Srimad Bhagavatam — Dvadasha Skandha, Shloka 29
Mārkaṇḍeya’s Request to See Māyā and the Vision of the Cosmic Deluge
खं रोदसी भागणानद्रिसागरान् द्वीपान् सवर्षान् ककुभ: सुरासुरान् । वनानि देशान् सरित: पुराकरान् खेटान् व्रजानाश्रमवर्णवृत्तय: ॥ २८ ॥ महान्ति भूतान्यथ भौतिकान्यसौ कालं च नानायुगकल्पकल्पनम् । यत् किञ्चिदन्यद् व्यवहारकारणं ददर्श विश्वं सदिवावभासितम् ॥ २९ ॥
khaṁ rodasī bhā-gaṇān adri-sāgarān dvīpān sa-varṣān kakubhaḥ surāsurān vanāni deśān saritaḥ purākarān kheṭān vrajān āśrama-varṇa-vṛttayaḥ
The sage saw the entire universe: the sky, heaven and earth, the stars, mountains and oceans, the great islands and continents, the expanses in every direction, and the hosts of devas and asuras. He saw forests and lands, rivers, cities and mines, farming villages and cow pastures, and the worldly duties and spiritual disciplines of the various orders of varṇa and āśrama. He also saw the great elements of creation with all their transformations, and Time itself, which governs the unfolding of countless yugas and kalpas within the days of Brahmā. Beyond this, he saw everything else fashioned for the purposes of material life—manifest before him as though wholly real.
FAQs
This verse lists the visible and subtle components of the cosmos—sky, worlds, stars, mountains, oceans, continents, directions, devas and asuras, lands, rivers, cities, and social orders—showing the universe as an ordered manifestation perceived within a divine vision.
To present the entire range of existence—celestial, terrestrial, and societal—as one comprehensive field of manifestation, emphasizing that all categories of beings and places are included within the Lord’s all-pervading arrangement.
Seeing life as part of a vast, ordered creation can reduce ego-centered anxiety and increase humility, responsibility (dharma), and devotion—using one’s role and duties as a means to remember the Supreme.