देशकालादिशान्तत्वात् पुत्रिकारचनं द्रुमे । संभवत्ययथाऽतो वै तेनाऽनन्ते विमुह्यते ॥ ११ ॥
dēśakālādiśāntatvāt putrikāracanaṁ drumē | saṁbhavatyayathā’tō vai tēnā’nantē vimuhyatē || 11 ||
Translation
Because place, time and the rest are stilled in it, the making of a figure, as in a tree, is not possible there in the same way; that is why people are bewildered about the Infinite.
Word by word
- dēśa
- place
- kāla
- time
- ādi
- and the rest
- śāntatvāt
- because (they) are stilled
- putrikā
- of a figure
- racanaṁ
- the making
- drumē
- in a tree
- saṁbhavati
- is possible
- ayathā
- not in the same way
- atō
- (ataḥ) hence
- vai
- indeed
- tēna
- that is why
- anantē
- about the Infinite
- vimuhyatē
- people are bewildered
Meaning
If the pillar is so apt an image, why does no one doubt that the figure is in the pillar, while disputants doubt that the world is in Brahman? The commentary answers: in a pillar cut from a tree a figure can be made, because everything the craftsman needs is there: a place where he works, a time, tools such as the chisel. So the being of the figure in the pillar can be imagined. But Brahman is infinite, unlimited by place, by time and by measure; none of those means is present in it. So when the world is said to exist in it at dissolution, the mind, which can picture only what is made in place and time, finds nothing to hold and grows confused. The confusion is not a flaw in the teaching but in the habit of picturing.