०३ लयः

When that divine being is awake, then this world is active; when he slumbers, with his mind in calm repose, then all vanishes.—(52)

स देवो यदा जागर्ति यद् एतद् इच्छतीदं जगद् उत्पद्यताम् एताम् स्थितिं च कालम् इयन्तं लभताम् इति तदा चेष्टते । मानसवाचिकभौतिकैर् व्यापारैर् आन्तरैर् बाह्यैश् च श्वासप्रश्वासाहारविहारकृषियागादिभिर् युक्तं भवति । यदा स्वपिति यदा निवृत्तेच्छो भवति जगत्सर्गस्थितिभ्यां तदा सर्वं निमीलति प्रलयं प्राप्नोति । जागर्या स्वापश् च प्रजापतेर् इच्छा प्रवृत्तिनिवृत्ती उच्येते । शान्तात्मत्वं भेदावस्थोपसंहारः ॥ १.५२ ॥

‘When that Divine Being is awake—i. e., when he wills, that ‘this world may come into being and may continue to exist for such a time,’—‘then this world is active’; that is, it becomes accompanied by such internal activities as mental, verbal and material, and such external activities as inspiration, respiration, eating, walking, cultivation, sacrifice and so forth.

‘When he slumbers’—when his will desists from the creation and maintaining of the world,—‘then all vanishes,’ undergoes absorption.

‘Waking’ and ‘sleeping’ here stand respectively for the prevalence and cessation of his will.

‘With his mind in calm repose’—means that he has withdrawn from his state of diversity.—(52)

052 When that divine one wakes, then this world stirs; when he slumbers tranquilly, then the universe sinks to sleep.

When he slumbers, having retired within himself, all active embodied beings desist from their actions, and their mind falls into depression.—(53)

पूर्वव्याख्यानश्लोको ऽयं विस्पष्टार्थः । स्वस्थे सुस्थिरे । शान्तात्मवच् छुद्धरूपे । स्वात्मन्य् अवस्थानम् औपाधिकभेदनिवृत्तिः । कर्मात्मानः कर्मप्रधानाः संसारिणः क्षेत्रज्ञाः । शरीरिणः । कर्मसंबन्धेन शरीरसंबन्धानुभावाद् एवम् उच्यन्ते । तस्मिन् स्वपति शयाने स्वकर्मभ्यो निवर्तन्ते । शरीरचेष्टानिवृत्तिर् एतेनोच्यते । मनश् च ग्लानिम् ऋच्छति । एतेनान्तरव्यापारनिवृत्तिः । अतो बाह्यान्तरव्यापारनिवृत्त्या प्रलयः प्रतिपादितो भवति । ग्लानिर् निरुत्साहः स्वव्यापारे ऽशक्तताम्¹ ऋच्छति प्राप्नोति ॥ १.५३ ॥

The meaning of this verse is quite clear, its meaning having been already explained.

‘Having retired within himself’—i.e., in calm repose, i e., in pure pristine nature of the Soul at rest;—‘retiring within himself’ stands for the cessation of all accidental diversities.

‘Active’—the conscious beings who are fallen in the cycle of births and deaths, and for whom Action is of the greatest importance;—‘embodied beings,’—so called because they feel the effects of being connected with a body which is the effect of their own past acts.

‘When he slumbers,’ all these ‘desist from their actions,’—this stands for the cessation of their bodily activity;—‘their mind falls into depression’—this stands for the cessation of their mental activity. Thus this cessation of bodily and mental activities indicates the state of Dissolution.—‘Depression’ means absence of energy, disability to carry on its functions; this is what the Mind falls into,—attains.—(53)

‘Karmāṭmānaḥ’—It is not correct to say, as Buhler does, that this term according to Medhātithi, means ‘who, in consequence of their actions, become incorporate because as a matter of fact, this latter explanation is supplied. by Medhātithi in reference to the term ‘śarīriṇaḥ’; what he means is that th e Beings are called ‘śarīriṇaḥ’ not because the Body is their natural accompaniment, but because they become equipped with, them in consequence of their acts,

053 But when he reposes in calm sleep, the corporeal beings whose nature is action, desist from their actions and mind becomes inert.

When this Soul of all things sleeps happy and contented, then all things become absorbed all at once in that Great Soul.—(54)

यत्तदोर् व्यत्ययेनायं श्लोको व्याख्यातव्यः । अन्यथा पूर्वश्लोकापेक्षयेतरेतराश्रयः प्रसज्येत । एतद् उक्तम् । यदा स्वपिति तदा निमीलति सर्वम् ।

सुखं स्वपिति निर्वृतः । सुखस्वरूपम् एव परं ब्रह्म, न तस्य स्वापावस्थायां सुखम् अन्यदा दुःखम् । स्वापश् च तस्य यादृशः स प्राग् उक्त एव । निर्वृतिश् च तस्य सर्वकालम् । न ह्य् असौ परमात्माविद्योपप्लवतरङ्गैर् आमृश्यते, केवलसुखमयः । तस्य सर्वस्य कर्तृत्वं उपपद्यते । यथायं पुरुष उपरतो गृहकृत्येभ्यः कृतकृत्यतयार्जितं मया धनं गृहोपयोगि निरुपद्रवश् चास्मि संवृत्त इत्य् एवं सुखं स्वपिति निर्वृत्तो निराशङ्कात्मबाध एवम् उपमीयते ऽसाव् अपि । तस्यापीदं जगत् कुटुम्बभूतम् इति प्रशंसा ।

• प्रधानविषयो वायं श्लोको वर्णनीयः । तदा प्रधानं स्वपिति यदा युगपत् सर्वाणि भूतानि तत्र प्रलीयन्ते तदात्मतां कारणरूपताम् आपद्यन्ते विकारावस्थाम् उद्गच्छन्ति² युगपद् यावन्ति त्रैलोक्योदरवर्तीनि । स्वापश् च परिणामनिवृत्तिर् न पुनर् ज्ञानोपसंहतिः अचेतनस्य प्रधानस्य । सुखं चोपचारतो ऽचेतनत्वाद् एव ॥ १.५४ ॥

J: ujjhanti

This verse has to he explained by reversing the position of ‘when’ and ‘then’; otherwise, from what has been said in the foregoing verses, there would be mutual interdependence: it has been stated (in Verse 52) that when He sleeps then all things vanish [and if the persent verse is taken to mean, as the words suggest, that when the things vanish into the Great Soul, then this Great Soul retires to sleep, then we would have the vanishing of things dependent upon his going to sleep, as stated in 52, and his going to sleep dependent upon the vanishing of things, as stated in 54].

‘Sleeps happy and contented,’—Happiness forms the very nature of the Supreme Brahman; hence it is not meant that He is happy during sleep and unhappy at other times;—of what nature his ‘sleep’ is has already been explained;—as regards his ‘contentment,’ that is everlasting; consisting of pure bliss, this Supreme Soul is never affected by the waves of agitation that are set up in Nescience. Though (even with all this) it is possible for him to be the Creator of all things. In the ordinary world, a man retires from his household duties after having done that he had to do,—with the feeling, ‘I have earned all the wealth that was necessary for my family; I am free from troubles,’—and thus sleeps in happiness and contentment, without fearing any trouble to himself. To such a person is the Supreme Soul compared; this whole world being in the position of ‘family’ to him;—this being intended as his praise.

Or [in order to avoid the necessity of having to reverse the order of the words] the verse may be taken as referring to Primordial Matter: When Primordial Matter sleeps, then all things become absorbed into it all at once; that is, they become resolved into the form of Primordial Matter, being reduced to the position of their cause; that is, they are reduced to a ‘condition in which they cease to undergo modifications.’—‘All at once,’ all things contained in the womb of the three regions.—The ‘sleep’ of Primordial Matter, which is devoid of consciousness, can mean only cessation of evolution, and not inhibition of consciousness;—‘happiness’ also is only figurative, for the same reason that Matter is devoid of consciousness.—(54)

Govindarāja and Kullūka make this out to be the description of the Mahā-pralaya, and the preceding verse of. the Intermediate—Khaṇḍa—pralaya.

Sarvabhūtātmā—stands for the Sāṅkhya ‘Pradhāna’;—according to the second explanation put forward by Medhātithi;—according to the other explanation, accepted by Govindarāja and Kullūka, the term stands for the Supreme Self of the Vedānta.

054 When they are absorbed all at once in that great soul, then he who is the soul of all beings sweetly slumbers, free from all care and occupation.