"'"Yajnavalkya said, 'I have, one after another, told thee the order of the
creation, with their total number, of the various principles, as also the
extent of the duration of each. Listen now to me as I tell thee of their
destruction. Listen to me how Brahman, who is eternal and undecaying, and
who is without beginning and without end, repeatedly creates and destroys
all created objects. When his day expires and night comes, he becomes
desirous of sleep. At such a time the unmanifest and holy one urges the
Being called Maharudra, who is conscious of his great powers, (for
destroying the world). Urged by the unmanifest, that Being assuming the
form of Surya of hundreds of thousands of rays, divides himself into a
dozen portions each resembling a blazing fire. He then consumes with his
energy, O monarch, without any loss of time, the four kinds of created
beings, viz., viviparous, oviparous, filth-born, and vegetable. Within
the twinkling of the eye all mobile and immobile creatures being thus
destroyed, the Earth becomes on every side as bare as a tortoise shell.
Having burnt everything on the face of the Earth, Rudra, of immeasurable
might, then quickly fills the bare Earth with Water possessed of great
force. He then creates the Yuga-fire which dries up that Water (into
which the bare Earth has been dissolved). The Water disappearing, the
great element of Fire continues to blaze fiercely. Then comes the mighty
Wind of immeasurable force, in his eight forms, who swallows up quickly
that blazing fire of transcendent force, possessed of seven flames, and
identifiable with the heat existing every creature. Having swallowed up
that fire, the Wind courses in every direction, upwards, downwards, and
transversely. Then space of immeasurable existent swallowed up that Wind
of transcendent energy. Then Mind cheerfully swallows up that
immeasurable Space. Then that Lord of all creatures, viz., Consciousness,
who is the Soul of everything, swallows up the Mind. Consciousness, in
his turn, is swallowed up by the Mahat-soul who is conversant with the
Past, the Present, and the Future. The incomparable Mahat-soul or
Universe is then swallowed up by Sambhu, that Lord of all things, to whom
the Yoga attributes of Anima, Laghima, Prapti, etc., naturally inhere,
who is regarded as the Supreme and pure Effulgence that is Immutable. His
hands and feet extend over every part; his eyes and head and face are
everywhere, his ears reach every place, and he exists overwhelming all
things. He is the heart of all creatures; His measure is of a digit of
the thumb. That Infinite and supreme Soul, that Lord of all, thus
swallows up the Universe. After this, what remains is the Undecaying and
the Immutable, One who is without defect of any kind, who is the Creator
of the Past, the Present, and the Future, and who is perfectly faultless,
I have thus, O monarch, duly told thee of Destruction. I shall now
discourse to thee on the subjects of Adhyatma, Adhibhuta, and
Adhidaivata.'"'"