Verse 1.120

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 1.120:

शब्दस्य परिणापोऽयमित्याम्नायविदो विदुः ।
छन्दोभ्य एव प्रथममेतद्विश्वं व्यवर्तत ॥ १२० ॥

śabdasya pariṇāpo'yamityāmnāyavido viduḥ |
chandobhya eva prathamametadviśvaṃ vyavartata || 120 ||

120. Knowers of tradition (the Vedas) have declared that all this is the transformation of the word. It is from the chandas that this universe has evolved.

Commentary

Just as other thinkers,¹ while explaining causality, saw that the properties of the cause continue in the effects and have declared as the source of everything, either the mass of atoms, free from mutual distinctions, subtle, imperceptible, having the potentialities of all effects, with the tendency to produce them kept in abeyance or Primordial Matter or the collection of Powers rooted in Nescience or something which has no birth nor change (but is merely the substratum) of appearances, in the same way, in the Scripture also, the word in which the powers of Enjoyer and Enjoyed are submerged has been declared to be the cause of the world in many ways. For example, it has been said: “The Lord Vairāja, is indeed made up of Ṛk, Yajus and Sāman. The Lord is the world, the Lord is the sacrifice. In it, three oblations are offered, pleasing to the three worlds. These oblations offered in a three-fold manner, are the three worlds.”² Similarly—“He who created the world is indeed the Lord of the world, made up of hymns, existing at the very beginning, indestructible (or a very bull). From him were born cattle, from cattle all vegetation and from vegetation, fire. That is why it has been said that one should not milk in a wooden vessel. A wooden vessel is, indeed, fire. That is why milking is never done in a wooden vessel.”²

There is a ṚK also on this very subject—

“From the Lord first came knowledge, the food;from it were separated name and form; the name came from life (breath) and the form from knowledge. The one knowledge appears as many.”³

Again, it has been said—“It is the word which became the worlds; the word became all that is immortal and mortal. It is the word which enjoys, which speaks in many ways. There is nothing beyond the word.”³

There are also some ancient sayings on the subject—

“The Creator, mentioned in the Scripture, after dividing Himself in many ways, into manifestations of Himself, entered into Himself with all the manifestations.”⁴

“Those persons in whom the pure speech is established in a great measure, in them the holy light of the Creator exists eminently.”

“The great Light of the Creator which is in the learned as though covered with a lid, becomes merged with its source, when their body dissolves.”

“When one is in possession of right knowledge, one is identified with the shining mass of that wonderful light and is merged in it.”

Notes

1. The problem here is to decide what anye means. According to Vṛṣabha, it means the Vaiśeṣikas and others. If he is right, then the Vṛtti “yathaivānye... vyavasthāpayanti’ mentions different things beginning with the mass of atoms (aṇugrāma) as the original cause of the world, according to others. For Vaiśeṣikas, it is the mass of atoms, for Sāṅkhyas, it is Primordial Matter (Pradhāna), for others, it is the bundle of Powers, rooted in Nescience and for others still, it is something devoid of birth and change and is the substratum of appearances (vivarta). The other way of interpreting the passage is to take it as describing only the mass of atoms, lurking all the adjectives in the passage with ‘aṇugrāmam). The former way is more in accordance with our text.

2. The source of these two prose texts is unknown. In the second text, the word ‘akṣan’ may be ‘ukṣan).

3. These two verses are given as ṚK, but they are not found in the Ṛg-Veda.

4. The idea in this verse is that all differentiation merges into the ultimate at the time of pralaya. That is, it exists in a latent stage, only to become patent at the time of creation. As Vṛ. puts it. vyaktirūpeṇa bhūtvā śaktirāpeṇāvatiṣṭhate [śaktirūpeṇāvatiṣṭhate?].