मात्रास्पर्शानुसारिण्यो विवेकपदभङ्गुराः । मोहायैव परामृष्टास् सकला लोकसंविदः
All worldly experiences, following the contact of the senses, are unstable in the realm of discernment; they are grasped only for delusion.
सर्वस्या एव पर्यन्ते शुभाया अपि संस्थितेः । मलिनं दुःखम् अस्त्य् एव ज्वालाया इव कज्जलम्
At the end of everything, even of auspicious existence, there remains impurity and suffering, just as soot remains from a flame.
आगमापायतो ऽनित्या मनष्षष्ठेन्द्रियक्रियाः । लता नागेन्द्रम् इव ता धारयन्ति न सत्पदम्
The actions of mind and the six senses are impermanent, arising and passing away; like a creeper cannot support a great serpent, they do not uphold the path of truth.
पुत्रिका रक्तमांसस्य कान्तेयम् इति सादरम् । स्वदेहनाम्न्य् अस्थिचये श्लिष्यते सेति कः क्रमः
With affection, one calls a mass of blood and flesh 'my beloved daughter'; but what is the logic in clinging to a pile of bones named 'my own body'?
सर्वं सत्यम् इदम् राम स्थिरम् अज्ञस्य तुष्टये । ज्ञस्यास्थिरम् असत्यं च जगद् राम न तुष्टये
O Rama, all this is real and stable only for the satisfaction of the ignorant; for the wise, the world is unstable and unreal, and does not bring satisfaction.
अभुक्ते ऽपि विषे यैषा विषमूर्छां प्रयच्छति । तां परित्यज्य भावास्थाम् आत्मैकत्वाज् ज्ञतां व्रज
Even without being consumed, this (world) gives the stupor of poison; abandoning attachment to it, attain the knowledge of the oneness of the Self.
अनात्मन्य् आत्मभावेन चित्तं स्थितिम् उपागतम् । यदा तदेदम् आयातं जगज्जालम् असन्मयम्
When the mind, taking the non-self as the self, comes to rest in that state, then this web of the world, made of unreality, arises.
वासनावशतो ब्रह्ममनसा कल्पितं वपुः । तेजसाश्रितकुड्येन हेमाभत्वम् इवात्मनः
By the force of latent impressions, the mind of Brahman imagines a body; just as a wall coated with gold appears golden, so does the Self seem thus.
वैरिञ्चपदम् आसाद्य मनो ब्रह्मन् महामते । इदं जगत् सुघनतां कथम् आनयति क्रमात्
O wise Brahman, having attained the state of the Creator, how does the mind gradually bring about the apparent solidity of this world?
गर्भतल्पात् समुत्थाय पद्मजः प्रथमं शिशुः । ब्रह्मेति शब्दम् अकरोद् ब्रह्मा तेन स उच्यते
Rising from the womb-bed, the first child, born from the lotus, uttered the word 'Brahma'; thus, he is called Brahmā.
सङ्कल्पजालरूपस्य मनसः कल्पिताकृतेः । अकरोत् तस्य सङ्कल्पलक्ष्मीः पदम् अथान्तरे
He established, for the mind—whose form is a web of imagination and whose shape is conceived—an abode for the fortune of imagination, in another realm.
ततस् सङ्कल्पयाम् आस पूर्वं तेजो महाप्रभम् । लसदग्निलताचक्रवक्रीकृतदिगन्तरम्
Then, he imagined first a radiant light, of great splendor, shining like a circle of blazing fire, turning the directions golden.
ऋक्षप्रतिमनिष्ठ्यूतकर्कशाग्निकणोत्करम् । मुञ्जपिञ्जरपर्यन्तहेमकाननिताम्बरम्
It was filled with clusters of harsh fire-sparks, woven like constellations, its sky colored like pale grass at the edges, and adorned with golden forests.
ज्वालाहेमलताजालजटालनिजमण्डलम् । कचत्प्रसरदुद्दामकरकुण्डलमण्डितम्
Its mass was a tangle of golden flames and blazing fire, adorned with wildly spreading, shining, golden earrings.
तच्छरीरि मनस् तस्मिंस् ततस् तेजसि भास्वरे । आत्माकारसमाकारं भास्करं समकल्पयत्
Within that brilliant light, the mind, embodying itself in that form, imagined the sun, shaped like the self.
स ततस् तेजसस् तस्माद् अभ्युदेति दिवाकरः । ज्वालामण्डलमध्यस्थो ज्वलत्कनककुण्डलः
From that light, the sun arises, dwelling in the midst of a circle of flames, wearing blazing golden earrings.
ज्वालाजटाभारधरो वान्तविस्फारपावकः । ज्वालाविलासावयवः पूरिताकाशमण्डलः
He bears a mass of flame-locks, exhaling and expanding fire, his limbs playing with flames, filling the entire sphere of the sky.
अथ ब्रह्मा महाबुद्धिर् अन्यांस् तांस् तेजसः कणान् । अकस्मात् प्रतिभातेन विमानत्वेन चारुणा
Then Brahma, of great intellect, suddenly, by a flash of insight, fashioned those other particles of light into beautiful aerial vehicles.
क्षणात् सङ्कल्पयाम् आस ददर्श च तथैव तान् । सङ्कल्पान् अन्तरं जातान् विद्वाञ् शब्दगणान् इव
In an instant, he conceived them and saw them just as he had imagined; the wise one perceived the arising of these conceptions as one perceives groups of sounds.
स्थितिर् एषा महाबाहो प्रतिसर्गं स्वयम्भुवः । प्रत्यहं च प्रतिजगत् सङ्कल्पितसुरासुरा
This is the process, O mighty-armed one, by which the self-born creates anew; each day and for each world, the gods and demons are conjured by his thought.
कालं कालविभक्तीश् च नक्षत्राणि ग्रहांस् तथा । सरितस् सागरान् द्वीपान् दिशश् शैलांस् तथावनिम्
He imagined time, its divisions, the stars and planets, rivers, oceans, islands, directions, mountains, and the earth itself.
देवान् दैत्यान् नरान् नागान् गन्धर्वान् यक्षराक्षसान् । अकल्पयद् अयं ब्रह्मा तरङ्गान् इव सागरः
This Brahma imagined gods, demons, humans, serpents, gandharvas, yakshas, and rakshasas, just as the ocean produces waves.
तेषां देशान् गिरींश् चैव विमानान्य् उत्तमानि च । कर्माणि प्रविभक्तानि पद्मजस् समकल्पयत्
He also devised their regions, mountains, splendid aerial vehicles, and assigned their various actions, the lotus-born one arranged all these.
ते ऽपि सङ्कल्पसम्प्राप्तसिद्धयस् सर्वशक्तयः । यथासङ्कल्पितं वस्तु क्षणाद् ददृशुर् अग्रतः
They too, having attained perfection through thought and possessing all powers, instantly saw before them whatever they had conceived.
सङ्कल्पयन्त्य् अथान्यांस् ते नानाभूतगणान् बहून् । ते ऽप्य् अन्यांस् तत्र ते ऽप्य् अन्यांस् ते ऽप्य् अन्यान् विविधान् अपि
Then they imagined many other groups of beings; those beings in turn imagined others, and those others yet more, of various kinds.
संस्मृत्य वेदांस् तदनु यज्ञक्रमगुणान्वितान् । जगद्गृहवधूं ब्रह्मा मर्यादां समकल्पयत्
Recalling the Vedas, along with the qualities of the sacrificial rituals, Brahma established the boundaries for the world, as one would for a housewife.
ब्राह्मं रूपम् उपादाय मनो मायि महद्वपुः । तनोतीत्थम् इमां सृष्टिं भूतसन्ततिसङ्कुलाम्
Assuming the divine form, the mind-created vast body, he produces this creation, teeming with the succession of beings.
समुद्राचलवृक्षाढ्यां कृतलोकान्तरक्रमाम् । मेरुभूपीठदिक्कुञ्जजटालोदरमण्डलाम्
He made worlds adorned with oceans, mountains, and trees, with realms stretching between worlds, and regions marked by the peaks of Meru, the earth's seat, directions, forests, and tangled masses.
सुखदुःखजराजन्ममरणव्याधिवेधिताम् । रागद्वेषभयाविद्धां गुणत्रयमयात्मिकाम्
This creation is struck by pleasure and pain, old age, birth, death, and disease; pierced by passion, aversion, and fear; its essence is composed of the three qualities.
मनोभिस् तैर् विरिञ्चोत्थैर् यद् यथा कल्पितं पुरा । तत् तथैवाखिलं दृष्टं दृश्यते ऽद्यापि मायया
Whatever was imagined by those minds, arisen from Brahma, in the past—so it was seen in its entirety, and even now it is perceived through illusion.