Chapter 312

“Yajnavalkya said, Listen to me, O foremost of men, as I tell thee whatthe duration of time is in respect to the Unmanifest (or the SupremePurusha). Ten thousand Kalpas are said to constitute a single day of his.The duration of his night is equal. When his night expires, he awakes, Omonarch, and first creates herbs and plants which constitute thesustenance of all embodied creatures. He then creates Brahman who springsfrom a golden egg. That Brahman is the form of all created things, as hasbeen heard by us. Having dwelt for one whole year within that egg, thegreat ascetic Brahman, called also Prajapati (Lord of all creatures),came out of it and created the whole Earth, and the Heaven above. TheLord then, it is read in the Vedas, O king, placed the sky between Heavenand Earth separated from each other. Seven thousand and five hundredKalpas measure the day of Brahman. Persons conversant with the science ofAdhyatma say that his night also is of an equal duration. Brahmana,called Mahan, then creates Consciousness called Bhuta and endued withexcellent essence.[1645] Before creating any physical bodies out of theingredients called the Great elements, Mahan or Brahma, endued withpenances, created four others called his sons. They are the sires of theoriginal sires, O Best of kings, as heard by us.[1646] It hath been alsoheard by us, O monarch that the senses (of knowledge) along with the fourinner faculties, have sprung from the (five Great elements called)Pitris, and that the entire universe of mobile and immobile Beings hasbeen filled with those Great elements.[1647] The puissant Consciousnesscreated the five Bhutas. These are Earth, Wind, Space, Water, and Lightnumbering the fifth. This Consciousness (who is a Great Being and) fromwhom springs the third creating, has five thousand Kalpas for his night,and his day is of equal duration. Sound, Touch, Form, Taste, andScent,–these five are called Visesha. They inhere into the five greatBhutas. All creatures, O king, incessantly pervaded by these five, desireone another’s companionship, become subservient to one another; andchallenging one another, transcend one another; and led by thoseimmutable and seductive principles, creatures kill one another and wanderin this world entering into numerous orders of Being.[1648] Threethousands of Kalpas represent the duration of their day. The measure oftheir night also is the same.[1649] The Mind roveth over all things, Oking, led on by the Senses. The Senses do not perceive anything. It isthe Mind that perceives through them. The Eye sees forms when aided bythe Mind but never by itself. When the Mind is distracted, the Eye failsto perceive with even the objects fully before it. It is commonly saidthat the Senses perceive. This is not true, for it is the Mind thatperceives through the Senses. When the cessation takes place of theactivity of the Mind, the cessation of the activity of the Sensesfollows. That is the cessation of the activity of the Senses which is thecessation of the activity of the Mind. One should thus regard the Sensesto be under the domination of the Mind. Indeed, the Mind is said to bethe Lord of all the Senses. O thou of great fame, these are all thetwenty Bhutas in the Universe.'”