Srimad Bhagavatam, Book One, Chapter 3.

Suta concludes his response the initial inquiries of the sages.

SB.1.3.

(Suta said)

In the beginning the Almighty One,

Assumes the Purusa for creation;

Whence cosmic intellect with all the rest

Of sixteen evolutes is manifest. 1

Thereafter, recumbent in mystic sleep,

He lays him on the vast extensive deep;

A lotus from his navel did emerge,

Whereon appeared Brahma, the demiurge. 2

The whole wide world is thus conceived to be

Resting on the form of the deity,

But the Illustrious always subsists,

And in his supreme excellence exists. 3

The yogins see with their perfected eyes

The being of a thousand feet and thighs;

A thousand arms, a thousand faces bright,

A thousand heads, a most wonderful sight;

Thousands of ears and noses on each side,

And thousands of bright eyes dilated wide. 4

This being is the perennial seed,

Whence incarnations various proceed;

Who by his emanated parts creates,

And gods, men and animals generates. 5

In the primal stage of generation,

In the Kaumara manifestation;

Who took Brahma’s order with diligence,

But made vows of unbroken continence. 6

The second descent for the worlds' welfare,

The earth sunk in the abyss did uprear;

Thus he the form of the Wild Boar assumes,

And offerings of sacrifice consumes. 7

Third, in the holy sage generation,

As the god-like sage takes incarnation;

Who texts expounds treating divinity;

Prescribing pious acts from motive free. 8

Fourth, from the wife of Dharma he appears,

As Nara and Narayana, the seers;

Who undertake arduous penances,

Of self control and restraint of senses. 9

The incarnation fifth, well known to fame,

Was Lord of Siddhas, Kapila by name;

Who with brahman Asuri, in his speech,

The lost doctrines of Sankhya deigned to teach. 10

He appeared in his sixth incarnation,

From Anasuya as sage Atri's son;

To Alarka and Prahlad did expound,

The transcendental mystery profound. 11

Then in the seventh, born of Akuti,

Called Yajna and the son of sage Ruci.

The Yamas were his celestial train,

During the Manu Svayambhuva’s reign. 12

The Supreme Lord of mighty strides revered,

In the eighth from Merudevi appeared,

And royal Nabhi; thence did demonstrate,

The path honoured by each class and estate. 13

Beseeched by holy sages of high worth,

His ninth descent, as ruler of the earth,

Milked out of earth of herbs her hidden hoard,

And thus her lavish bounty was restored. 14

During the reign of Chaksusa the world

Was in the flood of devastation hurled;

Rescue of Vaivasvat to accomplish,

He towed the arc in form of mighty Fish. 15

When gods and demons churned the milky main,

They used as rod the Mandara mountain;

In the eleventh did as Turtle sport,

And on his shell the mountain did support. 16

The twelfth was Dhanvantari, the revered;

Then in the thirteenth descent he appeared

As Mohini and the demons deceived,

And from her hands the gods nectar received. 17

The fourteenth descent was the Man-lion,

Who tore the chest of the mighty demon,

With ease, as when a weaver with his reeds

Tares into strips according to his needs. 18

The fifteenth was little Vamana hight,

Who begged at Bali's sacrificial rite,

And sought three steps according to his tread,

But confiscated the three worlds instead. 19

Then in his sixteenth incarnation he,

Enraged at royal arrogance to see;

Three times seven the kings did devastate,

And from the earth did princes extirpate. 20

Then in his seventeenth incarnation,

As Satyavati and Parasar's son,

He drew into branches the Veda-tree,

Observing man’s diminished faculty. 21

As God-like king he then assumed a form

On the gods' behalf exploits to perform;

Exhibiting heroic prowess he

Had built a causeway spanning the great sea. 22

In the nineteenth and twentieth descent,

Made in the Vrishni dynasty advent,

As Rama and Krishna, the brothers twain,

And lightened earth of her burden and pain. 23

Thereafter when Kali has just begun,

In Kikatas’ realm as Anjana's son,

He will be born as Buddha to delude,

Those who bear gods a hateful attitude. 24

When the juncture of the yuga arrives,

To be born of Vishnuyasa contrives,

When rulers are thieves and degenerates,

The avenger, Lord Kalki incarnates. 25

The descents of Hari are beyond count,

O twice-borns, sprung from perennial fount;

The existential repository,

Flows in a thousand streams perpetu'lly. 26

Sages, Gods, Manus, and Manu's great sons,

The great and puissant and the mighty ones,

The progenitors, great Prajapati,

Are all the emanations of Hari. 27

All these are the parts, portions and aspects,

Of the Almighty who the world protects

From Indra's foes, but Krishna is the Lord,

From age to age incarnate and adored. 28

Whoever the mysterious birth reads,

Of the Illustrious ones’ wondrous deeds;

Attentively with love, both morn and eve,

Relief from the heap of grief will receive. 29

All these forms of the Illustrious One,

Uncircumscribed nor limited by form,

Are on the conscious self superimposed,

Of gunas and of evolutes composed. 30

As when clouds gather in the firmament,

The sky is obscured to the ignorant;

Even so on the pure soul they impute,

Superimposition of attribute. 31

Beyond this manifestation revealed

By gunas, is the existence concealed;

The unseen and unheard reality,

Whereby the soul is born repeatedly. 32

These gross and subtle forms imposed, forsooth,

Are negated by knowledge of the truth;

And when the soul from ignorance is free,

The Supreme Absolute Brahman can see. 33

If and when the divine Maya subsides,

The soul is graced with knowledge and abides

In his inherent glory transcendent,

And is endued with pure enlightenment. 34

Thus poets sing the births and deeds of worth,

Of him who has no agency nor birth;

And praise him who is the Lord of the heart,

And mystery Vedas rarely impart. 35

He doth create, sustain and then withdraw

The universe in play, sans taint or flaw;

He dwells within the recess of the heart

Of all creatures, independent, apart;

The master of six divine qualities,

And ruler of the six sense faculties. 36

As the spectator cannot recognise

An actor in a play through his disguise,

A fool can never comprehend, forsooth,

By exercise of mind or speech the truth,

Even so his names and his rare beauty,

The ignorant are unable to see. 37

But he alone, who sans duplicity,

Adores his lotus-feet devotedly,

And imbibes the fragrance whereof with zeal,

Can know him who bears on his hand the wheel;

The creator whose glory all exceeds,

Of most astonishing heroic deeds. 38

O holy ones! ye are most fortunate,

Since love and knowledge thus ye cultivate

For Vasudeva, universal Lord,

Who is the one beloved and adored;

For who doth such eagerness entertain,

Will never suffer to be born again. 39

This Purana doth in bright glory shine,

Known as the Holy Bhagavat divine;

Which the sublime exploits of him rehearse,

Whose glories are praised in exquisite verse;

Composed by the illustrious seer,

Which grants ultimate benefit to hear;

And having been to the world manifest,

It is fortunate, auspicious and bless’d. 40

He had his son, with wisdom to discern,

This holy text to memorise and learn,

Endued with self-knowledge and reverence;

Of all Vedas the extracted essence. 41

Then he, the son, this holy text did sing

To Pariksit, the great and worthy king,

Who sat down fasting by the Ganga's tide,

Surrounded by great sages on each side. 42

When Krishna to his own realm did repair,

He took virtue and knowledge with him there;

With insight lost, now Kali hath begun,

This Purana hath risen like the sun. 43

O Vipras! there as the sage did recite,

I also heard with wonder and delight,

While seated there attentive to his word,

By his favour, the narrative I heard;

Whatever I have learned in my study,

I shall relate, now hear of that from me. 44

Thus ends Chapter Three in Book One

of the great and glorious

Bhagavata Purana,

the text beloved of swan-like saints,

sung by the son of Vyasa.