CHAPTER XI
(THE CREATION OF A LOTUS AFTER DISSOLUTION)
Vaishampāyana said:—Having taken his birth as the Brāhmana saint Apava Vashistha and covered his own vessel body the Lord began to practise penances (1). Afterwards the great Vasishtha, the soul of the universe and of unlimited powers, thought of creating the five great elements and other creatures. When the universe was divested of the sky, became subtle and submerged in water Vasisthā, having his intellectual faculties increased by the practice of penances, spent a long time. Living in water and agitating the great ocean he rose up as the subtle ether with the second wave. He then appeared in the ether as sound produced by the air and the great Vasistha began to grow up as the air. When the ocean was agitated by the increasing and powerful wind the waves struck one another. When the water of the ocean was agitated the powerful Lord appeared as the fire of dark ways. The fire dried up the water of the great ocean; from it arose the sky like a hole. From his own energy was produced nectar-like pure water, from it the ether, from it air and from the crushing of waves was produced earth. Seeing it the Lord, the origin of the great elements, was highly pleased. Beholding the elements the Lord of many forms, cognizant of the necessity and order of the creation of the universe, began to think of objects for Brahmā. Thus at the end of a Yuga and many Yugas Brahmā took his birth. He, who is endued with knowledge, the foremost of the Yogins, who sees the Soul of the universe, who is a Brāhmana of controlled senses amongst the twice-born of the world, is Brahmā.
The Lord Brahma, conversant with Yoga, engages Brahmā, endowed with perfect spiritual powers and worshipped of all, in creating the Vedas and the objects of the universe.
Thereupon, for the purpose of creating creatures the Eternal Hari lay in the great ocean, and sporting in diverse ways, attained to great delight. He then created from his navel a golden lotus with a thousand petals, effulgent like the sun. Originating from the person of the great Achyuta there shone in beauty that lotus, effulgent like the burning flames of fire, fragrant and lustrous like the clear autumnal sun (2-17).
Source: https://archive.org/details/AProseEnglishTranslationOfHarivamsh
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