Shloka 3
सर्गभेदाः — अविद्या, स्रोतोभेदाः, नव सर्गाः, देवासुरादिसृष्टिः, वेद-यज्ञप्रादुर्भावः
मैत्रेय कथयाम्य् एष शृणुष्व सुसमाहितः यथा ससर्ज देवो ऽसौ देवादीन् अखिलान् विभुः
maitreya kathayāmy eṣa śṛṇuṣva susamāhitaḥ yathā sasarja devo 'sau devādīn akhilān vibhuḥ
O Maitreya, I shall now declare it—listen with steady, collected attention—how that Divine Lord, the all-pervading Sovereign, brought forth the entire order of beings, beginning with the gods.
Sage Parāśara
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Explanation of the universe’s qualities and form at the beginning of creation; how the Lord produced all beings.
Teaching: Cosmological
Quality: authoritative
Concept: Receptive, concentrated listening (susamāhita-śravaṇa) is the gateway to grasping the Lord’s all-pervading creative sovereignty.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Practice attentive listening to scripture/teachers without distraction before forming conclusions.
Vishishtadvaita: The Supreme is vibhu (all-pervading) yet personally teachable through śravaṇa in a guru–śiṣya lineage.
Vishnu Form: Hari
Bhakti Type: Shanta
Jagat Karana: Yes
FAQs
This verse signals the formal start of Parāśara’s creation account, framing Sarga as a deliberate, orderly emanation from the Supreme Lord, beginning with the devas and extending to all beings.
He establishes a teacher–disciple setting and asks Maitreya to listen with full concentration, indicating that creation will be explained as a purposeful act of the all-pervading Divine (vibhu).
Even without naming Vishnu directly, the verse presents the Creator as the supreme, omnipotent, all-pervading Lord—an identification consistent with the Vishnu Purana’s core claim that Vishnu is the ultimate source of gods and cosmos.