Shloka 19
मेरु-प्रमाणम्, सप्त-पाताल-वर्णनम्, तथा अनन्त-शेष-तत्त्वम्
कल्पान्ते यस्य वक्त्रेभ्यो विषानलशिखोज्ज्वलः संकर्षणात्मको रुद्रो निष्क्रम्यात्ति जगत्त्रयम्
kalpānte yasya vaktrebhyo viṣānalaśikhojjvalaḥ saṃkarṣaṇātmako rudro niṣkramyātti jagattrayam
കൽപാന്തത്തിൽ അവന്റെ മുഖങ്ങളിൽ നിന്നു വിഷാഗ്നിശിഖകളെപ്പോലെ ജ്വലിച്ച്, സംകർഷണസ്വഭാവനായ രുദ്രൻ പുറപ്പെട്ടു ത്രിലോകവും ദഹിപ്പിച്ചു ഗ്രസിക്കുന്നു.
Sage Parāśara (to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Sacred geography/cosmic supports and the nether regions (Pātāla), including Śeṣa and the end-of-kalpa dissolution forces.
Teaching: Cosmological
Quality: authoritative
Creation Stage: Kalpa
Cosmic Hierarchy: Lokas
Concept: At the close of Brahmā’s day, the Rudra-principle—identified with Saṅkarṣaṇa—erupts as a consuming fire that dissolves the three worlds.
Vedantic Theme: Maya
Application: Contemplate impermanence to loosen attachment and orient life toward the imperishable Lord beyond cyclic dissolution.
Vishishtadvaita: Dissolution is not random: it proceeds through divinely ordered powers (vyūha-tattva), showing the Lord’s sovereign governance over cosmic cycles.
Vishnu Form: Narayana (cosmic)
Vyuha Form: Sankarshana
Jagat Karana: Yes
FAQs
It frames dissolution as operating under Vishnu’s supreme order: Rudra’s pralaya-function is presented as arising in connection with Saṅkarṣaṇa, emphasizing a Vaishnava hierarchy where destructive power is an emanational role, not an independent absolute.
Parāśara describes a cosmic event: at the kalpa’s end, a blazing Rudra emerges and devours the three worlds—an image of pralaya that fits the Purana’s cycle of creation, maintenance, and reabsorption.
Even when Rudra appears as the world-consuming force, the verse’s linkage to Saṅkarṣaṇa supports the Vishnu Purana’s message that all cosmic functions—including dissolution—ultimately proceed within Vishnu’s sovereign reality.