Satyaloka
Satyaloka · satya-loka, “the world of truth”
Satyaloka is the loka (world) of Brahmā (Pitāmaha), his abode beyond Maharloka and Tapoloka. The Vāmana Purāṇa places it thirty crore yojanas beyond Tapoloka. It shines with the radiance of a thousand suns, and it is filled with the sound of the Vedas: by its waves the devas blossom, while the daityas shrivel. Brahmā is its lord. The Purāṇa tells how Kali fled there to Brahmā when Bali‘s rule turned the whole world into Kṛtayuga, how the daityas warned Dhundhu that its path could not be travelled, and how Bhagavān Vishṇu as Vāmana, in his form made of the whole world, covered the Satya and Tapo lokas with his knees.
The way to Satyaloka
Pulastya Maharshi tells Nārada Maharshi of the daitya Dhundhu, son of Kaśyapa Muni and Danu. Dhundhu pleased Brahmā by tapas (austerity) and gained a vara (boon) that he would not die at the hands of Indra and the other devas. He drove the devas from svarga (heaven) and sat on Indra’s throne, and the devas, in distress, went away to Brahmaloka. Dhundhu then said to the daityas, “Come, let us go to Brahmaloka and conquer the devas.”
The daityas answered that they had no power to go to Brahmā’s abode, for that path is very hard to travel. They described the lokas on the way:
- Maharloka lies many thousands of yojanas beyond, served by maharshis. By the mere glance of those maharshis daityas are burnt up. The cow-mothers live there, and at the touch of the dust of their feet the daityas would become ashes.
- Tapoloka lies beyond that, six crore yojanas away, full of tapasvīs. No daitya can bear the force of the breath of the Sādhya devatās who live there and live.
- Satyaloka lies beyond that, thirty crore yojanas away, shining with the radiance of a thousand suns. Its lord is Brahmā, the very one who granted Dhundhu his varas. By the waves of the sound of the Vedas there the devas blossom, while daityas and those like them shrivel up.
“So, O great hero, give up your resolve,” they said. “Reaching the Vairāja world is always hard.” Dhundhu would not give it up, and Śukrācārya told him that Indra had reached Brahmaloka by the puṇya (merit) of a hundred aśvamedha yajñas; so Dhundhu resolved to perform a hundred aśvamedhas himself.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 52
Kali comes to Brahmā
After the devas had left svarga and gone to Brahmaloka, Bali ruled the three worlds without departing from dharma, and the whole world turned into Kṛtayuga. Seeing this, Kali, in fear, went to Satyaloka and took hold of Brahmā‘s feet. There Brahmā gave darśana (a sacred sight of himself), lighting up all around with his tejas (radiance), with Indra and the devas present. Kali cried out to Brahmā, “Save me! Bali has destroyed my very nature!”
Brahmā answered that Bali had destroyed not only Kali’s nature but the nature of the whole world. “Look, here are Indra, Varuṇa, Agni, Vāyu and even Sūrya, sitting here having lost their tejas.” No one in the three worlds, he said, could check Bali’s rise except Śrī Hari, the thousand-headed and thousand-footed, the imperishable Lakshmīpati. Hearing this, Kali went away to the Vibhītaka forest, and dharma stood on all four feet in the three worlds.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 49
Covered by the knees of Bhagavān Vāmana
At Bali‘s yajña, as soon as the water of the gift of three steps fell on his hand, Bhagavān Vāmana took a form made of the whole world to cover the three worlds. With his feet and calves he covered the sky, with his knees the Satya and Tapo lokas, and with his thighs Mount Meru and Mount Mandara.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 65
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 49, 52, 65