of their karmas, he makes it disappear. In Him alone is latent all the universe, wrapped up like a painted cloth. Then from the supreme (Āvaraṇa) Śakṭi, dependent on (or appertaining to Īśvara, arose, through the preponderance of Rajas, Vikshepa 1 Śakṭi called Mahaṭ. That which is reflected in it is Hiraṇyagarbha-Chaiṭanya. Presiding (as He does) over Mahaṭ, He (Hiraṇyagarbha) has a body, both manifested and unmanifested. 2 From Vikshepa Śakṭi, of Hiraṇyagarbha arose, through the preponderance of Ṭamas, the gross Śakṭi called ahaṅkāra. That which is reflected in it is Virāt-Chaiṭanya. He (Virāt) presiding over it (ahaṅkāra) and possessing a manifested body becomes Vishṇu, the chief Purusha and protector of all gross bodies. From that Āṭmā arose ākāś; from ākāś arose vāyu, from vāyu agni, from agni apas, and from apas pṛṭhivī. The five ṭanmāṭras 3 (rudimentary properties) alone are the guṇas (of the above five). That generating cause of the universe (Īśvara) wishing to create and having assumed ṭamo-guṇa, wanted to convert the elements which were subtle ṭanmāṭras into gross ones. In order to create the universe, he divided into two parts each of those divisible elements; and having divided each moiety into four parts, made a fivefold mixture, each element having moiety of its own original element and one-fourth of a moiety of each of the other elements, and thus evolved out of the fivefold classified gross elements, the many myriads of Brahmāṇdas (Brahma's egg or macrocosm), the fourteen worlds pertaining to each sphere, and the spherical gross bodies (microcosm) fit for the (respective) worlds. Having divided the Rajas-essence of the five elements into four parts, He out of three such parts created (the five) prāṇas having fivefold function. Again out of the (remaining) fourth part, He created karmenḍriyas (the organs of action). Having divided their Saṭṭva-essence into four parts, He out of three such parts created the antaḥkaraṇa (internal organ) having fivefold