Shloka 13
Nāgendra–Brāhmaṇa Saṃvāda: Praśna-vidhi and Dharmic Approach on the Gomatī Riverbank
भूतप्रलयमत्यन्तं शृणुष्व नृपसत्तम
vaiśaṃpāyana uvāca | bhūta-pralayam atyantaṃ śṛṇuṣva nṛpa-sattama |
Waiśaṃpāyana berkata: “Wahai raja termulia, dengarkan kisah pralaya terakhir dari unsur-unsur. Pada zaman purba, bumi ini larut ke dalam air samudra tunggal; air larut ke dalam api; api ke dalam angin; angin ke dalam ruang; ruang ke dalam batin (manas); batin ke dalam prinsip yang termanifestasi (mahat); yang termanifestasi kembali ke Prakṛti yang tak termanifestasi; yang tak termanifestasi larut ke dalam Puruṣa—Īśvara yang berserta māyā—dan Puruṣa itu pun larut ke dalam Diri Tertinggi yang meliputi segalanya. Saat itu, di mana-mana hanya ada kegelapan; selain itu tak ada apa pun yang dapat dikenali.”
वैशग्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
All compounded realities—starting from the gross elements and extending through mind and cosmic principles—are impermanent and ultimately dissolve back into subtler causes, culminating in the all-pervading Supreme Self. The passage encourages detachment and a perspective grounded in ultimate reality rather than transient forms.
Vaiśaṃpāyana addresses a king and begins describing the ‘ultimate dissolution’ (atyanta-pralaya): earth merges into water, water into fire, fire into wind, wind into space, space into mind, mind into mahat (the manifest), mahat into prakṛti (the unmanifest), prakṛti into īśvara/puruṣa, and finally into Paramātman—after which only darkness is perceived.