Shloka 50
सर्गभेदाः — अविद्या, स्रोतोभेदाः, नव सर्गाः, देवासुरादिसृष्टिः, वेद-यज्ञप्रादुर्भावः
ओषध्यः फलमूलिन्यो रोमभ्यस् तस्य जज्ञिरे त्रेतायुगमुखे ब्रह्मा कल्पस्यादौ द्विजोत्तम सृष्ट्वा पश्वोषधीः सम्यग् युयोज स तदाध्वरे
oṣadhyaḥ phalamūlinyo romabhyas tasya jajñire tretāyugamukhe brahmā kalpasyādau dvijottama sṛṣṭvā paśvoṣadhīḥ samyag yuyoja sa tadādhvare
From his very hairs were born the plants—those bearing fruits and those yielding roots. At the dawn of the Tretā age, O best of twice-born, Brahmā, at the beginning of the kalpa, having duly brought forth beasts and herbs, properly yoked them to that sacred rite of sacrifice, establishing the ordered course of the yajña.
Sage Parāśara (narrating to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Account of creation—origin of plants and the institution of yajña at the kalpa’s beginning
Teaching: Cosmological
Quality: authoritative
Creation Stage: Kalpa
Yuga: Treta
Concept: At the kalpa’s outset, Brahmā establishes yajña by yoking plants and animals into sacrificial reciprocity, making ordered duty the sustaining rhythm of the world.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Offer daily actions as yajña—ethical work, gratitude, and giving—so consumption becomes consecrated rather than exploitative.
Vishishtadvaita: Karma as worship (ārādhana) within the Lord’s cosmic body: the world is real and sustained through divinely instituted obligations.
Vishnu Form: Para-Brahman
Bhakti Type: Dasya
Jagat Karana: Yes
FAQs
It presents sacrifice as an ordering principle of the world: once beings and plants exist, Brahmā “yokes” them into yajña, indicating that dharma and cosmic stability are sustained through rightly established sacred action.
He uses a mythic-cosmic image—plants arising from “hairs”—to show vegetation as a direct, organic outflow of primordial being, not a random occurrence, and as part of the structured unfolding of creation.
In the Vishnu Purana’s framework, Brahmā functions as a secondary creator within the larger sovereignty of Vishnu; the establishment of yajña and cosmic order ultimately aligns with Vishnu’s sustaining reality that underwrites dharma across the yugas.