Shloka 13

Nāgendra–Brāhmaṇa Saṃvāda: Praśna-vidhi and Dharmic Approach on the Gomatī Riverbank

Devanagari script

भूतप्रलयमत्यन्तं शृणुष्व नृपसत्तम

Transliteration

vaiśaṃpāyana uvāca | bhūta-pralayam atyantaṃ śṛṇuṣva nṛpa-sattama |

Translation

Вайшампаяна сказал: «О лучший из царей, выслушай повествование о конечном растворении стихий. В те древние времена, когда земля растворилась в водах единого космического океана; вода — в огне; огонь — в ветре; ветер — в пространстве; пространство — в уме; ум — в проявленном начале (махат); проявленное — в непроявленной Пракрити; непроявленное — в Пуруше, то есть во Владыке, сопряжённом с майей; и тот Пуруша — во всепроникающем Высшем Атмане, тогда повсюду была одна лишь тьма. Кроме неё, ничто иное не различалось.»

Word by Word

• भूत: of beings/elements
• भूत: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: भूत
• Form: Neuter, Genitive, Singular

• प्रलयम्: dissolution, destruction
• प्रलयम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्रलय
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• अत्यन्तम्: utterly, completely
• अत्यन्तम्: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अत्यन्त

• शृणुष्व: listen (you)!
• शृणुष्व: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: श्रु
• Form: Imperative, Second, Singular, Parasmaipada

• नृपसत्तम: O best of kings
• नृपसत्तम: Sampradana
• Type: Noun
• Root: नृप-सत्तम
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

Speaker

वैशग्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśaṃpāyana
• nṛpa-sattama (the king addressed)
• pṛthivī (earth)
• ekārṇava (cosmic ocean)
• pañca-bhūta (five elements)
• jala (water)
• tejas (fire)
• vāyu (wind)
• ākāśa (space)
• manas (mind)
• vyakta/mahat-tattva
• avyakta/prakṛti
• puruṣa (māyā-viśiṣṭa īśvara)
• paramātman

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

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.

What is happening in the narrative?

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.