Verse 2.159

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

अस्मात्पूर्वं भवेत्सूत्रं तस्मिन्सति विराड्यतः ।
श्रुत्यन्तरानुरोधाच्च विज्ञानमिति लिङ्गतः ॥ १५९ ॥

asmātpūrvaṃ bhavetsūtraṃ tasminsati virāḍyataḥ |
śrutyantarānurodhācca vijñānamiti liṅgataḥ || 159 ||

English translation of verse 2.159:

Prior to this (Virāj) must have been the Sūtrātman; for, that existing, the Virāj could come into being. This must be so, since it is in accordance with another śruti text, and also because there is the indication “mind” (vijñānam).

Notes:

The cosmic being in the unmanifest subtle condition is the basis of the Virāj. It is called Sūtrātman because it runs through all;

Hiraṇyagarbha, because of its power of knowing and desiring; and Prāṇa, because of its power of acting. The Virāj could come into being only after the Sūtrātman had come into being.

That the Sūtrātman must have preceded the Virāj is brought out in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (III, vi, 1). Yājñavalkya tells Gārgī that the elements are pervaded by the world of the Gandharvas, this again by the sun, the sun by the moon, the moon by the stars, the stars by the world of the gods, this again oy the world of Indra, and the world of Indra by the world of the Virāj (Prajāpati). When Gārgī asks Yājñavalkya: “On what then, pray, are the worlds of Prajāpati woven, like warp and woof?” Yājñavalkya replies: “On the worlds of Brahmā (Hiraṇyagarbha)” The idea is that the Sūtrātman is the basis of the Virāj.

Further, the Taittirīya text (II, v, 1), which occurs in the sequel, says: “Knowledge-actualises a sacrifice, and it executes the duties as well. All the gods meditate on the first-born Brahman conditioned by knowledge” (vijñānaṃ yajñaṃ tanute, karmāṇi tanute'pi ca, vijñānaṃ devāḥ sarve, brahma jyeṣṭhamupāśate). The word vijñānam here means the Sūtrātman which is the first-born.