श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच । एतस्मात्परमाच्छान्तात्पदात्परमपावनात् । यथेदमुत्थितं विश्वं तच्छृणूत्तमया धिया ॥ १ ॥
śrīvasiṣṭha uvāca | ētasmātparamācchāntātpadātparamapāvanāt | yathēdamutthitaṁ viśvaṁ tacchṛṇūttamayā dhiyā || 1 ||
Translation
Vasiṣṭha said: How this universe arose from that supreme, peaceful, supremely purifying state, hear it with your highest understanding.
Word by word
- ētasmāt
- from that
- paramāc
- (paramāt) supreme
- chāntāt
- (śāntāt) peaceful
- padāt
- from the state
- parama
- supremely
- pāvanāt
- purifying
- yathā
- how
- idam
- this
- utthitaṁ
- arose
- viśvaṁ
- universe
- tac
- (tat) that
- śṛṇu
- hear
- uttamayā
- with the highest
- dhiyā
- understanding
Meaning
Vasiṣṭha now keeps the promise of the last sarga: "how the world arose here, I shall tell you" (3.11.32). The commentary introduces the sarga: to show at the end that the whole creation utterly never was, by taking it back (apavāda), a creation suited to that taking back is first described at length, as a superimposition (adhyāropa). This is the old method of the Upaniṣads: one lays a world on Brahman in words, step by step, so that the same steps can be walked back until nothing but Brahman is left. Rāma is asked to listen with his highest understanding, the commentary says, with a mind free of agitation and gathered to a point.