Pasuram 5.6.1

Tamil text and transliteration:

கடல் ஞாலம் செய்தேனும் யானே என்னும் கடல் ஞாலம் ஆவேனும் யானே என்னும்
கடல் ஞாலம் கொண்டேனும் யானே என்னும் கடல் ஞாலம் கீண்டேனும் யானே என்னும்
கடல் ஞாலம் உண்டேனும் யானே என்னும் கடல் ஞாலம் ஈசன் வந்து ஏறக்கொலோ?
கடல் ஞாலத்தீர்க்கு இவை என் சொல்லுகேன் கடல் ஞாலத்து என் மகள் கற்கின்றவே?

kaṭal ñālam ceytēṉum yāṉē eṉṉum kaṭal ñālam āvēṉum yāṉē eṉṉum
kaṭal ñālam koṇṭēṉum yāṉē eṉṉum kaṭal ñālam kīṇṭēṉum yāṉē eṉṉum
kaṭal ñālam uṇṭēṉum yāṉē eṉṉum kaṭal ñālam īcaṉ vantu ēṟakkolō?
kaṭal ñālattīrkku ivai eṉ collukēṉ kaṭal ñālattu eṉ makaḷ kaṟkiṉṟavē?

English translation of verse 5.6.1:

Says my daughter of this sea-bound world,
‘Tis she that this world did create,
And all the world she would permeate;
It was she that took (from Bali) all the worlds.
She it was that pulled the world out and held
In her stomach (during deluge) all the worlds;
Unto You worldlings, what can 1 say about this?
She is by the Lord Supreme possessed, perhaps.

Notes:

(i) It is God that created the entire Universe. The relevant expressions in ‘Chāndogya Upaniṣad’ are ‘Sadeva’ ‘Ekameva’ and ‘advitīyam’, indicative of the fact that the Lord combines in Himself all the three causes of creation, namely, the ‘Upādhāna’ (material cause) ‘Sahakāri’ (Operative cause) and ‘Nimitta’ (Instrumental cause). The fact that the Lord is the sole cause of creation is underlined by the Nāyakī’s statement that it is She (God, manifest in her) that created the sea-bound worlds.

Apart from the Lord combining in Himself the triple causes of creation, yet another unique feature is that He is not apart from the things created. He resides in all things and beings, having name and form. The different names denoting them all, refer to Him as well, He being the Inner Soul of all. This is indeed unique, as, in the work-a-day world, the names of the creator and the things created are distinct. In the terse language of Vedanta, this special feature is known as ‘aparyavasāna vṛtti’ and this is what the Nāyakī emphasises. Having created the world, she also becomes the world, the thing created) by permeating the whole of it.

(ii) The mother wonders how her daughter, a staunch exponent of ‘Viśiṣṭādvaita the triune monism, says things smacking of absolute monism (advaita) and apprehends that the Nāyakī, perhaps, stands possessed by the Lord Himself and, therefore, speaks in this strain, The kinsmen who expected the mother to be more specific in her diagnosis of the Nāyakī’s malady, are cut to size, when she says that her daughter is in such a highly evolved state of God-love, on a par with the exalted ever-free angels of Heaven, that her actions and utterances are much beyond the grasp of the worldlings who were utter strangers to such ennobling experience of God-love and God-enjoyment.