Shloka 19
नैमित्तिक-प्राकृत-प्रलयवर्णनम्
Periodic and Elemental Dissolution; Reabsorption into Paramātman
स चाग्निः सर्वतो व्याप्य आदत्ते तज् जलं तथा सर्वम् आपूर्यते ऽर्चिभिस् तदा जगद् इदं शनैः
sa cāgniḥ sarvato vyāpya ādatte taj jalaṃ tathā sarvam āpūryate 'rcibhis tadā jagad idaṃ śanaiḥ
而彼火遍满四方，亦摄取那水；于是此整个世界渐次被其火焰从各处充盈、漫溢。
Sage Parāśara (teaching Maitreya)
FAQs
It marks an advanced stage of dissolution where elemental order collapses—fire becomes all-pervasive and consumes even the waters, signaling the world’s gradual withdrawal toward an unmanifest state under Vishnu’s sovereign law.
Parāśara presents pralaya as a staged, sequential process: forces spread, intensify, and only then engulf the cosmos—showing dissolution as an ordered transformation rather than a sudden annihilation.
Even when the verse describes impersonal elements like fire and water, the Purana’s framework treats such cosmic processes as operating within Vishnu’s supreme governance—He is the sustaining and withdrawing Reality behind creation and dissolution.