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

毗耶娑波耶那说道：“大王之最胜者啊，请听五大之终极溶解。于那久远之时，大地没入一味大海之水；水没入火；火没入风；风没入虚空；虚空没入意；意没入显相之理（摩诃特）；显相没入未显的自性（Prakṛti）；未显没入与幻力（māyā）相应之主——补卢沙（Puruṣa）；而补卢沙又没入遍一切处之至上我。于是四方唯余黑暗；除此之外，再无可辨之物。”

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.