Shloka 1
नैमित्तिक-प्राकृत-प्रलयवर्णनम्
Periodic and Elemental Dissolution; Reabsorption into Paramātman
सप्तर्षिस्थानम् आक्रम्य स्थिते ऽम्भसि महामुने एकार्णवं भवत्य् एतत् त्रैलोक्यम् अखिलं ततः
saptarṣisthānam ākramya sthite 'mbhasi mahāmune ekārṇavaṃ bhavaty etat trailokyam akhilaṃ tataḥ
O great sage, when the waters rise and reach even the realm of the Seven Ṛṣis, from that moment the whole threefold world becomes a single, boundless ocean.
Sage Parāśara (addressing Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Description of pralaya (dissolution) and the re-emergence of creation
Teaching: Cosmological
Quality: authoritative
Creation Stage: Kalpa
Cosmic Hierarchy: Lokas
Concept: At the end of a kalpa, the ordered three worlds collapse into undifferentiated waters, showing the contingency of manifest cosmos.
Vedantic Theme: Maya
Application: Contemplate impermanence to loosen attachment to worldly structures and cultivate steadiness in devotion.
Vishishtadvaita: The cosmos is a real mode of the Lord’s power, periodically contracted and expanded under His sovereignty.
Vishnu Form: Narayana
FAQs
It functions as a cosmological boundary-marker: when even the region of the Seven Sages is overtaken by the waters, it signals the completeness of the inundation and the onset of total-world submergence.
Parāśara presents pralaya as a progressive flooding that culminates in the entire trailokya losing its differentiated structures and becoming ekārṇava—one continuous ocean—indicating cosmic withdrawal before renewal.
Though not named in this single verse, the pralaya narrative in the Vishnu Purana is framed within Vishnu’s supreme governance: dissolution is not chaos but a lawful cosmic phase under the ultimate Reality who sustains, withdraws, and restores the worlds.