The wise Bhīṣma, eager to understand the mysteries of creation, asked, “How did the sages, the progenitors, the eminent seven seers, the castes, the wind, the ancient places, the Gandharvas, Yakṣas, and Rākṣasas come into being? And what of the sacred places, rivers, the sun, planets, and stars? Tell me, O blessed one, how all these were created.” Pulastya, the sage, responded with reverence, beginning his explanation by describing the supreme principle. “The highest Self, the ancestor of all, is beyond form, color, and attributes. He is without any distinguishing marks, free from decrease, destruction, transformation, growth, and birth. Devoid of all qualities, he alone shines, equal everywhere, dwelling in all, incomparable. Contemplated as Brahman, he is expounded by the wise. This secret, supreme, eternal, unborn, imperishable, and unchanging one is also established in the forms of the cosmic person and of time.” Pulastya bowed to this supreme Lord and continued, “I will now speak of how he created the world, rising first from the lotus-seat as the Lord of the universe. At the dawn of creation, the great one arose, composed of qualities and distinctions—sattva, rajas, and tamas—in threefold form. This chief principle was equally enveloped by the seeds and so forth, and from it emerged the sattvic (vaikārika), rajasic (taijasa), and tamasic (bhūtādi) forms.” He explained that the threefold ego (ahaṃkāra) was born from the great principle (mahat), and along with it, the five elements and the five organs of action came forth. “Earth, water, fire, air, and space appeared, each in its own nature and order. First, the tamasic (bhūtādi) covered space (kha), which is characterized only by sound; as space transformed, it produced touch. This powerful transformation gave rise to air, whose quality is touch; space, having only sound, was enveloped by touch.” “As air transformed, it produced form, which is called light; air thus possessed the quality of form. Air, endowed with touch and form, was enveloped by form; as light transformed, it produced taste. From this, water came into being, enveloped by form; as water transformed, it produced smell. From this, earth arose, whose quality is smell. The gods declare that the senses born of rajas are ten, and the mind is the eleventh. The gods born of sattva are remembered as skin, eye, nose, tongue, and ear. Their function is the perception of sound and so on. Speech, hands, feet, anus, and the generative organ are the five organs of action, whose qualities are emission, craftsmanship, movement, and speech, in reverse order—space, air, fire, water, and earth.” Pulastya described how these elements, endowed with the qualities of sound and so on, are remembered as calm, fierce, and dull according to their distinctions. Though they possessed various powers and existed separately, they were unable to create beings until they came together through mutual combination and support, attaining the mark of a single aggregate and complete unity. “Presided over by the Purusha and for the benefit of the manifest, the great principle and the rest, ending with the particulars, produced the cosmic egg. In due order, it expanded like a bubble of water. There, the unmanifest essence became manifest as Janārdana. Brahmā, in the form of Brahman, was himself established; Meru became its umbilical cord, and the great mountains its placenta. The cosmic waters and oceans belong to that great soul; within them are islands, oceans, and the luminous worlds gathered together.” “Within that cosmic egg arose the gods, asuras, and humans, surrounded outside by water, fire, wind, and space, along with the elements beginning with earth. The egg is enveloped tenfold by the great principle beginning with the elements and by the unmanifest. With all these coverings, united with all beings, it is like a coconut fruit, the seed enclosed by the outer husks. Brahmā himself then proceeds with the creation of the world and preserves the creation through each age, as long as the duration of the kalpa endures.” Pulastya continued, “That one Lord Janārdana alone assumes the designation, endowed with the quality of sattva, the god of immeasurable power. At the end of the kalpa, he takes on a fierce form of darkness and devours all beings. When the world becomes a single ocean, he lies upon the serpent couch, bearing all forms. Awakening again, he creates the world anew, assuming various forms; as the cause of creation, preservation, and destruction, he is Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Śiva. The creator creates himself; Viṣṇu protects what is to be preserved, and the Lord himself withdraws and destroys.” “Earth, water, fire, wind, and space—he alone is the lord of all beings, of universal form, the source and imperishable. Therefore, all creation and its support exist within him; he is both the created and the creator, the protector and the protected. With the states beginning from Brahmā, he is of infinite forms, the supreme Brahmā, the bestower of boons, the most excellent.” Bhīṣma then asked, “How can the qualityless, immeasurable, pure, and great soul Brahman be the agent of creation and the rest?” Pulastya replied, “The powers of all beings are inconceivable, accessible only to knowledge; thus, the creative and other powers of Brahman exist.” Thus, Pulastya revealed the profound process of creation, preservation, and dissolution, all originating from the supreme, formless, and eternal Self, manifesting through the interplay of qualities and elements, and presiding as the Lord in all forms and functions.