Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 46, Shloka 12
Adhyaya 46 — Cosmic Dissolution, the Emergence of Brahma, and the Measures of Time (Yugas, Manvantaras, and Brahma’s Day)
स एव क्षोभकः पूर्वं स क्षोभ्यः प्रकृतेः पतिः ।
स सङ्कोचविकाशाभ्यां प्रधानत्वेऽपि च स्थितः ॥
sa eva kṣobhakaḥ pūrvaṃ sa kṣobhyaḥ prakṛteḥ patiḥ | sa saṅkocavikāśābhyāṃ pradhānatve 'pi ca sthitaḥ ||
He alone is first the impeller (who sets things in motion), and he is also the one to be impelled—the lord of Prakṛti. Though abiding as the Pradhāna (primordial nature), he remains through contraction and expansion.
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FAQs
The verse asserts a non-dual style of causality: the supreme principle is described as both the mover and the moved, indicating that cosmic change occurs without positing an independent second reality. Ethically, it grounds reverence in the single source behind all transformations.
Primarily Sarga (cosmogony): it explains the stirring of Pradhāna/Prakṛti that precedes manifest creation, and hints at Pratisarga via contraction/expansion cycles.
“Contraction and expansion” can be read as the pulse of manifestation (saṃkoca) and emanation (vikāśa), mapping macrocosmic cycles onto subtle yogic experience where consciousness appears to withdraw and project worlds.