CHAPTER LIX. WORKS OF BRAHMÁ’S CREATION.
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Valmiki and Mitra, Viharilala
40. The Lord sometimes leaves off his meditation, as the reservoirs of water sometimes overflow their banks and boundaries.
41. He beholds the world as a vale of misery, with very little of happiness in it; and where the soul is fast bound to its alternate passions, and led by the changes of its hopes and fears.
42. He takes pity on the miserable condition of man, and with a view of their welfare, promulgates the sacred sástras and rites, which are full of meaning for their guidance.
43. He propounds the Vedas and their branches—the Vedángas, which are fraught with spiritual knowledge, and precepts of wisdom, and he revealed the Puránas and other sástras for the salvation of mankind.
44. Again the spirit of Brahmá reclined on the supreme spirit, and was relieved from its toil; and then remained as tranquil as the becalmed ocean, after its churning by the Mandara.
45. Brahmá having observed the efforts of mankind on earth, and prescribed to them the rules of their conduct, returned to himself, where he sat reclined on his lotus seat.
46. He remains some times entirely devoid of all his desires; and at others he takes upon him his cares for mankind from his great kindness to them.
47. He is neither simple in his nature, nor does he assume or reject his form in the states of his creation and cessation. He is no other than intelligence, which is neither present in nor absent from any place.
48. He is conversant with all states and properties of things, and is as full as the ocean without intermixture of any crude matter in him.
49. Sometimes he is quite devoid of all attributes and desires, and is only awakened from his inertness, by his own desire of doing good to his creatures.
50. I have thus expounded to you concerning the existence of Brahmá (Bráhmi Sthiti), and his real states of Sátwika, Vidhyanika and Suranikas creation. (The first is the creation of his intellectual nature, and the second that of his mind or will or mental form).
51. The intellectual creation is what rises of itself in the Spirit of Brahma, and the mental is the result of his mind and will. The first is the direct inspiration of Brahmá into the Spirit of Brahmá.
52. After creation of the material world by the rájasika nature of Brahmá, there rises the visible creation in the air by the will of the creator. (This is called the madhyanika, because it is the intermediate creation, between the elemental and animal creations).
53. In the next step of animal creation, some were born as gods (angels) and others as Yakshas—demigods, and this is called the suranika, because the suras or gods were created in it.
54. Every creature is born in the shape of its inherent nature, and then it is either elevated or degraded, according to the nature of its associations. It lays also the foundation of its future state of bondage to birth or liberation, by its acts, commenced in the present life.
55. In this manner, O Ráma! has the world come to existence. Its creation is evidently a work of labour, as it is brought to being by various acts of motion and exertion of the body and mind; and all these products of the god’s will, are sustained also by continuous force and effort on his part.