July 15, 2026
sa eva vāḍavo bhūtvā vahnirākalpamarṇave
ahaṅkāraḥ pibatyaṁbu rudraḥ sarvaṁ tu tattadā (35)
VASIṢṬHA continued:
I then saw that this Rudra began to drink the cosmic ocean with the speed of the life-force or prāṇa. The waters of the cosmic ocean entered into his mouth in which a great fire was burning fiercely. That Rudra or egosense exists as the fire in the bowels of the ocean (or earth) and then at the end of the world-cycle he drinks the ocean. Indeed, this egosense is the all at all times.
At that time there were only four things in that pure and limitless space: (1) the black-coloured Rudra who stood without any support and without any motion, (2) the earth which was rather muddy and which was the abode of all the worlds, from the nether world to the heaven, (3) the upper part of the creation which being far, far away was beyond sight and (4) among all these, everywhere, there was the pure Brahman or the infinite consciousness pervading the different parts of the creation. Nothing else existed.
RĀMA asked:
What is the abode of Brahmā the creator, what are its veils and how does it exist?
VASIṢṬHA replied:
The abode of Brahmā (the centre of the earth-plane) is enveloped by water which is ten times the extent of the earth-plane. Even so the region of fire is ten times the extent of the water-plane. The region of air beyond it is ten times the extent of the fire-plane. Lastly, the space-plane is ten times the extent of the air-plane. Beyond that is the limitless space of Brahmā-ākāśa.
RĀMA asked:
O sage, who holds this creation from above and from below?
VASIṢṬHA continued:
The earth, etc., are held in their position by the great body of the brahma-anda (the golden egg or the cosmic person).
RĀMA asked again:
O Lord, tell me by whom is the brahma-aṇḍa sustained?
VASIṢṬHA replied:
O Rāma, it is not supported by anyone at all, whether you regard it as falling or not-falling. For this universe has no form, no body, no materiality, though it seems to have a form. What exactly do we mean by “it falls” and by “holding it”? Whatever be the notion in the infinite consciousness, it remains in that manner. This creation is but the dream-city of the infinite consciousness. When it is thought of as “falling” it seems to fall all the time; when it is thought of as existing in space, it stands and moves in space; when it is thought of as unmoving, it remains motionless. When it is thought to have been destroyed, it appears to have been destroyed.