Shloka 22
प्रलय-त्रिविध-विभागः एवं प्राकृतप्रलय-वर्णनम्
दह्यमानं तु तैर् दीप्तैस् त्रैलोक्यं द्विज भास्करैः साद्रिनद्यर्णवाभोगं निःस्नेहम् अभिजायते
dahyamānaṃ tu tair dīptais trailokyaṃ dvija bhāskaraiḥ sādrinadyarṇavābhogaṃ niḥsneham abhijāyate
But as the three worlds are scorched by those blazing suns, O twice-born one, the whole expanse—mountains, rivers, and the wide oceans—becomes utterly dry, drained of all moisture.
Sage Parāśara (speaking to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Consequences of the seven suns on terrestrial features (mountains, rivers, oceans)
Teaching: Cosmological
Quality: authoritative
Cosmic Hierarchy: Lokas
Concept: When the worlds are burned by the blazing suns, all moisture is exhausted and even mountains, rivers, and oceans become dry—nothing material is exempt from time.
Vedantic Theme: Maya
Application: Practice non-possessiveness by remembering that even the greatest ‘supports’ (like oceans and mountains) are transient in cosmic time.
Vishishtadvaita: The world’s dependency is highlighted: its qualities (like rasa/moisture) persist only by the Lord’s sustaining will and are withdrawn in pralaya.
Vishnu Form: Para-Brahman
FAQs
They symbolize the intensification of cosmic heat at dissolution, by which the three worlds are systematically dried—rivers, oceans, and all moisture—signaling the ordered approach of pralaya.
He presents a sequential, physical cosmology: the worlds are first burned by blazing suns, and as a direct result the entire terrestrial and oceanic expanse becomes moistureless, preparing the stage for further dissolution.
Though not named in this verse, the Vishnu Purana frames pralaya as occurring under the Supreme Lord’s sovereignty—dissolution is not chaos but a law-governed transformation within Vishnu’s cosmic order.