Shloka 8
Atithi’s Direction to the Nāga-sage Padma at Naimiṣa (अतिथ्युपदेशः—नैमिषे पद्मनागोपाख्यानप्रस्तावः)
नासीदहो न रात्रिरासीन्न सदासीन्नासदासीत् तम एव पुरस्तादभवद् विश्वरूपम् । सा विश्वरूपस्य रजनी हि एवमस्यार्थोडनुभाष्य:
nāsīd aho na rātrir āsīn na sad āsīn nāsad āsīt, tama eva purastād abhavad viśvarūpam | sā viśvarūpasya rajanī hi evam asyārtho 'nubhāṣyaḥ |
প্ৰলয়কালত ন দিন আছিল, ন ৰাতি; ‘সৎ’ বুলিও ক’ব নোৱাৰি, ‘অসৎ’ বুলিও নোৱাৰি। কেৱল তমসেই আগত আছিল; তাৰ পৰাই এক তত্ত্ব সৰ্বৰূপ হৈ প্ৰকাশ পালে। সেই অৱস্থাই বিশ্বৰূপ (বিশ্বাত্মা)-ৰ ‘ৰাত্ৰি’ বুলি কোৱা হয়। এইদৰে এই শ্রুতিবাক্যৰ অৰ্থ ক’ব আৰু বুজিব লাগে।
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames pralaya as a state beyond ordinary opposites (day/night, being/non-being). It teaches that before manifestation, only an undifferentiated ‘darkness’ is spoken of, and from that the One becomes the universal form; therefore śruti statements about origins must be understood as pointing to a reality beyond conceptual binaries.
Arjuna is presented as speaking and articulating an interpretive gloss on a śruti-like cosmological statement: describing the dissolution state and explaining that this condition is metaphorically the ‘night’ of the cosmic form, urging that the passage’s meaning be properly expounded and grasped.