वेदवेदार्थविद्देवमुनिमण्डलमण्डितः । सोऽसृजत्सकलं सर्गं विकल्पौघं यथा मनः ॥ १४ ॥
vēdavēdārthaviddēvamunimaṇḍalamaṇḍitaḥ | sō’sṛjatsakalaṁ sargaṁ vikalpaughaṁ yathā manaḥ || 14 ||
Translation
Adorned with a circle of gods and sages who knew the Vedas and their meaning, he brought forth the whole of creation, as the mind brings forth its flood of imaginings.
Word by word
- vēda
- the Vedas
- vēdārtha
- and their meaning
- vid
- who knew
- dēva
- of gods
- muni
- and sages
- maṇḍala
- with a circle
- maṇḍitaḥ
- adorned
- sō
- (saḥ) he
- asṛjat
- brought forth
- sakalaṁ
- the whole
- sargaṁ
- creation
- vikalpa
- of imaginings
- ōghaṁ
- flood
- yathā
- as
- manaḥ
- the mind
Meaning
Yathā manaḥ, as the mind does. This little comparison is the seed of everything the next prakaraṇas will teach. Vikalpa is the mind's constant production of this and that, thoughts branching from thoughts. The world, Vasiṣṭha says, is produced that way. Brahmā does not build it from materials. He imagines it, as we imagine, except that his imagining is what we call the universe. You can watch a small version of this at any idle moment: a thought arises, gives rise to another, and soon there is a whole situation, with people in it, and feelings about them, none of which was there a minute ago.