Shloka 9
अस्य नाभ्यां पुष्करं सम्प्रसूत॑ यत्रोत्पन्न: स्वयमेवामितौजा: । तेनाच्छिन्नं तत् तमः पार्थ घोरं यत् तत् तिष्ठत्यर्णवं तर्जयानम्
asya nābhyāṁ puṣkaraṁ samprasūtaṁ yatrotpannaḥ svayamevāmitaujāḥ | tenācchinnaṁ tat tamaḥ pārtha ghoraṁ yat tat tiṣṭhaty arṇavaṁ tarjayānam ||
Bhīṣma said: From His navel a lotus was brought forth, and within it the self-born Brahmā appeared, possessed of immeasurable splendor. By him that dreadful darkness was cut away—the darkness that had spread everywhere, as though it were even threatening the ocean itself—vast, unfathomable, and boundless.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a moral-cosmic principle: when true knowledge and creative intelligence (Brahmā’s radiance) arises, it dispels the terrifying darkness of disorder. Dharma is aligned with illumination—clarity, discernment, and constructive action that restores order.
Bhīṣma describes an early creation scene: a lotus emerges from the deity’s navel, and within it Brahmā manifests spontaneously. Brahmā then destroys the pervasive primordial darkness that seemed to engulf even the ocean, establishing the conditions for ordered creation.