श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच । परमे ब्रह्मणि स्फारेऽसमे राम समे स्थिते । अनुत्पन्ननभस्तेजस्तमःसत्ताचिदात्मनि ॥ १ ॥
śrīvasiṣṭha uvāca | paramē brahmaṇi sphārē’samē rāma samē sthitē | anutpannanabhastējastamaḥsattācidātmani || 1 ||
Translation
Vasiṣṭha said: When the supreme Brahman stands vast, both uneven and even, O Rāma, in the Self of awareness, the being in which space, light and darkness have not arisen,
Word by word
- paramē
- supreme
- brahmaṇi
- when Brahman
- sphārē
- vast
- asamē
- uneven
- rāma
- O Rāma
- samē
- even
- sthitē
- stands
- anutpanna
- not arisen
- nabhas
- (nabhaḥ) space
- tējas
- (tejaḥ) light
- tamaḥ
- darkness
- sattā
- the being
- cid
- (cit) of awareness
- ātmani
- in the Self
Meaning
The commentary introduces the sarga: as in deep sleep the adjuncts that make a jīva (the inner faculty and the rest) dissolve and enter Brahman mixed with māyā, so at the dissolution; and Vasiṣṭha now tells, with reasons, in what order those adjuncts appear again. Brahman is called "even", sama, because it is free of the unevenness that comes from change, one taste throughout; and "uneven", asama, because it is mixed with māyā. It is the ground in which space, light and darkness have not yet arisen, though their causal being is there, not other than Brahman. The last sarga built the world from the elements upwards; this one takes the same path more slowly, showing how the one awareness comes to be a single living being with a body.