SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
SlOkam – Original
sarvabhUthAni kaunthEya prakruthim yAnthi mAmikAm |
kalpakshayE punas thAni kalpAdhau visrujAmyaham ||
word-by-word meaning
kaunthEya – Oh son of kunthI!
kalpakshayE – at the end of the life span of brahmA
sarva bhUthAni – all entities
mAmikAm – my body
prakruthim – in mUla prakruthi (primordial matter)
yAnthi – enter
thAni – them
aham – I
kalpa Adhau – at the beginning of creation
puna visrujAmi – again create
Simple Translation
Oh son of kunthI! At the end of the life span of brahmA, all entities enter into mUla prakruthi (primordial matter) which is my body; at the beginning of creation, I create them again [as they were before].
Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam
‘All beings, Kaunteya[2. A matronymic of Arjuna.]! enter into My Nature at the end of a Kalpa[3. See footnotes to verse 4.4 and verse 4.8.]. Again do I emit them at the beginning of a Kalpa[4. See footnotes to verse 4.4 and verse 4.8.].’
All movable and immovable things enter into My own Nature, i.e. prakṛiti which is My body designated tamas (darkness=the indistinguishable, indifferentiate vast expanse of matter-stuff;, which has no name, form and division (in its indistinct state).
At the end of a Kalpa: when the period of dissolution comes for the four-faced Brahma. At that time all creatures pass into Me by My will.
The self-same creatures do I bring forth again at the dawning of a Kalpa. Says Manu:—
‘This became full of tamas (darkness)’ etc.,[5. Manu: i-5. (Āsīd idam tamo-bhūtam etc).]
‘He, willing (to produce) from His own body’ etc.,[6. Manu: i-8. (So`bhidhyāya śarīrāt svāt etc).]
Say the Śrutis also thus:—
‘Of Whom avyakta (indiscernible matter) is body'[7. Sub: Up: 7. Yasyā `vyaktam śarīram etc).].
‘Avyakta merges into akshara, and akshara into tamas‘[8. Sub: Up: 2 (Avyaktam akshare līyate etc).].
‘It was tamas in the beginning, by tamas was all hidden and indiscernible (apraketam)’[9. Tait: Brā: ii-8-9 and Rig Veda viii-7-17. (Tama āsīt tamasā gūdham agre`praketam). apraketam=apra-jñāyamānām=incomprehensible.].
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