Shloka 2
Pracetās, Māriṣā, Dakṣa’s Re-manifestation, and the Brahma-parastava; Cyclic Creation and Genealogies
नाशकन् मारुतो वातुं वृतं खम् अभवद् द्रुमैः दशवर्षसहस्राणि न शेकुश् चेष्टितुं प्रजाः
nāśakan māruto vātuṃ vṛtaṃ kham abhavad drumaiḥ daśavarṣasahasrāṇi na śekuś ceṣṭituṃ prajāḥ
The trees choked the sky so that the wind could not blow. For ten thousand years, living beings were unable to move or perform their natural activities, as the world’s order was wholly obstructed.
Sage Parāśara (to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: How the unchecked forest growth obstructed the world’s functioning during the Pracetās’ tapas
Teaching: Cosmological
Quality: descriptive
Cosmic Hierarchy: Lokas
Concept: When natural balance is obstructed (vāyu blocked, space constricted), prāṇic and social activity collapses, showing interdependence of beings and elements.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Recognize ecological and systemic interdependence; protect ‘breathing space’—literal and social—so life can function.
Vishishtadvaita: The ordered functioning of elements (vāyu, ākāśa) is part of the Lord’s cosmic administration; disorder signals deviation from divinely grounded harmony.
FAQs
This verse uses the stoppage of wind and the sky being filled with trees as a sign of cosmic disorder, implying the need for restoration of balance under Vishnu’s supreme governance.
Parāśara depicts a world so overrun that even elemental functions cease—wind cannot move and beings cannot act—showing that when order is obstructed, life’s rhythms collapse until corrected by higher divine regulation.
Even when Vishnu is not named in the line, the Purana’s framework implies that the stability of nature and time-cycles depends on Vishnu as the Supreme Reality who sustains and restores the cosmos.