मूलप्रकृतेः रूपकल्पनायां युक्तिःWhy a form is imagined for Mūlaprakṛti
Verse 2
देव्युवाच । महद्योनेरादिशक्तेर्महाकाल्या महाद्युतेः । सूक्ष्मातिसूक्ष्मभूतायाः कथं रूपनिरूपणम् ॥ २ ॥
dēvyuvāca | mahadyōnērādiśaktērmahākālyā mahādyutēḥ | sūkṣmātisūkṣmabhūtāyāḥ kathaṁ rūpanirūpaṇam || 2 ||
Translation
The Devī said: How can a form be described for Mahākālī, the womb of the great principle, the first power, of great splendour, who is subtler than the subtlest?
Word by word
- mahad
- (mahat) of the great principle
- yōnēḥ
- (yoneḥ) the womb
- ādi
- the first
- śaktēḥ
- (śakteḥ) power
- mahākālyāḥ
- (mahākālyāḥ) of Mahākālī
- mahā
- great
- dyutēḥ
- (dyuteḥ) of splendour
- sūkṣma
- than the subtle
- atisūkṣma
- (atisūkṣma) more subtle
- bhūtāyāḥ
- (bhūtāyāḥ) who is
- kathaṁ
- how
- rūpa
- of a form
- nirūpaṇam
- the describing
Meaning
The question is philosophical. Kālī is "mahadyoni", the source from which mahat, the first evolute of nature, arises; she is the primal power and finer than the finest element. How then can she have a shape with face, colour and limbs, as the meditations of the earlier chapters describe?
Commentary
Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated
What did Pārvatī say to Maheśa? To that he says "mahadyoneḥ" and the rest. Mahadyoneḥ: of her who is the place from which the principle mahat (the great principle, the first product of nature) arises.