PARÁŚARA.--Madhusúdana, whose essence is incomprehensible, in the forms of these (patriarchs and Manus), is the author of the uninterrupted vicissitudes of creation, preservation, and destruction. The dissolution of all things is of four kinds; Naimittika, 'occasional;' Prákritika, 'elemental;' Atyantika, 'absolute;' Nitya, 'perpetual 15: The first, also

termed the Bráhma dissolution, occurs when the sovereign of the world reclines in sleep. In the second, the mundane egg resolves into the primary element, from whence it was derived. Absolute non-existence of the world is the absorption of the sage, through knowledge, into supreme spirit. Perpetual destruction is the constant disappearance, day and night, of all that are born. The productions of Prakriti form the creation that is termed the elemental (Prákrita). That which ensues after a (minor) dissolution is called ephemeral creation: and the daily generation of living things is termed, by those who are versed in the Puráńas, constant creation. In this manner the mighty Vishńu, whose essence is the elements, abides in all bodies, and brings about production, existence, and dissolution. The faculties of Vishńu to create, to preserve, and to destroy, operate successively, Maitreya, in all corporeal beings and at all seasons; and he who frees himself from the influence of these three faculties, which are essentially composed of the three qualities (goodness, foulness, and darkness), goes to the supreme sphere, from whence he never again returns.

Footnotes

49:1 It is not clear which of the previous narratives is here referred to, but it seems most probable that the account in p. 35, 36. is intended.