Shloka 4
शुकस्य मिथिलागमनम् (Śukasya Mithilāgamanam) — Śuka’s Journey to Mithilā and the Courtly Test
ततः शतसहमसारांशुरव्यक्तेनाभिचोदित: । कृत्वा द्वादशधा55त्मानमादित्यो ज्वलदग्निवत्
tataḥ śatasahasrāṃśur avyaktenābhicoditaḥ | kṛtvā dvādaśadhātmānam ādityo jvalad-agnivat ||
Then the Sun—whose rays are in the hundreds of thousands—impelled by the Unmanifest, assumes his blazing solar form. Manifesting himself in twelve aspects, Āditya flares up like fire.
याज़्वल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents cosmic functioning as purposeful and law-governed: the Sun’s immense energy is not random but is ‘impelled by the Unmanifest’ and expressed in an ordered twelvefold manifestation, pointing to an underlying metaphysical principle that sustains dharma and the rhythm of time.
Yājñavalkya describes the Sun being stirred by the Unmanifest principle and then blazing forth, taking on a fierce solar form and manifesting in twelve aspects—an image commonly linked with the Sun’s cyclical, month-based or seasonal operations in the world.