Srimad Bhagavatam — Dvitiya Skandha, Shloka 41
Nārada’s Questions and Brahmā’s Reply: Vāsudeva as the Source; Sarga–Visarga; Virāṭ-rūpa Mapping
तत्कट्यां चातलं क्लृप्तमूरुभ्यां वितलं विभो: । जानुभ्यां सुतलं शुद्धं जङ्घाभ्यां तु तलातलम् ॥ ४० ॥ महातलं तु गुल्फाभ्यां प्रपदाभ्यां रसातलम् । पातालं पादतलत इति लोकमय: पुमान् ॥ ४१ ॥
tat-kaṭyāṁ cātalaṁ kḷptam ūrubhyāṁ vitalaṁ vibhoḥ jānubhyāṁ sutalaṁ śuddhaṁ jaṅghābhyāṁ tu talātalam
Ô cher Nārada, parmi les quatorze mondes il en est sept inférieurs : Atala à la taille, Vitala aux cuisses, Sutala aux genoux, Talātala aux tibias, Mahātala aux chevilles, Rasātala sur le dessus des pieds, et Pātāla aux plantes. Ainsi la forme virāṭ du Seigneur contient tous les mondes.
Modern enterprisers (the astronauts who travel in space) may take information from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that in space there are fourteen divisions of planetary systems. The situation is calculated from the earthly planetary system, which is called Bhūrloka. Above Bhūrloka is Bhuvarloka, and the topmost planetary system is called Satyaloka. These are the upper seven lokas, or planetary systems. And similarly there are seven lower planetary systems, known as Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talātala, Mahātala, Rasātala and Pātāla lokas. All these planetary systems are scattered over the complete universe, which occupies an area of two billion times two billion square miles. The modern astronauts can travel only a few thousand miles away from the earth, and therefore their attempt to travel in the sky is something like child’s play on the shore of an expansive ocean. The moon is situated in the third status of the upper planetary system, and in the Fifth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we shall be able to know the distant situation of the various planets scattered over the vast material sky. There are innumerable universes beyond the one in which we are put, and all these material universes cover only an insignificant portion of the spiritual sky, which is described above as sanātana Brahmaloka. The Supreme Lord very kindly invites the intelligent human beings to return home, back to Godhead, in the following verse of the Bhagavad-gītā (8.16) :
FAQs
This verse places these subterranean regions on specific limbs of the Lord’s universal form—Atala on the hips, Vitala on the thighs, Sutala on the knees, and Talātala on the shanks—showing the cosmos as resting within Him.
To teach Parīkṣit how all worlds are integrated within the Lord’s universal form, helping the listener fix the mind on Bhagavān as the support of all existence.
It trains devotional perception: seeing the world as dependent on the Divine reduces ego and anxiety and supports steady remembrance of God in daily duties.