July 11, 2026
udyadbṛhaccaṭacaṭāravapūritāśo
|bhīmo ‘bhavatsaliladānalasannipātaḥ
durvāravairiviṣamo mahatāṁ balānāṁ
saṅgrāma ugra iva hetihatograhetiḥ (39)
VASIṢṬHA continued:
Then there arose the terrible winds of dissolution which blew so violently that the mountains and the oceans became exceedingly agitated and lost their natural behaviour and even the nether world seemed to fall into something far below it. The entire creation became dried and essenceless.
After this there arose an enormous cloud like an irate demon which produced dreadful noise. It was like the sound that was made when Brahmā the creator broke the golden egg which gave rise to the created universe. The sound struck terror in everyone’s heart because of the added sound of the disintegrating worlds and the oceans. It filled the entire created universe and united the earth with the heaven and the nether world. It was unmistakably the sound of cosmic dissolution.
I heard that sound of the cloud. I wondered, “How could this cloud coexist with the fires of cosmic dissolution?” I looked in all directions. I saw all round me showers like adamant and thunderbolt. In a moment I experienced the sensation of something cold above and something very hot and burning below. The cloud was so high above that neither could it be seen nor could the fire reach it.
The fires after consuming the worlds had become pure sparks and shone with an extraordinary radiance. When the cloud of dissolution descended it appeared to be made of the most brilliant lightning. The waters of the seven oceans equalled only a very small part of a corner of that cloud. It appeared as though these very oceans had risen into the sky. The twelve suns were whirlpools in that cloud and the aquatic creatures were the lightning flashes that moved in that cloud.
The rains came. Every drop of that rain was like a thunderbolt. These raindrops filled the entire space. They fell with such force that they destroyed whatever was left of the universe. The whole sky was one mass of water. The rain put out the fires and reached the earth-plane.
The waters of this extraordinary and supernatural rain mixed with the fires that were still burning. The two could not defeat or conquer each other and hence they were ill-matched enemies (because their equal prowess made the conflict interminable and inconclusive). They were of great strength and power. Therefore, their collision was extremely fearsome to witness.