Shloka 7

Yoga-Sleep, Cosmic Dissolution, and the Lotus of Creation

with Mārkaṇḍeya’s Vision

Devanagari script

नष्टानलानिलाकाशे नष्टधर्मे महीतले । केवले गह्वरीभूते महाभूतविपर्यये

Transliteration

naṣṭānalānilākāśe naṣṭadharme mahītale | kevale gahvarībhūte mahābhūtaviparyaye

Translation

当火、风与虚空都已消逝；当大地失却其维系之法（dharma）；当万有化作空洞深渊般的虚无——当四大（诸大元素）颠倒而归于消散——

Word by Word

• नष्ट-अनल-अनिल-आकाशे: in the state where fire, wind, and ether were destroyed
• नष्ट-अनल-अनिल-आकाशे: Adhikarana (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: नष्ट (क्त-कृदन्त) + अनल (प्रातिपदिक) + अनिल (प्रातिपदिक) + आकाश (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, सप्तमी-विभक्ति (अधिकरण), एकवचन; locative singular; ‘when fire, wind, and ether were destroyed’

• नष्ट-धर्मे: when righteousness/order was destroyed
• नष्ट-धर्मे: Adhikarana (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: नष्ट (क्त-कृदन्त) + धर्म (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सप्तमी-विभक्ति (अधिकरण), एकवचन; locative singular; ‘when dharma was lost’

• महीतले: on the earth-surface
• महीतले: Adhikarana (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: महीतल (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, सप्तमी-विभक्ति (अधिकरण), एकवचन; locative singular

• केवले: only, mere
• केवले: Visheshana (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: केवल (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, सप्तमी-विभक्ति, एकवचन; agrees with implied ‘(जगति/अवस्थायाम्)’

• गह्वरी-भूते: having become a deep void/abyss
• गह्वरी-भूते: Adhikarana (अधिकरण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: गह्वरी (प्रातिपदिक) + भू (धातु) → भूत (क्त-कृदन्त)
• Form: क्त-प्रत्ययान्त कृदन्त; नपुंसकलिङ्ग, सप्तमी-विभक्ति, एकवचन; ‘having become a deep abyss’

• महाभूत-विपर्यये: in the inversion/dissolution of the great elements
• महाभूत-विपर्यये: Adhikarana (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: महाभूत (प्रातिपदिक) + विपर्यय (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सप्तमी-विभक्ति (अधिकरण), एकवचन; locative singular

Speaker

Unspecified in the provided excerpt (context needed from surrounding verses of Adhyaya 39).

Verse Rasa

Primary Rasa: adbhuta

Secondary Rasa: bhayanaka

Geographic Context

Type: celestial_realm

Sandhi Resolution Notes

Sandhi Resolution Notes: नष्टानलानिलाकाशे → नष्ट-अनल-अनिल-आकाशे; नष्टधर्मे → नष्ट-धर्मे; गह्वरीभूते → गह्वरी-भूते; महाभूतविपर्यये → महाभूत-विपर्यये.

FAQs

What does this verse describe in Padma Purana cosmology?

It depicts pralaya (cosmic dissolution), where the elemental supports of the world—fire, wind, and space—are said to vanish and the earth’s sustaining order (dharma) collapses, leaving a void-like condition.

What is meant by “mahābhūta-viparyaya” here?

It indicates an inversion or breakdown of the normal functioning and balance of the great elements (mahābhūtas), a standard purāṇic way of describing the world’s return toward an undifferentiated state during dissolution.

Is this verse about ethics (dharma) or physics (elements)?

Both: “naṣṭa-dharma” signals the collapse of sustaining order, while the disappearance and reversal of elements expresses the cosmological side of pralaya; together they portray the unraveling of the world’s structure.