Shloka 27
वेदव्यास-परम्परा तथा प्रणव-ब्रह्म-स्तुति
प्रधानम् आत्मयोनिश् च गुहासत्त्वं च शब्द्यते अविभागं तथा शुक्रम् अक्षरं बहुधात्मकम्
pradhānam ātmayoniś ca guhāsattvaṃ ca śabdyate avibhāgaṃ tathā śukram akṣaraṃ bahudhātmakam
Dieses unmanifestierte Urprinzip wird mit vielen Namen bezeichnet—Pradhāna, die aus sich selbst geborene Quelle und die innere Wirklichkeit, verborgen in der Höhle des Herzens. Es ist ungeteilt; es ist der reine, leuchtende Same; es ist unvergängliches Akṣara—und doch der Grund mannigfacher Gestalten.
Sage Parāśara (teaching Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Multiple designations of the unmanifest principle (pradhāna etc.) and its paradoxical unity-with-manifold manifestation
Teaching: Philosophical
Quality: revealing
Creation Stage: Primary
Concept: The unmanifest is described through multiple terms (pradhāna, ātmayoni, guhāsattva), undivided and imperishable, yet serving as the luminous ground for diverse forms.
Vedantic Theme: Atman
Application: Hold a unified vision behind life’s multiplicity—practice inward contemplation (guhā of the heart) while engaging the world without fragmentation.
Vishishtadvaita: Unity without erasing plurality: the imperishable ground supports real manifold forms, aligning with the world-and-souls as modes (prakāra) of the Supreme.
Vishnu Form: Para-Brahman
Bhakti Type: Shanta
Antaryamin: Yes
Jagat Karana: Yes
FAQs
Here Pradhāna is presented as the unmanifest, undivided, imperishable ground that underlies the emergence of diverse forms in creation.
He explains it through multiple epithets—self-born source, inner essence in the ‘cave’ of the heart, pure luminous seed—showing one reality described from different angles.
Within the Vishnu Purana’s framework, such descriptions of the imperishable, all-pervading ground of multiplicity ultimately support the text’s vision of a single supreme reality, identified with Vishnu as the sovereign basis of cosmic order.