Shloka 8
Atithi’s Direction to the Nāga-sage Padma at Naimiṣa (अतिथ्युपदेशः—नैमिषे पद्मनागोपाख्यानप्रस्तावः)
नासीदहो न रात्रिरासीन्न सदासीन्नासदासीत् तम एव पुरस्तादभवद् विश्वरूपम् । सा विश्वरूपस्य रजनी हि एवमस्यार्थोडनुभाष्य:
nāsīd aho na rātrir āsīn na sad āsīn nāsad āsīt, tama eva purastād abhavad viśvarūpam | sā viśvarūpasya rajanī hi evam asyārtho 'nubhāṣyaḥ |
Arjuna berkata: “Pada waktu peleraian (pralaya) tiada siang dan tiada malam; tidak dapat dikatakan ‘ada’ atau ‘tiada’. Hanya kegelapan berdiri di hadapan. Daripadanya, Yang Esa menzahirkan diri sebagai realiti yang berwujud segala bentuk (sejagat). Keadaan itu disebut ‘malam’ bagi Wujud Kosmik (Diri Semesta). Demikianlah makna ujaran Veda ini harus dinyatakan dan difahami.”
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames pralaya as a state beyond ordinary opposites (day/night, being/non-being). It teaches that before manifestation, only an undifferentiated ‘darkness’ is spoken of, and from that the One becomes the universal form; therefore śruti statements about origins must be understood as pointing to a reality beyond conceptual binaries.
Arjuna is presented as speaking and articulating an interpretive gloss on a śruti-like cosmological statement: describing the dissolution state and explaining that this condition is metaphorically the ‘night’ of the cosmic form, urging that the passage’s meaning be properly expounded and grasped.