महाप्रलयसंपत्तौ न किञ्चिदवशिष्यते । ब्रह्माऽऽस्ते शान्तमजरमनन्तात्मैव केवलम् ॥ ३६ ॥
mahāpralayasaṁpattau na kiñcidavaśiṣyatē | brahmā’’stē śāntamajaramanantātmaiva kēvalam || 36 ||
Translation
When the great dissolution comes, nothing whatever remains; Brahman alone is, peaceful, unaging, the infinite Self alone,
Word by word
- mahā
- the great
- pralaya
- dissolution
- saṁpattau
- when comes
- na
- not
- kiñcid
- (kiñcit) whatever
- avaśiṣyatē
- remains
- brahma
- Brahman
- āstē
- is
- śāntam
- peaceful
- ajaram
- unaging
- ananta
- the infinite
- ātmā
- Self
- ēva
- indeed
- kēvalam
- alone
Meaning
Yama now tells the beginning of a world from the ground up, in a verse and a half. The commentary: because knowing alone, which is light, remains at the beginning and at the end, that is its natural and true form. At the great dissolution every world, every body and every mind is taken back. What remains is not nothing: it is Brahman, peaceful because nothing moves in it, unaging because time does not touch it, infinite because nothing is outside it. This is what the brahmin is.