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 |
वैशंपायन म्हणाले—हे नृपश्रेष्ठ, पंचमहाभूतांच्या अत्यंत प्रलयाचे वर्णन ऐक. प्राचीन काळी ही पृथ्वी एकार्णवाच्या जलात लीन झाली; जल तेजात, तेज वायूत, वायु आकाशात, आकाश मनात, मन व्यक्त (महत्तत्त्व) मध्ये, व्यक्त अव्यक्त प्रकृतीत, अव्यक्त मायाविशिष्ट ईश्वररूप पुरुषात आणि तो पुरुष सर्वव्यापी परमात्म्यात लीन झाला. तेव्हा सर्वत्र केवळ अंधकारच अंधकार पसरला; त्याव्यतिरिक्त काहीही जाणवत नव्हते.
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.