Shloka 9
Secondary Creation Begins: Brahmā’s Productions, the Guṇas, and the Emergence of Orders of Beings
विदुर उवाच प्रजापतिपति: सृष्ट्वा प्रजासर्गे प्रजापतीन् । किमारभत मे ब्रह्मन् प्रब्रूह्यव्यक्तमार्गवित् ॥ ९ ॥
vidura uvāca prajāpati-patiḥ sṛṣṭvā prajā-sarge prajāpatīn kim ārabhata me brahman prabrūhy avyakta-mārga-vit
Vidura said: O holy sage, you know the path of the unmanifest, beyond our grasp. After creating the Prajāpatis for the generation of beings, what did Brahmā undertake next? Please tell me.
Significant here is the word avyakta-mārga-vit, “one who knows that which is beyond our perception.” To know matters beyond one’s perception, one has to learn from a superior authority in the line of disciplic succession. Just to know who is our father is beyond our perception. For that, the mother is the authority. Similarly, we have to understand everything beyond our perception from the authority who actually knows. The first avyakta-mārga-vit, or authority, is Brahmā, and the next authority in disciplic succession is Nārada. Maitreya Ṛṣi belongs to that disciplic succession, so he also is avyakta-mārga-vit. Anyone in the bona fide line of disciplic succession is avyakta-mārga-vit, a personality who knows that which is beyond ordinary perception.
FAQs
This verse states that Brahmā, the master of the Prajāpatis, created the Prajāpatis specifically to expand progeny, and Vidura asks what Brahmā did next in the unfolding creation.
Vidura is tracing the step-by-step sequence of cosmic creation; he approaches Maitreya as a realized sage who understands subtle truths, including the ‘Unmanifest,’ and can explain what followed after the Prajāpatis were manifested.
It trains one to see that visible outcomes arise from subtle causes; this supports humility, deeper inquiry into consciousness, and steadiness in devotion beyond external appearances.