Shloka 7
Śuka’s Manifestation from the Araṇi (Āraṇeya-janma) — शुकजन्म (आरणेय-सम्भव)
रात्रिमेतावतीं चास्य प्राहुरध्यात्मचिन्तका: । सृजत्यहड्कारमृषिर्भूतं दिव्यात्मकं तथा
rātrim etāvatīṃ cāsya prāhur adhyātma-cintakāḥ | sṛjaty ahaṅkāram ṛṣir bhūtaṃ divyātmakaṃ tathā ||
Dijo Yājñavalkya: “Quienes contemplan las verdades del Sí mismo declaran que la noche de Brahmā es de la misma medida inmensa que su día. En ese ciclo cósmico, el gran vidente Brahmā hace surgir el principio llamado ‘ahaṅkāra’, el ‘hacedor del yo’: una entidad sutil y divina, que pone en movimiento el sentido interior de individualidad del cual procede la creación ulterior.”
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames creation in inner, psychological-metaphysical terms: cosmic time alternates as Brahmā’s day and night, and within that process the principle of ahaṅkāra (the ‘I-sense’) is produced—highlighting how individuality arises as a foundational step in manifestation.
Yājñavalkya is explaining a cosmological sequence to his listeners: learned contemplatives describe the vast duration of Brahmā’s night, and he states that Brahmā, as the primordial seer, creates the divine principle called ahaṅkāra, from which further categories of creation unfold.