Shloka 13
Nāgendra–Brāhmaṇa Saṃvāda: Praśna-vidhi and Dharmic Approach on the Gomatī Riverbank
भूतप्रलयमत्यन्तं शृणुष्व नृपसत्तम,नृपश्रेष्ठ अब तुम पञ्चभूतोंके आत्यन्तिक प्रलयकी बात सुनो। पूर्वकालमें जब इस पृथ्वीका एकार्णवके जलमें लय हो गया। जलका तेजमें, तेजका वायुमें, वायुका आकाशगमें, आकाशका मनमें, मनका व्यक्त (महत्तत्त्व) में, व्यक्तका अव्यक्त प्रकृतिमें, अव्यक्तका पुरुषमें अर्थात् मायाविशिष्ट ईश्वरमें और पुरुषका सर्वव्यापी परमात्मामें लय हो गया, उस समय सब ओर केवल अन्धकार-ही-अन्धकार छा गया। उसके सिवा और कुछ भी जान नहीं पड़ता था
vaiśaṃpāyana uvāca | bhūta-pralayam atyantaṃ śṛṇuṣva nṛpa-sattama |
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “O best of kings, listen to the account of the final dissolution of the elements. In that ancient time, when the earth was absorbed into the waters of the single cosmic ocean; water into fire; fire into wind; wind into space; space into mind; mind into the manifest principle (mahat); the manifest into the unmanifest Prakṛti; the unmanifest into the Puruṣa—Īśvara associated with māyā—and that Puruṣa into the all-pervading Supreme Self, then everywhere there was only darkness. Apart from that, nothing else could be discerned.”
वैशग्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
All compounded realities—starting from the gross elements and extending through mind and cosmic principles—are impermanent and ultimately dissolve back into subtler causes, culminating in the all-pervading Supreme Self. The passage encourages detachment and a perspective grounded in ultimate reality rather than transient forms.
Vaiśaṃpāyana addresses a king and begins describing the ‘ultimate dissolution’ (atyanta-pralaya): earth merges into water, water into fire, fire into wind, wind into space, space into mind, mind into mahat (the manifest), mahat into prakṛti (the unmanifest), prakṛti into īśvara/puruṣa, and finally into Paramātman—after which only darkness is perceived.