Shloka 40
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
โอ้ นารทผู้เป็นที่รัก ในบรรดาสิบสี่โลกมีเจ็ดโลกเบื้องล่าง: อตลอยู่ที่บั้นเอว วิตลอยู่ที่ต้นขา สุตลอยู่ที่เข่า ตลาตลอยู่ที่หน้าแข้ง มหาตลอยู่ที่ข้อเท้า รสาตลอยู่ที่หลังเท้า และปาตาลอยู่ที่ฝ่าเท้า ดังนี้รูปวิราฏของพระองค์เต็มไปด้วยโลกทั้งปวง
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
In this verse, Śukadeva describes these subterranean realms as situated on different limbs of the Lord’s universal form—Atala on the waist, Vitala on the thighs, Sutala on the knees, and Talātala on the shanks.
He explains cosmic structure through the Virāṭ-rūpa so Parīkṣit can fix his mind on the Lord, seeing all worlds as resting within Him and thus deepening devotion and detachment.
Practice seeing the world as belonging to and sustained by the Divine, which reduces possessiveness and anxiety and supports steady remembrance of God in daily duties.