Assembly and Activation

Chapter 5, 6

Vidura reached Haridwar and approached Maitreya Rishi, a disciple of Parasara Muni, the father of Vyasadeva. His initial enquiries were about the creation of the universe and the manifestations of the Lord within it.

Maitreya Rishi described the evolution of various universal elements – the material energy (mahat tattva), false ego (ahankara), five qualities of perception (tan matras), five gross elements, ten senses and the mind. When the controlling demigods of these elements were frustrated because the material ingredients were not combining, the Lord entered the universe as Garbhodakasayi Vishnu and manifested the Universal Form (virat-rupa).

Maitreya then explained how the demigods appear in the world as part and parcel of the Lord e.g. Agni comes from the Universal Form’s mouth, Varuna from the palate, Asvini Kumaras from the nostrils, etc. The head, legs and abdomen of the Universal Form manifested the heavens, earth and sky respectively. He then explained the occupational divisions (varnas) and the different parts of the Lord’s body: teachers (brahmanas) represent the head, warriors (ksatriyas) represent the arms, those in commerce (vaisyas) represent the abdomen and the labourers (sudras) represent the legs.