SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM: CANTO 3

Vidura said: 'How many sorts did the grandfather of all creatures on this planet create to the body and mind of the Almighty after the disappearance of the Supreme Personality?

S'rî Vidura said: O great sage, please let me know how Brahmâ, the grandfather of the planetary inhabitants, created the bodies of the living entities from his own body and mind after the disappearance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. (Vedabase)

Text 2:

For the purpose of all that I asked you about, o powerful one, kindly describe all of them, o greatly learned one, from the beginning to the end and be so kind to remove all my doubts.

O greatly learned one, kindly eradicate all my doubts, and let me know of all that I have inquired from you from the beginning to the end. (Vedabase)

Text 3:

Sûta said [see Canto 1]: 'O son of Bhrigu [S'aunaka], the great sage, the son of Kusâra [Maitreya] thus enlivened by Vidura felt pleased and thus replied the questions from the core of his heart.

Sûta Gosvâmî said: O son of Bhrigu, the great sage Maitreya Muni, thus hearing from Vidura, felt very much enlivened. Everything was in his heart, and thus he began to reply to the questions one after another. (Vedabase)

Text 4:

Maitreya said: "And so did Brahmâ perform for a hundred celestial years penances for the sake of the soul, engaging himself as was told to him by the unborn One, the Supreme Lord.

The greatly learned sage Maitreya said: O Vidura, Brahmâ thus engaged himself in penances for one hundred celestial years, as advised by the Personality of Godhead, and applied himself in devotional service to the Lord. (Vedabase)

Text 5:

In that saw he, who was born from the lotus, that by the inherent power of the natural forces [eternal time] the wind separated the waters on which the lotus was situated.

Thereafter Brahmâ saw that both the lotus on which he was situated and the water on which the lotus was growing were trembling due to a strong, violent wind. (Vedabase)

Text 6:

By his penance he surely had won in transcendental knowledge and had matured in his self-awareness and practical knowledge, and with that power he took in the wind along with the water.

Long penance and transcendental knowledge of self-realization had matured Brahmâ in practical knowledge, and thus he drank the wind completely, along with the water. (Vedabase)

Text 7:

Then he saw how widespread the lotus was on which he was situated; from the action all the world that was previously submerged had now separated and was open to his creation, so he found.

Thereafter he saw that the lotus on which he was situated was spread throughout the universe, and he contemplated how to create all the planets, which were previously merged in that very same lotus. (Vedabase)

Text 8:

Entering into that whorl of the lotus, in his activities encouraged by the Supreme Lord, he divided the one into three worlds and from that He could create the fourteen of them [see also 2.5.42].

Thus engaged in the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Brahmâ entered into the whorl of the lotus, and as it spread all over the universe he divided it into three divisions of worlds and later into fourteen divisions. (Vedabase)

Text 9:

Concerning these the highest person in the universe had no other motivation than setting the duties all round to the mature stage of the interest of the individual localities where the souls had their living.

Lord Brahmâ is the most exalted personality in the universe because of his causeless devotional service unto the Lord in mature transcendental knowledge. He therefore created all the fourteen planetary divisions for inhabitation by the different types of living entities. (Vedabase)

Text 10

Vidura said: 'You spoke to the variety of the different forms of the Lord, the wonderful actor, of the eternal of time, o brahmin; can you please describe to us what the factual appearance of it is, o Lord?'

Vidura inquired from Maitreya: O my lord, O greatly learned sage, kindly describe eternal time, which is another form of the Supreme Lord, the wonderful actor. What are the symptoms of that eternal time? Please describe them to us in detail. (Vedabase)

Text 11

Maitreya said: 'It is the source of the interactions to the modes of nature, it is undivided and unlimited and the instrument of the Original Person who created the material life of the soul through His pastimes.

Maitreya said: Eternal time is the primeval source of the interactions of the three modes of material nature. It is unchangeable and limitless, and it works as the instrument of the Supreme Personality of Godhead for His pastimes in the material creation. (Vedabase)

Text 12:

The phenomenal which for sure is there as the same energy of Vishnu, separated itself from the Spirit by the Supreme Lord in the form of time [kâla], which is considered His unmanifest [impersonal] feature.

This cosmic manifestation is separated from the Supreme Lord as material energy by means of kâla, which is the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Lord. It is situated as the objective manifestation of the Lord under the influence of the same material energy of Vishnu. (Vedabase)

Text 13:

As it is at present, so it was in the beginning and to the end it will also continue to be the same.

This cosmic manifestation is as it is now, it was the same in the past, and it will continue in the same way in the future. (Vedabase)

Text 14:

There are nine types of creations: the three modes of matter [to prakriti: passion, goodness and ignorance], the three qualities to these modes [to vikriti: movement, knowledge and inertia], and the three types of annihllation which are then the material divisions of time [to kâla: the ascension of humans, the extinction of animals and the ending of the plants together with the universe].

There are nine different kinds of creations besides the one which naturally occurs due to the interactions of the modes. There are three kinds of annihilations due to eternal time, the material elements and the quality of one's work. (Vedabase)

Text 15:

The first one [the mahat-tattva, of the goodness] is nothing but the total of creation that emanated from the Lord with the interacting of its three modes. The second one [of passion] is but the false ego of the awakened activities of the material ingredients and their interrelating.

Of the nine creations, the first one is the creation of the mahat-tattva, or the sum total of the material ingredients, wherein the modes interact due to the presence of the Supreme Lord. In the second, the false ego is generated in which the material ingredients, material knowledge and material activities arise. (Vedabase)

Text 16:

The created of matter itself is the third kind [that of ignorance] that is only of sense perception to which fourth there is to the matter of the senses the practical basic of material knowledge.

The sense perceptions are created in the third creation, and from these the elements are generated. The fourth creation is the creation of knowledge and of working capacity. (Vedabase)

Text 17:

The interaction to the mode of goodness gives the godly [of movement] to the material creation who with the sum total of mind forms the fifth kind to which sixth there is the darkness of creation [the inert of matter] that makes fools of masters.

The fifth creation is that of the controlling deities by the interaction of the mode of goodness, of which the mind is the sum total. The sixth creation is the ignorant darkness of the living entity, by which the master acts as a fool. (Vedabase)

Text 18:

Next to the first six creations of the material energy [of nature or the Lord] there are the secondary creations [of plant animal and man]; hear from me concerning those just about the powerful one that is the incarnation of the mode of passion [Brahmâ] and about the pastimes of that brain of the Supreme Lord.

All the above are natural creations by the external energy of the Lord. Now hear from me about the creations by Brahmâ, who is an incarnation of the mode of passion and who, in the matter of creation, has a brain like that of the Personality of Godhead. (Vedabase)

Text 19:

The seventh principle of creation concerns six kinds of beings that do not move themselves: trees bearing fruit without flowers, plants and bushes that exist until the fruit has ripened, the creepers, the pipe-plants, creepers without support and fruit trees that do blossom.

The seventh creation is that of the immovable entities, which are of six kinds: the fruit trees without flowers, trees and plants which exist until the fruit is ripe, creepers, pipe plants, creepers which have no support, and trees with flowers and fruits. (Vedabase)

Text 20:

Those [unmoving] beings seek their subsistence upwards, are almost unconscious with a mere feeling within and are of many varieties.

All the immovable trees and plants seek their subsistence upwards. They are almost unconscious but have feelings of pain within. They are manifested in variegatedness. (Vedabase)

Text 21:

The eight creation are the species of lower animals, they are of twenty-eight different kinds and are considered to be without knowledge of destiny, of an extreme ignorance, of a discrimination by smell and of a poor memory of heart [conscience].

The eighth creation is that of the lower species of life, and they are of different varieties, numbering twenty-eight. They are all extensively foolish and ignorant. They know their desirables by smell, but are unable to remember anything within the heart. (Vedabase)

Text 22:

O purest one, the cow, the goat, the buffalo, the antelope, the hog, the gavaya [a type of oxen], the deer, the sheep and the camel all have split hooves.

O purest Vidura, of the lower animals the cow, goat, buffalo, krishna stag, hog, gavaya animal, deer, lamb and camel all have two hooves. (Vedabase)

Text 23:

The ass, the horse, the mule, the gaura, the s'arabha-bison and the wild cow so have only one toe, o Vidura and just let me tell you now of the animals with five nails.

The horse, mule, ass, gaura, s'arabha bison and wild cow all have only one hoof. Now you may hear from me about the animals who have five nails. (Vedabase)

Text 24:

They are the dog, the jackal, the fox, the tiger, the cat, the rabbit, the sajâru-porcupine, the lion, the monkey, the elephant, the tortoise, the iguana ['four legged snake'], the alligator and others.

The dog, jackal, tiger, fox, cat, rabbit, sajâru, lion, monkey, elephant, tortoise, alligator, gosâpa, etc., all have five nails in their claws. They are known as pañca-nakhas, or animals having five nails. (Vedabase)

Text 25:

The heron, the vulture, the crane, the hawk, the bhâsa [another kind of vulture], the bhallûka, the peacock, the swan, the sârasa [indian crane], the cakravâka, the crow, the owl and others are the birds.

The heron, vulture, crane, hawk, bhâsa, bhallûka, peacock, swan, sârasa, cakravâka, crow, owl and others are the birds. (Vedabase)

Text 26:

The ninth kind that [also] stocks its belly, o Vidura, is of one species: the humans; in them the mode of passion is very prominent, they are very busy to their misery but think themselves always happy.

The creation of the human beings, who are of one species only and who stock their eatables in the belly, is the ninth in the rotation. In the human race, the mode of passion is very prominent. Humans are always busy in the midst of miserable life, but they think themselves happy in all respects. (Vedabase)

Text 27:

All these three creations as well as the demigods appearing with them [as the tenth], my dear one, are, as opposed to the previous ones [of the modes and the qualities] I described before, subjected to modifications [or evolution], but the sons of Brahmâ [the brahmins, the Kumâras] are of both [viz. evolving along but not changing in quality].

O good Vidura, these last three creations and the creation of demigods. (the tenth creation) are vaikrita creations, which are different from the previously described prâkrita. (natural) creations. The appearance of the Kumâras is both. (Vedabase)

Text 28-29:

The creation of the devoted ones is of eight kinds:. (1) the demigods,. (2) the forefathers,. (3) the atheists,. (4) the celestial beings, angels and the saints. (5) the protectors and the giants. (6) the celestial singers. (7) the spirits guiding to the good and bad and the ones dwelling in heaven and. (8) the superhuman beings and others. All the ten types of creation I described you, o Vidura, are created by Brahmâ, the creator of the universe.

The creation of the demigods is of eight varieties:. (1) the demigods,. (2) the forefathers,. (3) the asuras, or demons,. (4) the Gandharvas and Apsarâs, or angels,. (5) the Yakshas and Râkshasas,. (6) the Siddhas, Câranas and Vidyâdharas,. (7) the Bhûtas, Pretas and Pis'âcas, and. (8) the superhuman beings, celestial singers, etc. All are created by Brahmâ, the creator of the universe. (Vedabase)

Text 30:

Hereafter I will explain the different descendants of the Manus and that way how the Creator, infused with the mode of passion, in the different ages creates with an unfailing determination to the Lord who, from Himself as Himself, came by His own energy.

Now I shall describe the descendants of the Manus. The creator, Brahmâ, as the incarnation of the passion mode of the Personality of Godhead, creates the universal affairs with unfailing desires in every millennium by the force of the Lord's energy. (Vedabase)