पूर्णात्पूर्णं प्रसरति यत्तत्पूर्णं निराकृति । ब्रह्मणो विश्वमाभातं तद्धि स्वार्थं विचक्षितम् ॥ २८ ॥
pūrṇātpūrṇaṁ prasarati yattatpūrṇaṁ nirākṛti | brahmaṇō viśvamābhātaṁ taddhi svārthaṁ vicakṣitam || 28 ||
Translation
The full that flows forth from the full is full, and formless. The universe that has shone out of Brahman was shown for the sake of its own end.
Word by word
- pūrṇāt
- from the full
- pūrṇaṁ
- the full
- prasarati
- flows forth
- yat
- that which
- tat
- that
- nirākṛti
- formless
- brahmaṇō
- (brahmaṇaḥ) out of Brahman
- viśvam
- the universe
- ābhātaṁ
- that has shone
- tad
- (tat) that
- hi
- indeed
- sva
- its own
- arthaṁ
- for the end
- vicakṣitam
- was shown
Meaning
Having shown that the world, an adjunct (upādhi), is not apart from its cause, the commentary says, Vasiṣṭha now shows that the jīva, conditioned by the world, is not apart from it either. The words recall the Upaniṣadic peace-verse: "That is full, this is full; from the full the full comes forth." The commentary: what arises from the full Brahman as a jīva, through a difference made by adjuncts, is in truth full; and the full is formless, for what has form cannot be full. Then why does the full appear as a jīva at all? Because what shines as the universe was shown for its own end (svārtha): the regaining of its own nature. By coming in due course to the body of one fit for knowledge and realising its own truth, it recovers the nature that ignorance had hidden; for that it appears as a jīva. The reader's own seeking, then, is not a stray event in the world: it is the very purpose for which the world was shown.