niśamyātma-bhuvā gītaṁ
kāraṇaṁ śaṅkayojjhitāḥ
tataḥ sarve nyavartanta
tridivāya divaukasaḥ
maitreyaḥ-the sage Maitreya; uvāca-said; niśamya-upon hearing; ātma-bhuvā-by Brahmā; gītam-explanation; kāraṇam-the cause; śaṅkayā-from fear; ujjhitāḥ-freed; tataḥ-then; sarve-all; nyavartanta-returned; tri-divāya-to the heavenly planets; diva-okasaḥ-the demigods (who inhabit the higher planets).
Śrī Maitreya said: The demigods, the inhabitants of the higher planets, were freed from all fear upon hearing the cause of the darkness explained by Brahmā, who was born from Viṣṇu. Thus they all returned to their respective planets.
The demigods, who are denizens of higher planets, are also very much afraid of incidents such as the universe's becoming dark, and so they consulted Brahmā. This indicates that the quality of fear exists for every living entity in the material world. The four principal activities of material existence are eating, sleeping, fearing and mating. The fear