SB 11.21.40 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

यथोर्णनाभिर्हृदयादूर्णामुद्वमते मुखात् । आकाशाद् घोषवान् प्राणो मनसा स्पर्शरूपिणा ॥ ३८ ॥ छन्दोमयोऽमृतमय: सहस्रपदवीं प्रभु: । ओङ्काराद् व्यञ्जितस्पर्शस्वरोष्मान्त स्थभूषिताम् ॥ ३९ ॥ विचित्रभाषाविततां छन्दोभिश्चतुरुत्तरै: । अनन्तपारां बृहतीं सृजत्याक्षिपते स्वयम् ॥ ४० ॥

Verse text

yathorṇanābhir hṛdayād ūrṇām udvamate mukhāt ākāśād ghoṣavān prāṇo manasā sparśa-rūpiṇā chando-mayo ’mṛta-mayaḥ sahasra-padavīṁ prabhuḥ oṁkārād vyaṣjita-sparśa- svaroṣmāntastha-bhūṣitām vicitra-bhāṣā-vitatāṁ chandobhiś catur-uttaraiḥ ananta-pārāṁ bṛhatīṁ sṛjaty ākṣipate svayam

Synonyms

yathā — just as ; ūrṇa — nābhiḥ — a spider ; hṛdayāt — from its heart ; ūrṇām — its web ; udvamate — emits ; mukhāt — through its mouth ; ākāśāt — from the ether ; ghoṣa — vān — manifesting sound vibration ; prāṇaḥ — the Lord in the form of the original life air ; manasā — by means of the primeval mind ; sparśa — rūpiṇā — which exhibits the forms of the different phonemes of the alphabet, beginning with the sparśa letters ; chandaḥ — mayaḥ — comprising all the sacred Vedic meters ; amṛta — mayaḥ — full of transcendental pleasure ; sahasra — padavīm — which branches out in thousands of directions ; prabhuḥ — the Supreme Personality of Godhead ; oṁkārāt — from the subtle vibration oṁkāra ; vyaṣjita — expanded ; sparśa — with the consonant stops ; svara — vowels ; uṣma — sibilants ; anta — stha — and semivowels ; bhūṣitām — decorated ; vicitra — variegated ; bhāṣā — by verbal expressions ; vitatām — elaborated ; chandobhiḥ — along with the metrical arrangements ; catuḥ — uttaraiḥ — each having four syllables more than the previous ; ananta — pārām — limitless ; bṛhatīm — the great expanse of Vedic literature ; sṛjati — He creates ; ākṣipate — and withdraws ; svayam — Himself .

Translation

Just as a spider brings forth from its heart its web and emits it through its mouth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead manifests Himself as the reverberating primeval vital air, comprising all sacred Vedic meters and full of transcendental pleasure. Thus the Lord, from the ethereal sky of His heart, creates the great and limitless Vedic sound by the agency of His mind, which conceives of variegated sounds such as the sparśas. The Vedic sound branches out in thousands of directions, adorned with the different letters expanded from the syllable om: the consonants, vowels, sibilants and semivowels. The Veda is then elaborated by many verbal varieties, expressed in different meters, each having four more syllables than the previous one. Ultimately the Lord again withdraws His manifestation of Vedic sound within Himself.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Just as a spider brings forth from its heart its web and emits it through its mouth, the Supreme Lord, made of supreme bliss, made of the Vedas, taking support of ether, appears as parā sound made of prāṇa, and then creates and destroys, by his mind which produces the consonants and the manifest Vedas--which are unlimited in sound and meaning, decorated with the consonants, vowels, sibilants, and semivowels emanating from the subtle sound oṁ, and which are filled with a variety of languages and meters, each four syllables longer than the previous. Kṛṣṇa explains how the Vedas arise from himself starting from the form of parā made of prāṇa in three verses. Just as a spider emits a spider web from his heart through his mouth, the Lord as my portion, antaryāmī, composed of supreme bliss, composed of the Vedas consisting of all knowledge by my own energy, taking support of the ether, appears in the mūlādhāra-cakra of Hiraṇyagarbha (Brahmā). Previously it was said sa eṣa jīvo vivara-prasūtiḥ prāṇena ghoṣeṇa guhāṁ praviṣṭaḥ: I enter the mulādhāra-cakra of Brahmā along with the prāṇa phase of subtle parā sound. (SB 11.12.17) The Lord becomes like the ghoṣa or nāda, which becomes prāṇa. Becoming that prāṇa, the Lord creates the śruti predominated by vaikharī (bṛhatīm) by the mind. First he creates parā, then paśyantī (then madhyamā), and finally vaikharī. The Lord creates this and then destroys it. Describing the cause, mind is denoted in detail. The mind produces the consonant and other sounds. The Vedas are further described. They show many paths. The Vedas are ornamented with consonants and other sounds by contact with the throat and chest arising from oṁ. This oṁ is not the audible form, but a subtle form within the heart, being without limbs. Consonants are sounds beginning with ka and ending with ma. There are sixteen vowels (svara) starting with a. Sibilants (uṣma) are śa, ṣa, sa and ha. Semi-vowels are ya, ra, la and va. The Veda is filled with variety, with Vedic and common language. It has meters, each with four more syllables than the previous one. The Veda has no end in terms of sound and no limit in terms of meaning (ananta-pāram).

Purport

Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī has given an elaborate technical explanation of these three verses, the understanding of which requires extensive linguistic knowledge of the Sanskrit language. The essential point is that transcendental knowledge is expressed through Vedic sound vibration, which is itself a manifestation of the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead. Vedic sound emanates from the Supreme Lord and is vibrated to glorify and understand Him. The conclusion of all Vedic sound vibration is found in Bhagavad-gītā, wherein the Lord states, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ: all Vedic knowledge is simply meant to teach us to know and love God. One who always thinks of Lord Kṛṣṇa, who becomes the Lord’s devotee and who bows down to and worships the Lord with faith and devotion, chanting His holy name, has certainly achieved a perfect understanding of all that is indicated by the word veda (“knowledge”).