Shloka 7
Śravaṇa-Mahātmya: The Śravaṇas, Cosmic Testimony, and the Paths of the Puruṣārthas
ब्रह्मणा निर्मितं पूर्वं विष्णुना पालितं तदा / रुद्रः संहारमूर्तिश्च निर्मितो ब्रह्मणा ततः
brahmaṇā nirmitaṃ pūrvaṃ viṣṇunā pālitaṃ tadā / rudraḥ saṃhāramūrtiśca nirmito brahmaṇā tataḥ
Zuerst wurde es von Brahmā erschaffen; dann wurde es von Viṣṇu behütet und erhalten. Danach wurde auch Rudra—dessen Gestalt die Auflösung ist—von Brahmā hervorgebracht.
Lord Vishnu (speaking to Garuda/Vinata-putra)
Concept: The cosmos operates through differentiated functions: Brahmā creates, Viṣṇu sustains, Rudra dissolves—an ordered manifestation of one divine governance.
Vedantic Theme: Functional differentiation within īśvara-śakti; cyclic time; unity underlying apparent plurality of deities (interpretable via ekatva/adhikāra-bheda).
Application: See life cycles (start–maintain–end) as natural order; cultivate equanimity toward change and endings.
Primary Rasa: adbhuta
Secondary Rasa: shanta
Related Themes: Garuda Purana cosmological summaries of sṛṣṭi-sthiti-laya and deity functions
FAQs
This verse frames cosmic governance as a threefold function—creation, preservation, and dissolution—supporting the Purana’s broader teaching that worldly life and death follow an ordered divine law.
By emphasizing preservation and dissolution as divine functions, the verse implies that death (saṃhāra) is not chaos but a regulated transition within cosmic order—setting the theological basis for after-death teachings elsewhere in the Preta Kanda.
Treat change, loss, and death as part of dharmic order: live ethically under Viṣṇu’s sustaining principle, and accept endings (Rudra’s function) with responsibility and detachment.