अनुत्कीर्णा यथा स्तम्भे संस्थिता शालभञ्जिका । तथा विश्वं स्थितं तत्र तेन शून्यं न तत्पदम् ॥ ७ ॥
anutkīrṇā yathā stambhē saṁsthitā śālabhañjikā | tathā viśvaṁ sthitaṁ tatra tēna śūnyaṁ na tatpadam || 7 ||
Translation
As an uncarved figure stands in a pillar, so the universe stands in That; therefore that state is not void.
Word by word
- anutkīrṇā
- uncarved
- yathā
- as
- stambhē
- in a pillar
- saṁsthitā
- stands
- śālabhañjikā
- a carved figure
- tathā
- so
- viśvaṁ
- the universe
- sthitaṁ
- stands
- tatra
- in That
- tēna
- therefore
- śūnyaṁ
- void
- na
- not
- tat
- that
- padam
- state
Meaning
The first image. A śālabhañjikā is the carved figure, often of a woman under a tree, that adorns temple pillars. Before the sculptor has cut it, the figure is "in" the pillar: not as a separate thing hidden inside, but as the pillar itself, which can show that form. The commentary: the uncarved figure has no being apart from the pillar's being, so its standing there is never destroyed; it stands by the pillar's being alone. Another commentary adds that what is not somewhere cannot be drawn out of it by any means, as oil cannot be pressed out of sand; the figure can come from the pillar because it is in the pillar before the carving, and the world comes from Brahman because it is in Brahman before creation. So at dissolution Brahman is not void: it is full, as the uncut pillar is full of every figure that could be cut from it.