Hear now the wondrous account as revealed by Śrī Parāśara to Maitreya, of the Supreme Lord and the cosmic order sustained by His presence. Vishnu is the Supreme Brahman, the ultimate source from whom this entire universe arises, in whom all worlds exist, and into whom everything shall one day dissolve. That Brahman, the highest abode, transcends both existence and non-existence; He pervades all that moves and does not move, and from Him all arises. He alone is the root-prakriti, the manifest form, and the universe itself; into Him all things dissolve and in Him they eternally abide. It is He who is the doer of all actions, He who is worshipped as the sacrifice, and He who is the fruit of those very actions. All means—such as the ladle and the implements of ritual—nothing exists apart from Hari. Now, O Maitreya, listen as I describe the Lord’s form in the heavens. There, composed of stars and shaped like a great dolphin—Shishumara—is the form of Hari. At the tail of this celestial dolphin is situated Dhruva, the steadfast star. As the Shishumara revolves, it causes the moon, the sun, and the other planets to revolve as well; the stars follow this motion, as spokes follow the turning of a wheel. The sun, the moon, the stars, and the planets are all bound to Dhruva by invisible bonds of wind, thus remaining fixed in their courses. This form of the luminaries in the sky, known as the dolphin-shape, is indeed Nārāyaṇa Himself. He is the support of all abodes and dwells within His own heart. Dhruva, son of Uttānapāda, having worshipped the Lord of the world, was established as that immovable star at the tail of the dolphin. Janārdana, another form of the Lord, supports the dolphin and oversees all; the dolphin supports Dhruva, and the sun is established in Dhruva. Thus, this entire world—with gods, asuras, and humans—is supported by that arrangement. Let me explain, O Maitreya, how this cosmic order is sustained. The sun, in eight months, draws up the waters of the earth, which are of the essence of sap. Then, he rains them down, and from that water comes food, and from food, the entire world is nourished. With his sharp rays, the sun draws water from rivers, oceans, the earth, and from living beings. The moon, in turn, nourishes this water, and by means of channels made of wind in the sky, disperses it into the clouds as vapor, fire, and wind. The clouds, retaining this water, release it as rain when driven by the wind; and, having undergone transformation through time, this water becomes pure. The radiant Sun also draws up the waters of the celestial Ganga and, as if in a cloudless sky, immediately casts them down to earth with his rays. O best of the twice-born, when a mortal’s sins and impurities are washed away by contact with that water, he does not descend into hell, for such a bath is considered divine. When water falls from the sky while the Sun is visible and there are no clouds, know that it is the water of the celestial Ganga, cast down by the rays of the Sun. When the Sun is seen among the stars, from Krittika onward and in the uneven constellations, the water that falls is Ganga water, poured down by the guardian elephants of the directions. And the water that falls during the conjunctions of paired stars, cast down by the Sun, is again taken up and dispersed by his rays. Both these forms of water are supremely meritorious for people, removing the fear of sin: the celestial Ganga water and the divine bath. Yet, the water released by clouds nourishes all living beings; it sustains all plants, for it is truly the nectar of life. By this, all kinds of plants attain their highest growth, mature, and bear fruit, becoming productive for living beings. By this nourishment, people, guided by the scriptures, perform the prescribed sacrifices day after day, and by these acts, they also nourish the gods. Thus, sacrifices, the Vedas, the four classes beginning with the twice-born, the hosts of gods, and all groups of beings—all are sustained by rain, by which food is produced; and that rain itself, O best of sages, is produced by the Sun. O foremost of sages, the fixed star Dhruva is the support of the Sun, and the Shishumara, who supports Dhruva, is also of the nature of Narayana. Narayana abides in the heart of that Shishumara, sustaining all beings, being the primeval and eternal one. Now, hear of Soma, the Moon. His chariot is bright as jasmine and has three wheels; ten horses are yoked to it, five on the left and five on the right, and thus he moves through the heavens. The stars, following their paths, are attached to his chariot by the swift and fixed Dhruva; their waxing and waning is like the course of the Sun’s rays. Just as the Sun’s horses are yoked once and pull for a whole kalpa, so too are Soma’s, having arisen from the waters. When the Soma, diminished and drunk by the gods, is replenished, the radiant Sun fills the single remaining digit with a single ray. Thus, that which is consumed by the gods—the moon—is replenished each day by the Sun, the thief of water. Within half a month, the nectar and ambrosia contained in the moon is gathered; the gods, who subsist on nectar, drink it and thus remain immortal. Thirty-three thousand, three hundred, and thirty-three gods drink the moon, the lord of the night. When only two kalās remain, the moon enters the orb of the Sun, dwelling in the ray called Amākhyā, and thus the new moon is remembered. During day and night, the moon first enters the waters, then dwells in the plants, and afterwards gradually proceeds to the Sun. Whoever cuts plants or drops even a single leaf while the moon is in the plants incurs the sin of killing a Brahmin. When only a small portion remains, the fifteenth part of the moon, in the afternoon, the hosts of ancestors worship the lowest portion. The remaining two kalās, which are pure nectar and ambrosia, are then drunk by the ancestors from the moon. Thus, O Maitreya, is the cosmic order sustained—by the will and presence of the Supreme Lord, who is both the origin and the support of all creation, manifest in the heavens, in the rains, in the plants, and in the very cycles of the sun and the moon. All beings, gods and mortals alike, are upheld by His eternal and all-pervading essence.