श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच । पृथिव्यप्तेजसां तत्र नभस्वन्नभसोरपि । यथोत्तरं दशगुणानतीत्याऽऽवरणान् क्षणात् ॥ १ ॥
śrīvasiṣṭha uvāca | pṛthivyaptējasāṁ tatra nabhasvannabhasōrapi | yathōttaraṁ daśaguṇānatītyā’’varaṇān kṣaṇāt || 1 ||
Translation
Vasiṣṭha said: There, passing in a moment the coverings of earth, water, fire, wind and space, each ten times the one before,
Word by word
- pṛthivya
- (pṛthivī) of earth
- ap
- water
- tējasāṁ
- and fire
- tatra
- there
- nabhasvan
- (nabhasvat) of wind
- nabhasōr
- (nabhasoḥ) and of space
- api
- also
- yathōttaraṁ
- each after the one before
- daśa
- ten
- guṇān
- times
- atītya
- passing
- āvaraṇān
- the coverings
- kṣaṇāt
- in a moment
Meaning
The last sarga ended with the coverings of the world-egg, each ten times wider than the one inside it, and the supreme space beyond them. Līlā passes them "in a moment": what took verses to describe takes no time to cross for one who no longer takes them as solid.