श्रीदेव्युवाच पितामहस्मृतिस्तत्र कारणं तस्य न स्मृतिः । पूर्वं न सम्भवत्येव मुक्तत्वात् पद्मजन्मनः ॥ १७ ॥
śrīdēvyuvāca pitāmahasmṛtistatra kāraṇaṁ tasya na smṛtiḥ | pūrvaṁ na sambhavatyēva muktatvāt padmajanmanaḥ || 17 ||
- Another reading: पूर्वजन्मनः (pūrvajanmanaḥ) for पद्मजन्मनः
Translation
The goddess said: There the memory of the Grandfather is the cause; for him there is no memory. An earlier one is just not possible, for the lotus-born was released.
Word by word
- pitāmaha
- of the Grandfather
- smṛtis
- (smṛtiḥ) the memory
- tatra
- there
- kāraṇaṁ
- the cause
- tasya
- for him
- na
- no
- smṛtiḥ
- memory
- pūrvaṁ
- an earlier one
- sambhavatya
- (sambhavati) is possible
- ēva
- just
- muktatvāt
- for was released
- padmajanmanaḥ
- the lotus-born
Meaning
Another commentary: in the brahmin couple's becoming king and queen, the impressions of Brahmā, the creator, are the cause, not the brahmin's own; and in Brahmā's creation not even an earlier impression of Brahmā is the cause, since at the end of the former kalpa Brahmā is released. So the chain of memory, followed back, ends in a creator who remembers nothing: there is no first experience that all later memory copies.