12. From him who remains the same (unaltered being) in his rest and motion, the great Vishnu was born, like a moving wave on the quiet waters of the sea. 13. Then was Brahmá produced from the lotus of his heart, having the mount Meru for its pericarp, and the points of the compass for its petals, and the stars for its pistils. 14. He being beset by gods and sages acquainted with the Vedas and their significations, created all the worlds and the minds with their various thoughts. 15. He then created the groups of men in the Bhárata division (India) in a corner of Jambudwípa (Asia), and subjected them to all manner of diseases and afflictions. 16. They are also troubled with the possession and want of many things, and their subjection to dangers and diseases. Here all species of created beings are subjected to a variety of tribulations and afflictions. 17. The lord and creator of worlds, seeing the misery of these people, felt compassion for them, as a father does for his children. 18. He then pondered within himself for a moment with intensity of thought and for the good of all creatures, how to exterminate the misery of these beings who were subjected to death and despair. 19. With this thought the lord god (Brahmá), established himself the rules of austerity, piety, charity, veracity and pilgrimage. 20. Having established these, the lord and creator again thought within himself, how to make an end of the many miseries of the men he had created. 21. He thought upon self-extinction as the Supreme bliss, which was obtainable only through a knowledge of the Deity, and whereby man might be exempted from repeated births and deaths. 22. It was divine knowledge, he thought, the only means of men’s crossing over (the ocean) of this world; but austerity, charity and pilgrimage were no means to it. (But mere preparatives to knowledge). 23. Upon this said he “I will immediately make a new and sure bridge for the salvation of men and for their liberation from pain.” 24. Having thought so, the lord Brahmá sitting on the lotus, meditated in his mind, and produced me from himself. 25. Being thus produced, I stood forthwith in the presence of my progenitor, as a wave rising from the sea leans towards it. 26. I then bowed down to the god who held a water-pot in one hand and a rosary in the other, with a pitcher and a bead of seeds in my either hand, and was thus addressed by him. 27. Come my son said he, and then holding me with his hand, made me sit on the northern petal of his lotus of truth, which shone as bright as the moon amidst the silvery clouds. 28. Wearing the skin of an antelope, Brahmá my father, spoke to me who was in the like habit, with the voice of a gander addressing a stork (_i.e._ a talkative person addressing a mute one). 29. He said “I will for a moment overpower thy ficklemindedness under a mist of insensibility, as a dark cloud overshadows the disk of the moon.”