Shloka 17
नैमित्तिक-प्राकृत-प्रलयवर्णनम्
Periodic and Elemental Dissolution; Reabsorption into Paramātman
अपाम् अपि गुणो यस् तु ज्योतिषा पीयते तु सः नश्यन्त्य् आपस् ततस् ताश् च रसतन्मात्रसंक्षयात्
apām api guṇo yas tu jyotiṣā pīyate tu saḥ naśyanty āpas tatas tāś ca rasatanmātrasaṃkṣayāt
Alors même la qualité de l’eau—sa saveur et sa fluidité—est aspirée et consumée par le feu. Quand cette essence est retirée, les eaux s’évanouissent, car elles dépendent du principe subtil du goût (rasa‑tanmātra).
Sage Parāśara (teaching Maitreya)
FAQs
This verse states that water persists only as long as its subtle basis—rasa (taste) as tanmātra—remains; when that subtle essence is depleted, the gross element (water) dissolves.
Parāśara explains a causal rollback: fire absorbs the defining quality of water, and once that quality is withdrawn, water itself disappears because it cannot exist without its underlying subtle principle.
Though the verse describes elemental mechanics, it supports the Purāṇic vision that all tattvas dissolve in ordered sequence under the Supreme Reality—Vishnu—into whom the cosmos ultimately resolves.