Shloka 17
Secondary Creation Begins: Brahmā’s Productions, the Guṇas, and the Emergence of Orders of Beings
सोऽनुविष्टो भगवता य: शेते सलिलाशये । लोकसंस्थां यथापूर्वं निर्ममे संस्थया स्वया ॥ १७ ॥
so ’nuviṣṭo bhagavatā yaḥ śete salilāśaye loka-saṁsthāṁ yathā pūrvaṁ nirmame saṁsthayā svayā
When the Supreme Personality, lying upon the Garbhodaka Ocean, entered Brahmā’s heart, Brahmā applied the intelligence thus awakened; and by his own arrangement he began to create the universe as it had been before.
At a certain time, the Personality of Godhead Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu lies in the Kāraṇa Ocean and produces many thousands of universes from His breathing; then He enters again into each and every universe as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu and fills up half of each universe with His own perspiration. The other half of the universe remains vacant, and that vacant region is called outer space. Then the lotus flower sprouts from His abdomen and produces the first living creature, Brahmā. Then again, as Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, the Lord enters into the heart of every living entity, including Brahmā. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā, Fifteenth Chapter. The Lord says, “I am seated in everyone’s heart, and by Me are remembrance and forgetfulness made possible.” As the witness of the activities of the individual entities, the Lord gives each one remembrance and intelligence to act according to his desire at the time he was annihilated in his last birth in the last millennium. This intelligence is invoked according to one’s own capacity, or by the law of karma.
FAQs
This verse states that Brahmā recreates the cosmic order exactly as before, but only after being entered and empowered from within by Bhagavān; creation is ultimately dependent on the Lord’s sanction and presence.
To show that Brahmā is an instrument of secondary creation: the Lord, as the indwelling controller, empowers him so the universal arrangement can manifest according to the prior cosmic design.
It encourages humility and devotion: even great ability bears fruit when aligned with the Supreme; one should act responsibly while seeking divine guidance and offering results to God.