Shloka 13
कर्मविद्या-भेदः
Karma–Vidyā Distinction: Paths of Bondage and Release
आकाश स्य गुणं शब्दमभिव्यक्तात्मकं मन: । मनसो व्यक्तमव्यक्तं ब्राह्मुः सम्प्रतिसंचर:
ākāśasya guṇaṃ śabdam abhivyaktātmakaṃ manaḥ | manaso vyaktam avyaktam brāhmaḥ sampratisaṃcaraḥ || tatpaścāt dṛśya-prapañcako vyakta-karaṇevālā mana ākāśa-ke guṇa śabda-ko, jo man-se hī prakaṭ huā thā, apne-meṃ līna kara letā hai | is tarah vyakta mana aur avyakta (mahattattva) kā brahmā-ke mana-meṃ laya honā brāhma pralaya kahalātā hai ||
Vyāsa sprach: Der Geist, dessen Aufgabe es ist, die Dinge offenbar zu machen, zieht den Klang—die Eigenschaft des Raumes—der durch eben diesen Geist hervorgetreten war, wieder in sich zurück. So heißt jenes Zurückweichen „brahmische Auflösung“ (brāhma pralaya), wenn der offenbar gewordene Geist und das Unoffenbare (das Mahat-Prinzip) im Geist Brahmās vergehen.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches involution: the manifest world is withdrawn in reverse order into subtler causes. Sound (as ākāśa’s quality) is reabsorbed into mind, and then both the manifest mind and the unmanifest principle (Mahat) dissolve into Brahmā’s mind—this is termed brāhma pralaya.
Vyāsa is explaining a cosmological account of dissolution (pralaya). He describes how the perceivable manifold is ‘taken back’ step by step: the mind that projects experience retracts sound into itself, and ultimately the levels of mind (manifest and unmanifest) merge into Brahmā’s mind.