Varaha Purana 5.22: Adhyaya 5, Shloka 22
Reconciliation of Action and Knowledge: Offering All Acts to Nārāyaṇa and the Hymn to the Yajña-Puruṣa
Pūrva Bhāga · Philosophical Dialogue (Varāha–Pṛthivī): Paramātman and līlā imagery
परमात्मा त्वयं भूतैः क्रीडते भगवान् स्वयम् । क्रीता मृदा बलीवर्द्धास्तद्वदेतन्न संशयः ॥ ५.२२ ॥
paramātmā tvayaṃ bhūtaiḥ krīḍate bhagavān svayam | krītā mṛdā balīvarddhās tadvad etan na saṃśayaḥ || 5.22 ||
paramAtmA tvayaM bhUtaiH krIDate bhagavAn svayam | kRRitA mRRidA balIvarddAstadvadetanna saMshayaH || 5.22 ||
നീ തന്നെയാണ് പരമാത്മാവ്; ഭഗവാൻ സ്വയം ജീവികളോടൊപ്പം ക്രീഡിക്കുന്നു. മണ്ണിന്റെ കട്ട കൊണ്ട് കാളകളെ വാങ്ങുന്നതുപോലെ, ഇവിടെയും അങ്ങനെ തന്നേ—ഇതിൽ സംശയമില്ല.
Sandhi Notes
- त्वयं → तु + अयम्
- बलीवर्द्धास्तद्वदेतन्न → बलीवर्द्धाः + तद्वत् + एतत् + न
Varāha
Implicitly addresses the metaphysical doubt: how the Supreme relates to worldly transactions and embodied beings (līlā vs. bondage).
The Supreme Self is not bound by worldly valuations; the cosmos functions as divine sport, while material ‘price’ and ‘worth’ are conventional and unstable.
Reduce possessiveness and reification of ‘value’; treat transactions and status as provisional, cultivating inner detachment and devotion to the Paramātman.
Implied cosmic play with beings upon/within the Earth.
The Lord as Paramātman remains sovereign and unattached, yet ‘plays’ through māyā with beings; worldly value and exchange are shown as conventional (vyavahāra) and ultimately insubstantial before Brahman.
The ‘clod of earth’ metaphor indirectly evokes Earth as the medium of all exchange and sacrifice-support.
Distinguishes pāramārthika reality (Paramātman) from vyāvahārika dealings; hints at līlā-vāda and the non-binding nature of action for the Supreme.
Varaha Purana 5.5.23 (critique of ‘I’-notion and worldly busyness)
FAQs
It illustrates a common Purāṇic literary strategy: conveying metaphysical claims (the Supreme Self and divine agency) through everyday economic and agrarian imagery, reflecting the social world in which such texts circulated.
No specific geographic location is named in this verse; it is primarily philosophical and metaphorical rather than topographical.
The verse emphasizes a philosophical instruction about divine agency and the relative value of worldly transactions, using a rural metaphor to suggest that conventional measures of value and control are secondary to the overarching reality of the Supreme Self.
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