Text 15
bhū-pātāla-kakub-vyoma-
graha-nakṣatra-bhūbhṛtām
sarit-samudra-dvīpānāṁ
sambhavaś caitad-okasām
bhū-pātāla — underneath the land; kakup — the four sides of the heavens; vyoma — the sky; graha — the planets; nakṣatra — the stars; bhūbhṛtām — of the hills; sarit — the river; samudra — the sea; dvīpānām — of the islands; sambhavaḥ — appearance; ca — also; etat — their; okasām — of the inhabitants.
O best of the brāhmaṇas, please also describe how the creation of the globes throughout the universe, the four directions of the heavens, the sky, the planets, the stars, the mountains, the rivers, the seas and the islands, as well as their different kinds of inhabitants, takes place.
The inhabitants of different varieties of land, etc., are differently situated, and not all of them are equal in all respects. The inhabitants of the land are different from the inhabitants of the water or the sky, and similarly the inhabitants of the different planets and stars in the sky are also different from one another. By the laws of the Lord, no place is vacant, but the creatures of one particular place are different from those of other places. Even in human society the inhabitants of the jungles or the deserts are different from those of the cities and villages. They are so made according to different qualities of the modes of nature. Such adjustment by the laws of nature is not blind. There is a great plan behind the arrangement. Mahārāja Parīkṣit requests the great sage Śukadeva Gosvāmī to explain all these authoritatively, in accordance with proper understanding.