Shloka 35
मानससृष्टिः, रुद्रोत्पत्तिः, मन्वादिवंशः, प्रलयचतुष्टयम्
येयं नित्यस्थितिर् ब्रह्मन् नित्यसर्गस् तथेरितः नित्याभावश् च तेषां वै स्वरूपं मम कथ्यताम्
yeyaṃ nityasthitir brahman nityasargas tatheritaḥ nityābhāvaś ca teṣāṃ vai svarūpaṃ mama kathyatām
O Brahman, you have spoken of eternal preservation, of eternal creation, and of their eternal cessation; now explain to me their true nature—what they really are.
Maitreya (questioning Sage Parāśara)
Speaker: Maitreya
Topic: Request for the essential nature (svarūpa) of eternal creation, maintenance, and cessation
Teaching: Cosmological
Quality: inquisitive, clarifying
Concept: The disciple seeks a deeper metaphysical account of what ‘eternal’ creation, stability, and cessation truly mean in their essential nature.
Vedantic Theme: Brahman
Application: Move from descriptive knowledge to inquiry into underlying principles—ask what sustained patterns in life point to at the level of ultimate reality.
Vishishtadvaita: Frames metaphysical questioning that, in Vishishtadvaita, culminates in understanding the Lord as the ground of cyclical processes while remaining distinct from changing modes.
Vishnu Form: Para-Brahman
FAQs
They frame the Purāṇa’s cosmology as a continuous triad—creation, sustenance, and dissolution—whose deeper nature must be understood beyond mere events, as principles governing manifestation.
This verse is Maitreya’s prompt asking Parāśara to move from naming the processes to defining their essential reality—setting up a more philosophical clarification in the following passages.
In the Vishnu Purana’s Vaishnava metaphysics, these cosmic functions are ultimately grounded in Vishnu’s supreme sovereignty, with creation, maintenance, and dissolution understood as dependent on the Supreme Reality.