MAHABHARAT

Creation And Destruction Of The Earth

It is written in the Mahabharata that there was only darkness before creation. Then first an egg was laid. The seeds of all the objects in the universe were inside this egg.

When the egg hatched, it was the first Brahma came out from it. Then gradually devas, monsters, yaksas, vampires, earth, water, air, sky etc. were created. Many of Brahma's sons, including Marichi, Atri, Angirah, Pulasthya Pulah, Kratu and Vasishta are called Saptarshi. Dharma and Bhrigu are born from the bosom of Brahma and Daksha from the big toe of his foot. Daksha had fifty daughters, Marichi's son Kashyap married thirteen out of these fifty. The names of those thirteen daughters- Aditi, Diti, Danu, Kala, Danayu, Singhika, Krodha, Pradha, Bishwa Binta, Kapila, Muni and Kadru. These are the mothers of gods, demons, gandharvas, apsaras, etc.

But not all animals are their offspring. Rakshas, monkeys, yaksas, kinnars were born from Pulastya and lions, tigers etc. were born from Pulaha. Apart from that, some other children are also inside the animals. In this way all creatures were created gradually.

The time of creation was the childhood of this world. He is much older now. After that, when his last days will come, the cataclysm will come and destroy the creation. After that God will create again. Just as day comes after night, then day again, then night again — such is the cataclysm after creation, then creation again, then catastrophe again. The world is like a big net, God is just mixing and unfolding that net all the time.

There are four ages in human life, such as childhood, youth, adult and old age, according to all of our ancient scriptures. In Satya Yuga, everything was very good and big. At that time one man was twenty-one cubits long. Then in the third age there was a little evil in the world, people also became a little wicked and a little short. But he was still fourteen cubits tall. The people of the Dwapar era were only seven cubits tall, and then the share of good and evil was equal. Then at the end now Kali Yuga has appeared. Today's unfortunate people are not three and a half cubits long, and while doing one good deed, they do three evil deeds! Thus when this world becomes as filthy and useless as old filthy rags, God will destroy it - that is, then there will be a catastrophe. How many times the creation and the catastrophe took place, who knows?

Those who are immortal also die during the cataclysm, but Sage Markandeya does not die. The Pandavas met this wonderful sage during their exile. Then he told Yudhisthira that he had seen the cataclysm and that when the catastrophe will happen again, he would still be alive. No one can say how many thousand years old Markandeya Muni is. But no one would think that he was too old by his appearance. It seems that he can be only twenty-five or twenty-six years old!

Markandeya Muni had to go through a lot of hardships during the holocaust, and he saw many amazing things. Many years before during the catastrophe, raining stopped. The plants all died. The small animals all starved to death. Then at one time seven suns rose in the sky, rivers, streams, lakes, seas all with great force dried up; Grass, leaf wood, whatever was on the Earth, was burnt to ashes. Then a terrible fire called Samvartak ignited, and with it a storm arose. He sat holding the fire to the abyss. There was no limit to the terror of devas, monsters, yakshas, etc. Gradually all the creatures including devas, monsters, yakshas, rakshas, animals were burnt in that fire.

Then came the clouds. Red clouds, yellow clouds, blue clouds, black clouds, clouds like elephants, clouds like mountains. Then, with the flickering of lightning and the roaring of thunder, the sky began to pound and rain began to fall in torrents. When he saw the rain, he put out the fire and brought down the mountain. Twelve years later, the deadly rain did not stop. Then when the rainstorm stopped, it was seen that the universe was submerged in water. Nothing was left except water in the world.

I don't know how Markandeya Muni survived so many incidents, but he didn't die. Anyway, suffering from hunger, burning in the fire, and floating in the water, he had a lot of trouble and difficulty. Fortunately, during this time of danger, he saw a huge banyan tree. When he came to the banyan tree, he saw a bed on its branches, a nice bed in it. There he saw a bright beautiful blue boy sitting. The little boy appeared like a full moon sitting on the bed.

Even after coming through so many amazing events, this incident came as a big surprise to Markandeya. So many incidents took place, there were so many incidents, but how did this boy survive? Markandeya could not decide the answer to this question even though he was a Trikalajna (the one who knows the past, the present and the future).

The boy, however, was not at all worried when he saw Markandeya. As soon as he saw him, he said— "Markandeya, you have worked hard. Come and rest in my belly. "

The boy then opened his mouth and swallowed Markandeya. But what a surprise! Going into the boy's womb, Markandeya would be ready to be digested somewhere, no, instead he sees that he is wandering around this world in absolute bliss! The Himalayas, the Ganges, the villages, the towns and the places of pilgrimage, the people, the markets, all the arrangements for the journey of the life.

For thousands of years Markandeya lived inside that strange boy, but he could not find his last anywhere. After so many incidents, he thought, "This boy is not an ordinary boy". As soon as he began to praise him, he suddenly came out of the boy's belly, and the boy was sitting on the bed in the branches of the banyan tree as he was. Seeing Markandeya coming out, he asked, "Markandeya, did you relax well?"

Then Markandeya found out that this boy was none other than Narayan himself. Narayan told Markandeya, "Brahma is sleeping now. If he wakes up, he will create the world again, so rest here. "

Saying this, Narayan disappeared into the sky.

Lord Brahma is considered to be the "Creator" of the world; Lord Narayan the 'Saviour" and Lord Shiva the "Destroyer".

Soon after this, the new world started to get created.