सुषुप्तं स्वप्नवद् भाति भाति ब्रह्मैव सर्गवत् । सर्वात्मकं च तत्स्थानं तत्र तावत्क्रमं शृणु ॥ २ ॥
suṣuptaṁ svapnavad bhāti bhāti brahmaiva sargavat | sarvātmakaṁ ca tatsthānaṁ tatra tāvatkramaṁ śṛṇu || 2 ||
Translation
As one in deep sleep shines as if dreaming, so Brahman itself shines as if it were creation. That state is also the self of all; hear first the order of things there.
Word by word
- suṣuptaṁ
- one in deep sleep
- svapna
- dreaming
- vad
- (vat) as if
- bhāti
- shines
- brahma
- Brahman
- ēva
- itself
- sarga
- creation
- vat
- as if
- sarvātmakaṁ
- the self of all
- ca
- also
- tat
- that
- sthānaṁ
- state
- tatra
- there
- tāvat
- first
- kramaṁ
- the order
- śṛṇu
- hear
Meaning
The commentary: as the self in deep sleep appears like a dream, so Brahman itself appears like creation; this comparison is from the standpoint of the seer. It then meets Rāma's earlier objection (3.11.21): a dream is the product of one person's tendencies, so its appearance is not firm; the world is born of the tendencies of all beings, so its appearance is firm. Another commentary says the same: one person's dream is not firm, the waking world of all beings is. And the ground of all, the state into which everything sleeps at the dissolution, both in the individual and in the whole, is Brahman: "the self of all". Hear in order, Vasiṣṭha says, how the world comes from it.