Shloka 42

वासुदेवस्वरूपनिरूपणं—सर्गक्रमश्च

Vāsudeva’s Nature and the Ordered Process of Creation

Devanagari script

संभवन्ति ततो ऽम्भांसि रसाधाराणि तानि च रसमात्राणि चाम्भांसि रूपमात्रं समावृणोत्

Transliteration

saṃbhavanti tato 'mbhāṃsi rasādhārāṇi tāni ca rasamātrāṇi cāmbhāṃsi rūpamātraṃ samāvṛṇot

Translation

संभवन्ति ततोऽम्भांसि रसाधाराणि तानि च। रसमात्राणि चाम्भांसि रूपमात्रं समावृणोत्॥

Word by Word

संभवन्तिcome into being, arise

ततःthen

अम्भांसिwaters

रसाधाराणिsupporting taste

तानिthose (they)

चand

रसमात्राणिconsisting of mere taste

चand

अम्भांसिwaters

रूपमात्रम्mere form

समावृणोत्covered, enveloped

Speaker

Sage Parāśara (teaching Maitreya)

Characters & Entities

Parāśara

Maitreya

Ap (Waters)

Rasa-tanmātra

Rūpa-tanmātra

FAQs

What is the significance of Waters (Ap) being called the support of taste (rasa) in the Vishnu Purana?

This verse links the water element with the sense-quality of taste, presenting waters as the experiential basis where rasa predominates in the cosmic unfolding.

How does Sage Parāśara explain the sequence of subtle elements (tanmātras) here?

Parāśara describes a layered manifestation: waters arise characterized by taste, and then the subtle principle of form (rūpa-mātra) is said to envelop them, indicating successive coverings/transformations in creation.

What is the theological importance of Lord Vishnu in this cosmological context?

Even when the verse speaks in elemental terms, the Vishnu Purana frames such emergence as operating under Vishnu’s supreme causality—creation unfolds as an ordered manifestation grounded in the Highest Reality.