Shloka 12
नैमित्तिक-प्राकृत-प्रलयवर्णनम्
Periodic and Elemental Dissolution; Reabsorption into Paramātman
अनावृष्ट्यग्निसंपर्कात् कृते संक्षालने मुने समस्तेष्व् एव लोकेषु पातालेष्व् अखिलेषु च
anāvṛṣṭyagnisaṃparkāt kṛte saṃkṣālane mune samasteṣv eva lokeṣu pātāleṣv akhileṣu ca
O sage, when the great cleansing is wrought—through the absence of rain and the contact of fire—it spreads through all the worlds, and through every pātāla as well.
Sage Parāśara (speaking to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Mechanism and extent of the prākṛta pralaya (drought and fire affecting all realms)
Teaching: Cosmological
Quality: authoritative
Cosmic Hierarchy: Lokas
Concept: At the onset of elemental dissolution, drought and fire effect a universal ‘cleansing’ that reaches through all lokas, including the underworlds.
Vedantic Theme: Maya
Application: Use the image of universal dissolution to cultivate humility and non-possessiveness toward status, place, and security.
Vishishtadvaita: Even the many-tiered cosmos (lokas/pātālas) is a dependent order subject to the Lord’s higher regulation.
FAQs
This verse highlights pralaya as a universe-wide event: drought and fire initiate a purificatory ‘cleansing’ that reaches all realms, including the netherworlds, underscoring the total scope of cosmic reordering.
He frames it as a sequence where the absence of rain (anāvṛṣṭi) and the spread of fire (agni-saṃparka) bring about a comprehensive cleansing that pervades every loka and pātāla.
Even when not named in the verse, the Vishnu Purana’s cosmology implies that such universal cycles of dissolution and restoration occur under Vishnu’s supreme governance as the sustaining Reality behind order and time.