Chapter
1: The Degraded
Dynasties and
Corrupt Nature of the Rulers of Kali-yuga
(12) The brahmin will put Candragupta on the
throne and
his son
Vârisâra will next be succeeded by As'okavardhana.
Chapter 2: Despair and Hope in
the Age of Quarrel
(12-16) When the
bodies of all living entities by the contamination of Kali-yuga are in
decay and the dutifulness of the members of all status-orientations is
lost, when the vedic path fit for all men has changed into an atheistic
conception of duty, when the kings predominantly act as thieves and men
in their various occupations in truth are all lying bandits of
meaningless slaughter, when the classes are predominantly
[profit-]labor-minded, the cows are not better than goats, the
hermitages are just like materialistic homes, family ties do not reach
further than the bonds of marriage, when the plants and herbs have
reduced in size and all trees are like s'amî
trees, when there is always
lightning in the clouds and the homes are ruled by loneliness [voidism,
impersonalism, see Pranâti], when Kali-yuga is running at its end and
the people have
become like asses, the Supreme Lord will descend in the mode of pure
goodness to defend the dharma.
Chapter 3: The Song of Mother
Earth
and Kali-yuga its Remedy
(15) It is still the repeatedly discussing and
singing about the qualities
of the Lord who is Praised in the Verses which destroys everything
inauspicious; he who desires Lord Krishna's untainted devotional
service should therefore forthwith engage in regularly being of that
listening.'
Chapter 4: Pralaya: The Four
Types of Annihilation
(11) Next a
terrible wind will blow for more than a hundred years and bring
annihilation covering the sky gray with dust.
(36) The various conditions [stages of existence]
of the things subject to
change are swiftly overtaken by the force of the mighty current of
Time; they constitute the proof of their constantly being born and
annihilated [called nityah pralaya].
Chapter 5: Final Instructions to
Mahârâja Parîkchit
(8) The
soul
being different from the gross [deha] and the subtle [linga], is
self-luminous, and constitutes,
because
it is as unchanging as the sky, the foundation [âdhâra]
that
is
eternal and beyond comparison.
Chapter 6: Mahârâja
Parîkchit Liberated and
the Veda Handed Down in Four
(9-10) Parîkchit, the saintly king, putting
his mind to his soul by the
power of reason, meditated upon the Supreme and arrested his breath so
that he became as motionless as a tree. Sitting upon darbha
grass laid to the east on the bank of the
Ganges the great yogi, facing the north, broke in perfect realization
of God with all doubts.
(39) From that activity the threefold omkâra came into being which, manifesting itself
without that its power is seen, is the representation of the Supreme
Lord [Bhagavân], the Absolute Truth [Brahman] and the Supersoul
[Paramâtmâ, see also 1.2:
11, B.G. 7:
8].
(74) With the
hundreds of Yajur mantras the mighty sage contrived fifteen branches
and accepted by the
disciples Kânva and Mâdhyandina under
the name Vâjaseneyi: 'produced from the manes of the horse'.
Chapter 7: The Devotion in
Samhitâ Branches
and the Ten Topics of the Purânas
(9-10) The creation [of this universe, sarga], the subsequent creation [of different
worlds and beings, visarga], the maintenance [the sustenance, the vritti or sthâna] and protection [the rakshâ
or poshana of the living beings],
the reigns [of the various Manus], the dynasties [vams'as], the narrations about them [vams'a-anucaritam],
the
annihilation [of different kinds, pralaya or samsthâ], the motivation
[of individuality or hetu] and the supreme shelter [of the
Fortunate One or apâs'raya], o brahmin, are the ten
topics characterizing a Purâna as understood by the authorities
on the matter; some state that relative to the greater ones, the lesser
Purânas deal only with five of these subjects [see also S'uka on
this 2.10: 1-7 and *].
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