Chapter 1 · Prathamo’dhyāyaḥ (First Chapter)
Verse 83
तस्य सर्वस्य या शक्तिः सा त्वं किं स्तूयसे तदा। यया त्वया जगत्स्रष्टा जगत्पात्यत्ति यो जगत् ॥ ८३ ॥
tasya sarvasya yā śaktiḥ sā tvaṁ kiṁ stūyasē tadā | yayā tvayā jagatsraṣṭā jagatpātyatti yō jagat || 83 ||
Translation
'...you are the very power (Śakti) of all that. Since you are that (power), how can you be praised (adequately)? For by you alone the creator of the world creates, the protector protects, and he who consumes, consumes the world.'
Word by word
- tasya
- of that
- sarvasya
- of everything
- yā
- which
- śaktiḥ
- power, energy
- sā
- that
- tvaṁ
- you
- kiṁ
- why? how?
- stūyasē
- are you being praised
- tadā
- then
- yayā
- by which
- tvayā
- by you
- jagatsraṣṭā
- the creator of the world (Brahmā)
- jagatpāti
- the protector of the world (Vishnu)
- atti
- devours, consumes
- yaḥ
- who
- jagat
- the world
Meaning
Brahmā concludes with a profound, self-effacing question. He realizes the futility of trying to praise the Unpraisable. If she is the very Śakti (energy) behind every action—the power with which Brahmā creates, Vishnu preserves, and Śiva destroys—then how can any being, who is merely a manifestation of that power, ever adequately praise the source itself? This rhetorical question expresses the ultimate reverence and awe for the ineffable nature of the Divine Mother.