Shloka 15
Adhyāya 302: Guṇa-vicāra, Gati-bheda, and the Imperishable State
Yājñavalkya–Janaka
रात्रिश्वनैतावती राजन् यस्यान्ते प्रतिबुद्धयते । सृजत्यनन्तकर्माणं महान्तं भूतमग्रजम्
rātriś ca naitāvatī rājan yasyānte pratibudhyate | sṛjaty anantakarmāṇaṃ mahāntaṃ bhūtam agrajam ||
Васиṣṭха сказал: «О царь, и его “ночь” столь же необъятна; в её конце он пробуждается. Тогда то великое Первонародившееся Существо — Брахма, чья деятельность бесконечна, — приводит творение в движение».
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames creation as cyclical: after an immense ‘night’ (a cosmic period of withdrawal), awakening occurs and the primordial creator (Brahmā) resumes the work of manifestation. It points to vast cosmic time and the ordered recurrence of creation rather than a single, linear beginning.
Vasiṣṭha is instructing a king, describing the scale of cosmic time and the moment when, at the end of a great night, awakening occurs and Brahmā—the great first-born being of endless activity—initiates creation.