Shloka 30
भाण्डीरवट-क्रीडा: प्रलम्बासुरवधः, मानुष्यलीला, एक-कारण-तत्त्वम्
अत्तं यथा वाडववह्निनाम्बु हिमस्वरूपं परिगृह्य कास्तम् हिमाचले भानुमतो ऽंशुसङ्गाज् जलत्वम् अभ्येति पुनस् तद् एव
attaṃ yathā vāḍavavahnināmbu himasvarūpaṃ parigṛhya kāstam himācale bhānumato 'ṃśusaṅgāj jalatvam abhyeti punas tad eva
Just as water swallowed by the submarine fire takes on the hardened form of ice and abides in the Himalayan heights, yet, when touched by the sun’s rays, becomes water again exactly as before—so too what has assumed another condition returns, by the proper cause, to its own true state.
Sage Parāśara (teaching Maitreya)
Concept: A thing that temporarily assumes an altered condition returns to its own nature when the appropriate causal condition is present.
Vedantic Theme: Maya
Application: Treat changing mental states as contingent; cultivate the right causes (satsanga, study, practice) for returning to clarity and steadiness.
Vishishtadvaita: Change pertains to modes/conditions, while the underlying reality remains grounded in an enduring substratum.
Vishnu Form: Para-Brahman
Bhakti Type: Shanta
FAQs
Here it functions as a cosmological metaphor: even when water is ‘consumed’ and appears transformed (ice), it is not destroyed—under the right condition it returns to water, illustrating cyclical change under cosmic law.
By showing that forms can shift due to contact with specific causes (like sunrays), yet the underlying reality persists and can reappear as it was—supporting a view of ordered, intelligible change rather than absolute annihilation.
Though not named in the verse, the teaching aligns with the Vishnu Purana’s framework that all transformations occur within the Supreme Lord’s orderly governance—Vishnu as the sustaining reality in whom states arise and subside.