Chapter
1: The Degraded
Dynasties and
Corrupt Nature of the Rulers of Kali-yuga
(12) The
brahmin will
put Candragupta
on the throne and his
son
Vârisâra will next be succeeded by As'okavardhana.
Chapter 2: Despair and Hope in
the Age of Quarrel
(12-16) When the
bodies of all living entities by the contamination of Kali-yuga are in
decay and the dutifulness of the members of all status-orientations is
lost, when the vedic path fit for all men has changed into an atheistic
conception of duty, when the kings predominantly act as thieves and men
in their various occupations in truth are all lying bandits of
meaningless slaughter, when the classes are predominantly
[profit-]labor-minded, the cows are not better than goats, the
hermitages are just like materialistic homes, family ties do not reach
further than the bonds of marriage, when the plants and herbs have
reduced in size and all trees are like s'amî
trees, when there is always
lightning in the clouds and the homes are ruled by loneliness [voidism,
impersonalism, see Pranâti], when Kali-yuga is running at its end and
the people have
become like asses, the Supreme Lord will descend in the mode of pure
goodness to defend the dharma.
Chapter 3: The Song of Mother
Earth
and Kali-yuga its Remedy
(15) It is rather
the repeated
discussing and singing about the qualities of
the Lord Praised in the Verses, what destroys everything
inauspicious. He who desires Lord Krishna's
pure devotional
service should therefore do that regularly [seeking that association]
and hear [about Him] time and again.'
Chapter 4: Pralaya: The Four
Types of Annihilation
(11) Next
for more
than a hundred years the
terrible wind of the ultimate destruction [sâmvartaka]
will blow and turn the sky gray
with dust.
(12) Clusters of multicolored clouds dear King,
then will pour down rain for a hundred years with tremendous claps of
thunder.
(36) The
[more or less favorable living]
conditions of all living beings subject to transformation, are rapidly
and continuously wiped out by the mighty force of the current of Time
and constitute the causes of
their birth and
death.
Chapter 5: Final Instructions to
Mahârâja Parîkchit
(8) The
soul
differing
from the gross [deha] and the subtle [linga] body, is self-luminous, and constitutes,
because
it is as unchanging as the sky, the foundation [âdhâra]
that
is
eternal
and
beyond
comparison.
Chapter 6: Mahârâja
Parîkchit Liberated and
the Veda Handed Down in Four
(9-10) Parîkchit, the saintly king, by the
power of reason thereupon placed
his mind in his soul, meditated on the Supreme Truth and arrested his
breath so
that he became as motionless as a tree. On the bank of the
Ganges sitting on darbha grass laid to the east, the great yogi,
facing the north, broke in perfect realization
of the Absolute Spirit with all doubts.
(39) From
that [sound]
the
threefold omkâra [A-U-M] came into being that,
manifesting itself unseen, constitutes the representation of the
Supreme
Lord [Bhagavân], the Absolute Truth [Brahman] and the Supersoul
[Paramâtmâ, see also 1.2:
11, B.G. 7:
8].
(74) The
mighty sage divided
the
hundreds of Yajur mantras in fifteen branches
that were accepted by the disciples
Kânva, Mâdhyandina and
others under
the name Vâjasaneyi: 'stemming from the manes of the horse.'
Chapter 7: The Devotion in
Samhitâ Branches
and the Ten Topics of the Purânas
(9-10) The
creation [of this universe, sarga], the subsequent creation [of different
worlds and
beings, visarga],
the maintenance [the sustenance, the vritti or sthâna] and protection [the
rakshâ or poshana of the living beings],
the
reigns [of the various Manus], the dynasties [vams'as], the narrations about them [vams'a-anucaritam],
the
annihilation
[of
different
kinds,
pralaya or samsthâ],
the reason
[the individual living entity or hetu] and the supreme
shelter [of the
Fortunate One or apâs'raya] oh brahmin, are the ten
topics characterizing a Purâna as understood by the authorities
on the matter. Some state that relative to the greater ones, the
smaller
Purânas deal with only five of these subjects [see also S'uka on
this 2.10: 1-7 and *].
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