Shloka 17
Nāgendra–Brāhmaṇa Saṃvāda: Praśna-vidhi and Dharmic Approach on the Gomatī Riverbank
तमसो ब्रह्म सम्भूतं तमोमूलामृतात्मकम् । तद्विश्चभावसंज्ञान्तं पौरुषी तनुमाश्रितम्,तमसे जगत्का कारणभूत ब्रह्म (परम व्योम) प्रकट हुआ है। तमका मूल है अधिष्ठानभूत अमृततत्त्व। वह मूलभूत अमृत ही तमसे युक्त हो सभी नाम-रूपमें प्रपठचको प्रकट करता है और विराट् शरीरका आश्रय लेकर रहता है
tamasaḥ brahma sambhūtaṃ tamomūlāmṛtātmakam | tadviśvabhāvasaṃjñāntaṃ pauruṣīṃ tanum āśritam ||
Vaiśampāyana said: From darkness (tamas) Brahman is said to have manifested—rooted in the principle of darkness and of the nature of the deathless essence (amṛta). That very Reality, known as the ground of all states of the universe, abides by taking refuge in the body of the cosmic Person (the universal form).
वैशग्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a cosmological-metaphysical account: the supreme principle (Brahman) is described in relation to tamas (the obscuring, undifferentiated principle) and amṛta (the deathless essence). It suggests that the ground of reality, while transcendent, is also the basis of universal manifestation and is spoken of as abiding in the cosmic form (Puruṣa), linking ultimate reality with the manifested universe.
In the didactic discourse of Śānti Parva, Vaiśampāyana continues an exposition on first principles—how the universe is accounted for in terms of fundamental categories (tamas, amṛta, Brahman/Puruṣa). The focus is not on external action but on explaining the metaphysical basis of creation and the relation between the unmanifest and the manifest.