SB 3.26.20 · Srimad Bhagavatam

Devanagari

विश्वमात्मगतं व्यञ्जन्कूटस्थो जगदङ्कुर: । स्वतेजसापिबत्तीव्रमात्मप्रस्वापनं तम: ॥ २० ॥

Verse text

viśvam ātma-gataṁ vyaṣjan kūṭa-stho jagad-aṅkuraḥ sva-tejasāpibat tīvram ātma-prasvāpanaṁ tamaḥ

Synonyms

viśvam — the universe ; ātma — gatam — contained within itself ; vyaṣjan — manifesting ; kūṭa — sthaḥ — unchangeable ; jagat — aṅkuraḥ — the root of all cosmic manifestations ; sva — tejasā — by its own effulgence ; apibat — swallowed ; tīvram — dense ; ātma — prasvāpanam — which had covered the mahat-tattva ; tamaḥ — darkness .

Translation

Thus, after manifesting variegatedness, the effulgent mahat-tattva, which contains all the universes within itself, which is the root of all cosmic manifestations and which is not destroyed at the time of annihilation, swallows the darkness that covered the effulgence at the time of dissolution.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Mahat-tattva, the seed of the universe, without disturbance, manifesting the universe held within itself, swallowed up by its radiance the intense darkness which had covered it since the time of destruction. The mahat-tattva manifests the material elements starting with ahaṅkāra (viśvam) which was situated within it in a subtle form. The words are in the masculine gender modifying the word mahān, rather than mahat-tattvam (neuter.) The mahat-tattva is fixed (kūṭasthaḥ) without agitation or inertness (unlike the mind). It was covered (prasvāpanam) by darkness, which, at the time of destruction, merged the mahat-tattva into prakṛti.

Purport

Since the Supreme Personality of Godhead is ever existing, all-blissful and full of knowledge, His different energies are also ever existing in the dormant stage. Thus when the mahat-tattva was created, it manifested the material ego and swallowed up the darkness which covered the cosmic manifestation at the time of dissolution. This idea can be further explained. A person at night remains inactive, covered by the darkness of night, but when he is awakened in the morning, the covering of night, or the forgetfulness of the sleeping state, disappears. Similarly, when the mahat-tattva appears after the night of dissolution, the effulgence is manifested to exhibit the variegatedness of this material world.