Shloka 12
कृतयुगवर्णनम् तथा राजधर्मोपदेशः
Kṛtayuga Description and Instruction on Royal Dharma
यदा नैवं रविनग्निर्न वायुर्न च चन्द्रमा: । नैवान्तरिक्ष नैवोर्वी शेष भवति किंचन,(महाप्रलयके समय) जब सूर्य, अग्नि, वायु, चन्द्रमा, अन्तरिक्ष और पृथ्वी आदिमेंसे कोई भी शेष नहीं रह जाता, समस्त चराचर जगत् उस एकार्णवके जलमें डूबकर अदृश्य हो जाता है, देवता और असुर नष्ट हो जाते हैं तथा बड़े-बड़े नागोंका संहार हो जाता है, उस समय कमल और उत्पलमें निवास तथा शयन करनेवाले सर्वभूतेश्वर अमितात्मा ब्रह्माजीके पास रहकर केवल आप ही उनकी उपासना करते हैं
yadā naivaṁ ravir na agnir na vāyur na ca candramāḥ | naivāntarikṣaṁ naivorvī śeṣaḥ bhavati kiṁcana ||
Vaiśampāyana said: When, at the time of the great dissolution, neither the sun nor fire remains, neither the wind nor even the moon; when neither the mid-space nor the earth is left—nothing at all survives—then all moving and unmoving beings are submerged in the single cosmic ocean and vanish from sight. Gods and asuras perish, and even the mighty nāgas are destroyed. At that time, the Lord of all beings, of immeasurable self, who abides and rests upon the lotus and the water-lily, remains near Brahmā, and you alone continue to worship him.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores radical impermanence: even the fundamental cosmic supports—sun, fire, wind, moon, sky, and earth—can disappear at mahāpralaya. Against this backdrop, devotion to the supreme lord is presented as the sole enduring orientation when all conditioned existence dissolves.
Vaiśampāyana describes the great dissolution in which the cosmos collapses into a single ocean and all beings, including devas, asuras, and nāgas, are destroyed. In that state, the supreme lord remains near Brahmā, and the addressee is said to continue worshipping him alone.