With great devotion and care, Bhīṣma prepared a sacred ladle and placed it before the honored sage, saying, “Let this bring comfort.” In a vessel fashioned from palāśa wood, he arranged durvā grass, rice grains, fresh flowers, and kuśa grass. Alongside these, he gathered mustard seeds, curd, honey, barley, and milk, thus assembling the eightfold offering as prescribed by the ancient sages. Hearing Bhīṣma’s words, whose energy was immeasurable, the divine sage Pulastya, son of Brahmā, took his seat. With all the proper honors—a seat, water for washing the feet, and the vessel for the offering—Pulastya was welcomed with joy. Pleased by such sincere hospitality, the blessed sage accepted everything with perfect conduct. Pulastya then spoke: “O king, you are truthful, generous, and steadfast in your word; you are modest, friendly, patient, and valiant in overcoming your foes. You are a knower of righteousness, grateful, compassionate, and gentle in speech. You honor the honorable, are wise, devoted to the Brahmins, and cherish the virtuous. I am always pleased with you, child, for your devotion and reverence. Tell me, O fortunate one, what you wish to know, and I shall speak.” Bhīṣma replied, “O revered one, O blessed sage, at what time did the mighty one exist? How did he first create the gods and the rest? How did the blessed Viṣṇu sustain the worlds, and how was Rudra created? How did that great soul bring forth the sages and the gods? How were the earth, sky, and oceans formed? How did the islands, mountains, villages, forests, and cities come to be? And what of the sages, the progenitors, the eminent seven seers, the castes, the wind, the ancient places, the Gandharvas, Yakṣas, and Rākṣasas? How were the sacred places, rivers, the sun, planets, and stars created? Please tell me, as it truly happened.” Pulastya began his discourse: “The Supreme among the supreme, the highest Self, the ancestor of all, is without form, color, or attributes—devoid of any distinguishing marks. He is free from decrease, destruction, transformation, growth, and birth—devoid of all qualities, and by this alone he shines forth. He is equal everywhere, dwelling in all, incomparable; contemplated as Brahman, he is revealed by the wise. That secret, supreme, eternal, unborn, imperishable, and unchanging one is also established as the Person and as Time. Having bowed to Him, I will speak of how He created the world, rising first from the lotus-seat as the Lord of the universe. “At the dawn of creation, O king, the Great One arose, composed of the three qualities: sattva, rajas, and tamas. As the chief principle, it was enveloped by the seeds of all things; from it, the sattvic (vaikārika), rajasic (taijasa), and tamasic (bhūtādi) forms emerged. From the great principle (mahat), the threefold ego (ahaṃkāra) was born, along with the five elements and the five organs of action. “Earth, water, fire, air, and space arose, each in its own nature and order. First, the tamasic principle enveloped space, which is characterized only by sound. As space transformed, it produced touch, giving rise to air, whose quality is touch. Air, in turn, produced form, which is light; thus, air possesses both touch and form. As light transformed, it produced taste, from which water came into being, possessing form. Water, transforming further, produced smell, and thus earth, whose special quality is smell, arose. “The gods declare that the senses, born of rajas, are ten: skin, eye, nose, tongue, and ear—the instruments of perception. The mind is the eleventh. The five organs of action are speech, hands, feet, anus, and the generative organ. Their functions are speech, craftsmanship, movement, emission, and generation, corresponding to space, air, fire, water, and earth. These elements possess the qualities of sound, touch, form, taste, and smell, each increasingly endowed. Thus, they are remembered as calm, fierce, and dull, according to their distinctions. “In the beginning, these elements, though endowed with various powers and existing separately, could not create beings; they had not yet come together in unity. But when they combined, supporting one another, they formed a single aggregate—complete and capable of creation. Presided over by the Purusha and for the sake of manifesting the world, the great principle and the rest, ending with the particulars, produced the cosmic egg. “In due order, this cosmic egg expanded, just as a bubble of water grows. There, the unmanifest essence became manifest as Janārdana. Brahmā, in the form of Brahman, established himself; Meru became its umbilical cord and the great mountains its placenta. The cosmic waters and oceans belong to that great soul, and within them are gathered islands, oceans, and the luminous worlds. “Within that cosmic egg arose the gods, asuras, and humans, all surrounded by water, fire, wind, space, and the elements beginning with earth. The egg is enveloped tenfold by the great principle, starting with the elements and ending with the unmanifest. O king, the great one is encompassed by all these layers. With all these coverings, united with all beings, it is like a coconut—the seed enclosed by many husks.