Varaha Purana 23.10: Adhyaya 23, Shloka 10
The Birth of Gaṇapati, the Emergence of the Vināyakas, and the Significance of the Fourth Lunar Day
पृथिव्या विद्यते मूर्तिरपां मूर्तिस्तथैव च । तेजसः श्वसनस्यापि मूर्तिरेषा तु दृश्यते । आकाशं च कथं नेति मत्वा देवो जहास च ॥ २३.१० ॥
pṛthivyā vidyate mūrtir apāṃ mūrtis tathaiva ca | tejasaḥ śvasanasyāpi mūrtir eṣā tu dṛśyate | ākāśaṃ ca kathaṃ neti matvā devo jahāsa ca || 23.10 ||
“แผ่นดินมีรูป น้ำก็มีรูป ไฟและลมก็ยังปรากฏเป็นรูปได้ แต่แล้วอากาศจะถือว่าเป็นรูปได้อย่างไร?”—ครั้นคิดดังนี้ เทพเจ้าก็ทรงพระสรวล
Varāha (narrative voice implied; reaction of the deity)
FAQs
It reflects a common Purāṇic and broader Sanskrit intellectual motif: the pañca-mahābhūta framework (earth, water, fire, wind, space) and the problem of describing ākāśa (space/ether) as perceptible or ‘form-bearing,’ illustrating how narrative dialogue conveys cosmological and philosophical reasoning.
No specific geographic site is named in this verse; the focus is elemental cosmology rather than sacred geography.
Rather than a direct moral injunction, the verse conveys a philosophical instruction: to distinguish between elements that are readily perceived as having form and the more conceptually subtle element ākāśa, encouraging careful inquiry into perception, embodiment (mūrti), and the limits of ordinary observation.
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