Shloka 24
Vidura’s Questions on Devotion and Sarga; Maitreya Begins the Account of Creation
स वा एष तदा द्रष्टा नापश्यद् दृश्यमेकराट् । मेनेऽसन्तमिवात्मानं सुप्तशक्तिरसुप्तदृक् ॥ २४ ॥
sa vā eṣa tadā draṣṭā nāpaśyad dṛśyam ekarāṭ mene ’santam ivātmānaṁ supta-śaktir asupta-dṛk
En ce temps-là, le Seigneur, propriétaire incontesté de tout, était l’unique voyant; la manifestation cosmique n’était pas présente. L’énergie matérielle étant en sommeil, Il sembla se sentir imparfait, tandis que Sa puissance interne était déjà manifestée.
The Lord is the supreme seer because only by His glance did the material energy become active for cosmic manifestation. At that time the seer was there, but the external energy, over which the glance of the Lord is cast, was not present. He felt somewhat insufficient, like a husband feeling lonely in the absence of his wife. This is a poetic simile. The Lord wanted to create the cosmic manifestation to give another chance to the conditioned souls who were dormant in forgetfulness. The cosmic manifestation gives the conditioned souls a chance to go back home, back to Godhead, and that is its main purpose. The Lord is so kind that in the absence of such a manifestation He feels something wanting, and thus the creation takes place. Although the creation of the internal potency was manifested, the other potency appeared to be sleeping, and the Lord wanted to awaken her to activity, just as a husband wants to awaken his wife from the sleeping state for enjoyment. It is the compassion of the Lord for the sleeping energy that He wants to see her awaken for enjoyment like the other wives who are awake. The whole process is to enliven the sleeping conditioned souls to the real life of spiritual consciousness so that they may thus become as perfect as the ever-liberated souls in the Vaikuṇṭhalokas. Since the Lord is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, He likes every part and parcel of His different potencies to take part in the blissful rasa because participation with the Lord in His eternal rāsa-līlā is the highest living condition, perfect in spiritual bliss and eternal knowledge.
FAQs
This verse says the Supreme Lord, the sole sovereign seer, did not perceive any ‘seen’ object—because the manifest universe was not yet displayed—while His vision remained ever-awake and His potencies were in a dormant state.
The verse describes Bhagavān, the Supreme Lord, as the one independent ruler and ultimate observer, prior to the manifestation of the cosmos.
It trains one to distinguish the unchanging ‘seer’ from changing ‘seen’ experiences—encouraging steadiness in devotion and self-inquiry even when external circumstances feel empty or unclear.