Shloka 7
Yoga-Sleep, Cosmic Dissolution, and the Lotus of Creation
with Mārkaṇḍeya’s Vision
नष्टानलानिलाकाशे नष्टधर्मे महीतले । केवले गह्वरीभूते महाभूतविपर्यये
naṣṭānalānilākāśe naṣṭadharme mahītale | kevale gahvarībhūte mahābhūtaviparyaye
Als Feuer, Wind und Raum verschwunden waren; als die Erde ihre tragende Dharma-Ordnung verloren hatte; als alles zu einer hohlen, höhlenartigen Leere geworden war—als die großen Elemente umgestürzt und aufgelöst wurden—
Unspecified in the provided excerpt (context needed from surrounding verses of Adhyaya 39).
Primary Rasa: adbhuta
Secondary Rasa: bhayanaka
Type: celestial_realm
Sandhi Resolution Notes: नष्टानलानिलाकाशे → नष्ट-अनल-अनिल-आकाशे; नष्टधर्मे → नष्ट-धर्मे; गह्वरीभूते → गह्वरी-भूते; महाभूतविपर्यये → महाभूत-विपर्यये.
FAQs
It depicts pralaya (cosmic dissolution), where the elemental supports of the world—fire, wind, and space—are said to vanish and the earth’s sustaining order (dharma) collapses, leaving a void-like condition.
It indicates an inversion or breakdown of the normal functioning and balance of the great elements (mahābhūtas), a standard purāṇic way of describing the world’s return toward an undifferentiated state during dissolution.
Both: “naṣṭa-dharma” signals the collapse of sustaining order, while the disappearance and reversal of elements expresses the cosmological side of pralaya; together they portray the unraveling of the world’s structure.