Shloka 8
Śuka’s Manifestation from the Araṇi (Āraṇeya-janma) — शुकजन्म (आरणेय-सम्भव)
चतुरश्नापरान् पुत्रान् देहात् पूर्व महानृषि: । ते वै पितृणां पितर: श्रूयन्ते राजसत्तम
caturaś cāparān putrān dehāt pūrvaṁ mahān ṛṣiḥ | te vai pitṝṇāṁ pitaraḥ śrūyante rājasattama ||
قال ياجنافالكيا: «إن ذلك الحكيم العظيم، حتى قبل نشوء الجسد المادي، أخرج أربعة أبناء آخرين. يا خير الملوك، يُروى أن أولئك الأربعة هم “آباءُ البِتْرِ (Pitṛ)”—أي الأسلافُ الأوائل القائمون وراء السلسلة اللاحقة لتوالد الكون».
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames creation as proceeding from subtle, pre-physical origins: before embodied forms arise, primordial progenitors are produced, and these stand behind later ancestral and elemental lineages. It emphasizes a hierarchical causality—subtle principles precede and generate the gross.
Yājñavalkya addresses a king and recounts a traditional account of early creation: a great seer produced four ‘sons’ prior to physical embodiment, and these are described as the progenitors even of the Pitṛs, indicating an origin prior to later cosmic generations.