चिद्व्योमकेवलमनन्तमनादिमध्यं ब्रह्मेति भाति निजचित्तवशात् स्वयंभूः । आकारवानिव पुमानिव वस्तुतस्तु वन्ध्यातनूज इव तस्य तु नाऽस्ति देहः ॥ ५६ ॥
cidvyōmakēvalamanantamanādimadhyaṁ brahmēti bhāti nijacittavaśāt svayaṁbhūḥ | ākāravāniva pumāniva vastutastu vandhyātanūja iva tasya tu nā’sti dēhaḥ || 56 ||
Translation
The space of awareness alone, endless, without beginning or middle, shines as Brahmā, the self-born, by the power of its own mind; as if with a form, as if a person, but in truth he has no body, like the son of a barren woman.
Word by word
- cid
- (cit) of awareness
- vyōma
- the space
- kēvalam
- alone
- anantam
- endless
- anādi
- without beginning
- madhyaṁ
- or middle
- brahmā
- as Brahmā
- iti
- as
- bhāti
- shines
- nija
- its own
- citta
- of mind
- vaśāt
- by the power
- svayaṁbhūḥ
- the self-born
- ākāravān
- with a form
- iva
- as if; like
- pumān
- a person
- vastutas
- (vastutaḥ) in truth
- tu
- but
- vandhyā
- of a barren woman
- tanūja
- the son
- tasya
- he
- na
- no
- asti
- has
- dēhaḥ
- body
Meaning
The sarga ends in vasantatilakā. The verse gathers it all: what is there is awareness without limit; by its own mind it appears as the creator, seeming to have a shape and to be someone; and he has no more a body than the son of a barren woman, the image Death met in his search (v. 15). The commentary: the space of awareness, without beginning, end or middle, by the power of its mind's imagining appears as Brahmā, the self-born, the person; in truth Brahmā has no body. If the creator of the world has no body, the reader may ask what the world he imagines is made of; the next sarga begins there.