Verse 1.8 [Creation Of Water]

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

सोऽभिध्याय शरीरात् स्वात् सिसृक्षुर्विविधाः प्रजाः ।
अप एव ससर्जादौ तासु वीर्यमवासृजत् ॥ ८ ॥

so'bhidhyāya śarīrāt svāt sisṛkṣurvividhāḥ prajāḥ |
apa eva sasarjādau tāsu vīryamavāsṛjat || 8 ||

Desiring to create the several kinds of created things, he, in the beginning, by mere willing, produced, out op his own body, Water; and in that he threw the seed.—(8)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘He’—who,—by virtue of the qualities described in the preceding verse, and also by virtue of such Vedic texts as ‘In the beginning there appeared Hiraṇyagarbha &c.’ (Ṛgveda 10.121.1)—acquired the title of ‘Hiraṇyagarbha.’

‘Several kinds of created things’—things possessed of various forms.

‘Desiring to create,’—wishing to bring into existence.

‘In the beginning,’ first of all—‘produced,’ called into being—‘water’ ‘out of his own body,’ i.e., the body assumed by himself (on manifestation). Or, according to the Ádvaita Philosophy, ‘Primordial Matter’ is the ‘body’ of Hiraṇyagarbha here spoken of; it is ‘his own’ in the sense that it follows his wish, and is the cause of the production of all bodies.

The next question that arises is—“When he created the body of all living beings, did he do so by means of some physical act, such as digging with the spade and so forth (as the potter does in the making of the Jar)?”

The answer is no.—“How then?”—‘By mere willing’—by the mere act of wishing ‘let water be produced.’

The following further question is raised—“Since the Earth and other things were non-existent at the time, what was the receptacle or standing ground of the water that was produced?”

The question is addressed to the winds! [ lit., it is as good as addressed to others!]. It might just as well bo asked—what is the receptacle or standing ground for the Supreme Lord himself when he has assumed a body. If it be explained that so far as the powers of the creator himself are concerned, no questions arise, for the simple reason that he is possessed of unique powers,—then the same may be said in regard to water and the other products also, which may be regarded as having similar unique powers.

In that, water, he threw, scattered, the seed, the semen. (8)

 

Explanatory notes

(3) Abhidhyāya—According to those who interpret the process here as ‘described in accordance with the Saṅkhya’, this means ‘independently of all outside force, just as a man does an act by mere thought.’

Āpaḥ—In his eagerness to be literally faithful, Buhler has translated this as ‘waters’, using the plural form in consideration of the plural form of ‘āpaḥ’ in the plural. It has to be borne in mind, however, that the text has used the plural form, because the base ‘ap’ has no singular form at all.

Vide, in this connection, Ṛgveda, 10.121.1, and Viṣṇu-purāṇa I.

Saḥ—Hiraṇyagarbha (acc. to Medhātithi); the Paramātman (according to others.)

Abhidhyāya—According to the interpretation of ‘others’, noted by Medhātithi, under verse 11, this participle means ‘independently of all external activity, just as a man may do some act by merely willing it.’

Medhātithi P. 11, l. 6—‘anyebhya idamucyate’—This is an idiomatic expression used in the sense—‘This that is urged is spoken, as it were, to others—it does not concern us,—it has no hearing upon what we have said.’