Shloka 60
सर्गभेदाः — अविद्या, स्रोतोभेदाः, नव सर्गाः, देवासुरादिसृष्टिः, वेद-यज्ञप्रादुर्भावः
तत् ससर्ज तदा ब्रह्मा भगवान् आदिकृद् विभुः तेषां ये यानि कर्माणि प्राक्सृष्ट्यां प्रतिपेदिरे तान्य् एव प्रतिपद्यन्ते सृज्यमानाः पुनः पुनः
tat sasarja tadā brahmā bhagavān ādikṛd vibhuḥ teṣāṃ ye yāni karmāṇi prāksṛṣṭyāṃ pratipedire tāny eva pratipadyante sṛjyamānāḥ punaḥ punaḥ
Then Brahmā—the Blessed Lord, primal maker and all-pervading ruler—brought them forth. Whatever karmas they had assumed in the former creation, those same tendencies they take up again, being created time after time.
Sage Parāśara (speaking to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Why beings repeat dispositions across cycles; relation of karma to recurring creation
Teaching: Cosmological
Quality: revealing
Creation Stage: Kalpa
Concept: Across repeated creations, beings re-assume the same karmic tendencies formed in prior cycles, indicating continuity of saṃskāra and moral causality through cosmic dissolution and re-manifestation.
Vedantic Theme: Karma
Application: Act with awareness that habits and intentions leave durable impressions; cultivate sattvic disciplines to reshape future tendencies.
Vishishtadvaita: Karma adheres to the real jīva across cycles under the Lord’s governance; liberation requires divine grace and transformed disposition, not mere cosmic reset.
Vishnu Form: Para-Brahman
Jagat Karana: Yes
FAQs
This verse states that creation recurs in cycles, and beings re-enter existence repeatedly, carrying forward the karmic patterns formed in prior cycles.
Parāśara explains that when Brahmā creates again, beings do not begin as blank slates; they resume the very karmas and dispositions they had previously undertaken.
While Brahmā performs the act of creation, the Purāṇic framework places this within Vishnu’s supreme governance—cosmic recurrence and karmic order operate under the higher sovereignty of the Supreme Reality.