समनन्तरमेवाऽस्याः खसत्तोदेति शून्यता । शब्दादिगुणबीजं सा भविष्यदभिधाऽर्थदा ॥ ९ ॥
samanantaramēvā’syāḥ khasattōdēti śūnyatā | śabdādiguṇabījaṁ sā bhaviṣyadabhidhā’rthadā || 9 ||
Translation
Immediately after it there arises the being of space, voidness, the seed of sound and the other qualities; it gives meaning to the name to come.
Word by word
- samanantaram
- immediately after
- ēva
- just
- asyāḥ
- it
- kha
- of space
- sattā
- the being
- udēti
- arises
- śūnyatā
- voidness
- śabda
- of sound
- ādi
- and the other
- guṇa
- qualities
- bījaṁ
- the seed
- sā
- it
- bhaviṣyad
- (bhaviṣyat) to come
- abhidhā
- to the name
- arthadā
- gives meaning
Meaning
The commentary: now the great sage, wishing to tell the creation of the great elements, first tells that of space. Right after the state of the jīva arises, the being of space appears, almost empty, since it gives room to the other elements; it gives meaning to the names that will later be spoken of space, such as ākāśa, "what shines all around" (from ā-kāś, to shine), and it is the cause of sound and the other qualities. Another commentary: empty because it gives room to all elements apart from itself. Space is the first element because it asks least: room, nothing more.