देव्यौ विविशतुस्तत्ते व्योम व्योमात्मिके जगत् । ब्रह्माण्डेऽन्तर्यथा पक्वं मृदु बिल्वं पिपीलिके ॥ ८ ॥
dēvyau viviśatustattē vyōma vyōmātmikē jagat | brahmāṇḍē’ntaryathā pakvaṁ mṛdu bilvaṁ pipīlikē || 8 ||
Translation
The two goddesses entered that world, space within space, a world made of space: as two ants enter a soft, ripe bilva fruit, they went within the world-egg.
Word by word
- dēvyau
- the two goddesses
- viviśatus
- (viviśatuḥ) entered
- tat
- that
- tē
- the two
- vyōma
- space
- vyōmātmikē
- made of space
- jagat
- world
- brahmāṇḍē
- the world-egg
- antar
- (antaḥ) within
- yathā
- as
- pakvaṁ
- ripe
- mṛdu
- soft
- bilvaṁ
- a bilva fruit
- pipīlikē
- two ants
Meaning
Two images at once. "Space within space": a world of thought is made of nothing but awareness's space, and they enter it as space enters space, without resistance. And the ants and the ripe bilva (wood-apple): from outside the fruit has a hard shell, but ants find their way into it when it is ripe and soft, and live inside. The world-egg which looked closed lets them in. Līlā is here called a goddess too: in her body of thought she moves as freely as Sarasvatī.