divine Brahma, endowed with the quality of goodness, awoke from his night of sleep, and beheld the universe void. He, the supreme Narayana, the incomprehensible, the sovereign of all creatures, invested with the form of Brahma, the god without beginning, the creator of all things; of whom, with respect to his name Narayana, the god who has the form of Brahma, the imperishable origin of the world, this verse is repeated,

"The waters are called Nara, because they were the offspring of Nara (the supreme spirit); and as in them his first (Ayana) progress (in the character of Brahma) took place, he is thence named Narayana (he whose place of moving was the waters)."

He, the lord, concluding that within the waters lay the earth, and being desirous to raise it up, created another form for that purpose; and as in preceding Kalpas he had assumed the shape of a fish or a tortoise, so in this he took the figure of a boar. Having adopted a form composed of the sacrifices of the Vedas, for the preservation of the whole earth, the eternal, supreme, and universal soul, the great progenitor of created beings, eulogized by Sanaka and the other saints who dwell in the sphere of holy men (Janaloka); he, the supporter of spiritual and material being, plunged into the ocean. The goddess Earth, beholding him thus descending to the subterrene regions, bowed in devout adoration, and thus glorified the god. Prithvi (Earth) said:

“Hail to you, who are all creatures; to you, the holder of the mace and shell: elevate me now from this place, as you have upraised me in days of old. From you have I proceeded; of you do I consist; as do the skies, and all other existing things. Hail to you, spirit of the supreme spirit; to you, soul of soul; to you, who are discrete and indiscrete matter; who are one with the elements and with time. You are the creator of all things, their preserver, and their destroyer, in the forms, Oh lord, of Brahma, Vishnu, and Rudra, at the seasons of creation, duration, and dissolution. When you have devoured all things, you repose on the ocean that sweeps over the world, meditated upon, Oh Govinda, by the wise. No one knows your true nature, and the gods adore you only in the forms it bath pleased you to assume. They who are desirous of final liberation, worship you as the supreme Brahma; and who that adores not Vasudeva, shall obtain emancipation? Whatever may be apprehended by the mind, whatever may be perceived by the senses, whatever may he discerned by the intellect, all is but a form of you. I am of you, upheld by you; you are my creator, and to you I fly for refuge: hence, in this universe, Madhavi (the bride of Madhava or Vishnu) is my designation. Triumph to the essence of all wisdom, to the unchangeable, the imperishable: triumph to the eternal; to the indiscrete, to the essence of discrete things: to him who is both cause and effect; who is the universe; the sinless lord of sacrifice; triumph. You are sacrifice; you are the oblation; you are the mystic Omkara; you are the sacrificial fires; you are the Vedas, and their dependent sciences; you are, Hari, the object of all worship. The sun, the stars, the planets, the whole world; all that is formless, or that has form; all that is visible, or invisible; all, Purushottama, that I have said, or left unsaid; all this, Supreme, you are. Hail to you, again and again! hail! all hail!””

Parashara continued:

“The auspicious supporter of the world, being thus hymned by the earth, emitted a low murmuring sound, like the chanting of the Sama Veda; and the mighty boar, whose eyes were like the lotus, and whose body, vast as the Níla mountain, was of the dark colour of the lotus leaves, uplifted upon his ample tusks the earth from the lowest regions. As he reared up his head, the waters shed from his brow purified the great sages, Sanandana and others, residing in the sphere of the saints. Through the indentations made by his hoofs, the waters rushed into the lower worlds with a thundering noise. Before his breath, the pious denizens of Janaloka were scattered, and the Munis sought for shelter amongst the bristles upon the scriptural body of the boar, trembling as he rose up, supporting the earth, and dripping with moisture. Then the great sages, Sanandana and the rest, residing continually in the sphere of saints, were inspired with delight, and bowing lowly they praised the stern-eyed upholder of the earth. The Yogis said:

“Triumph, lord of lords supreme; Keshava, sovereign of the earth, the wielder of the mace, the shell, the discus, and the sword: cause of production, destruction, and existence. YOU ARE, Oh god: there is no other supreme condition, but you. You, lord, are the person of sacrifice: for your feet are the Vedas; your tusks are the stake to which the victim is bound; in your teeth are the offerings; your mouth is the altar; your tongue is the fire; and the hairs of your body are the sacrificial grass. Your eyes, Oh omnipotent, are day and night; your head is the seat of all, the place of Brahma; your mane is all the hymns of the Vedas; your nostrils are all oblations: Oh you, whose snout is the ladle of oblation; whose deep voice is the chanting of the Sama Veda; whose body is the hall of sacrifice; whose joints are the different ceremonies; and whose ears have the properties of both voluntary and obligatory rites: do you, who are eternal, who are in size a mountain, be propitious. We acknowledge you, who have traversed the world, Oh universal form, to be the beginning, the continuance, and the destruction of all things: you are the supreme god. Have pity on us, Oh lord of conscious and unconscious beings. The orb of the earth is seen seated on the tip of your tusks, as if you had been sporting amidst a lake where the lotus floats, and had borne away the leaves covered with soil. The space between heaven and earth is occupied by your body, Oh you of unequalled glory, resplendent with the power of pervading the universe, Oh lord, for the benefit of all. You are the aim of all: there is none other than you, sovereign of the world: this is your might, by which all things, fixed or movable, are pervaded. This form, which is now beheld, is your form, as one essentially with wisdom. Those who have not practiced devotion, conceive erroneously of the nature of the world. The ignorant, who do not perceive that this universe is of the nature of wisdom, and judge of it as an object of perception only, are lost in the ocean of spiritual ignorance. But they who know true wisdom, and whose minds are pure, behold this whole world as one with divine knowledge, as one with you, Oh god. Be favourable, Oh universal spirit: raise up this earth, for the habitation of created beings. Inscrutable deity, whose eyes are like lotuses, give us felicity. Oh lord, you are endowed with the quality of goodness: raise up, Govinda, this earth, for the general good. Grant us happiness, Oh lotus-eyed. May this, your activity in creation, be beneficial to the earth. Salutation to you. Grant us happiness, Oh lotus-eyed.”

Parashara continued:

“The supreme being thus eulogized, upholding the earth, raised it quickly, and placed it on the summit of the ocean, where it floats like a mighty vessel, and from its expansive surface does not sink beneath the waters. Then, having levelled the earth, the great eternal deity divided it into portions, by mountains: he who never wills in vain, created, by his irresistible power, those mountains again upon the earth which had been consumed at the destruction of the world. Having then divided the earth into seven great portions or continents, as it was before, he constructed in like manner the four (lower) spheres, earth, sky, heaven, and the sphere of the sages (Maharloka). Thus Hari, the four-faced god, invested with the quality of activity, and taking the form of Brahma, accomplished the creation: but he (Brahma) is only the instrumental cause of things to be created; the things that are capable of being created arise from nature as a common material cause: with exception of one instrumental cause alone, there is no need of any other cause, for (imperceptible) substance becomes perceptible substance according to the powers with which it is originally imbued.”