इति संचिन्त्य भगवान् ब्रह्मा कमलसंस्थितः । मनसा परिसंकल्प्य मामुत्पादितवानिमम् ॥ २४ ॥
iti saṁcintya bhagavān brahmā kamalasaṁsthitaḥ | manasā parisaṁkalpya māmutpāditavānimam || 24 ||
Translation
Thinking this, Blessed Brahmā, seated on the lotus, conceived with his mind and brought forth me, whom you see here.
Word by word
- iti
- thus
- saṁcintya
- thinking
- bhagavān
- the Blessed One
- brahmā
- Brahmā
- kamala
- on the lotus
- saṁsthitaḥ
- seated
- manasā
- with his mind
- parisaṁkalpya
- conceiving
- mām
- me
- utpāditavān
- brought forth
- imam
- this one here
Meaning
Here the speaker walks into his own story. Vasiṣṭha is a mānasa-putra, a son of the mind, conceived by a thought and not by a body. The word is parisaṅkalpya, having fully resolved or imagined, the same act of mind by which, a few verses back, the whole world was made. Mām imam, me, this one here: we can almost see the old sage touch his chest before the young prince. He is telling Rāma that the person speaking to him was thought into being for one purpose, as a remedy for the sorrow Brahmā had seen. A teacher is the form compassion took.