श्रीराम उवाच । या भूता या भविष्यन्त्यो जगत्सर्गपरम्पराः । तासां विचारणा युक्ता वर्त्तमानास्तु का इव ॥ ७ ॥
śrīrāma uvāca | yā bhūtā yā bhaviṣyantyō jagatsargaparamparāḥ | tāsāṁ vicāraṇā yuktā varttamānāstu kā iva || 7 ||
Translation
Śrī Rāma said: It is right to consider the successions of creation that have been and that will be; but what are the present ones like?
Word by word
- śrīrāma
- Śrī Rāma
- uvāca
- said
- yā
- which
- bhūtā
- have been
- bhaviṣyantyō
- (bhaviṣyantyaḥ) will be
- jagat
- of the world
- sarga
- of creation
- paramparāḥ
- the successions
- tāsāṁ
- of them
- vicāraṇā
- to consider
- yuktā
- it is right
- varttamānās
- (vartamānāḥ) the present ones
- tu
- but
- kā
- what
- iva
- are like
Meaning
Rāma has understood the hidden point, and the commentary praises him for it. Past and future creations are beyond count; it makes sense to reason about them. But what of the present (vartamāna)? It has edges, the present moment between before and after, and so seems smaller. The commentary: though present creations are countless in detail, they are bounded in time by past and future and so seem fewer; Rāma shows that he grasps that the material of all these comings is the one Self, endless and not itself coming. His question invites Vasiṣṭha to say how the present world, the one Rāma lives in, is made.