Shloka 38
वासुदेवस्वरूपनिरूपणं—सर्गक्रमश्च
Vāsudeva’s Nature and the Ordered Process of Creation
शब्दमात्रं तथाकाशं भूतादिः स समावृणोत् आकाशस् तु विकुर्वाणः स्पर्शमात्रं ससर्ज ह
śabdamātraṃ tathākāśaṃ bhūtādiḥ sa samāvṛṇot ākāśas tu vikurvāṇaḥ sparśamātraṃ sasarja ha
Darauf umhüllte Bhūtādi ākāśa samt seiner feinen Essenz — dem bloßen Klang. Und ākāśa, weiter verwandelt, brachte die Tanmātra der Berührung hervor.
Sage Parāśara (teaching Maitreya)
FAQs
Bhūtādi is the tamasic aspect of ahaṃkāra that “covers” and conditions the elements, functioning as the proximate cause through which subtle qualities and gross elements unfold in sequence.
He describes a stepwise evolution: ākāśa is characterized by śabda (sound), and when ākāśa transforms further, it gives rise to sparśa (touch), preparing the next element in the chain.
Even when the verse names proximate principles like Bhūtādi and ākāśa, the Vishnu Purana frames the entire orderly emergence of tattvas as operating under Vishnu’s supreme governance as the ground of reality.