Devanagari
ब्रह्मोवाच
वाचां वह्नेर्मुखं क्षेत्रं छन्दसां सप्त धातव: ।
हव्यकव्यामृतान्नानां जिह्वा सर्वरसस्य च ॥ १ ॥
Verse text
brahmovāca
vācāṁ vahner mukhaṁ kṣetraṁ
chandasāṁ sapta dhātavaḥ
havya-kavyāmṛtānnānāṁ
jihvā sarva-rasasya ca
Synonyms
brahmā uvāca
—
Lord Brahmā said
;
vācām
—
of the voice
;
vahneḥ
—
of fire
;
mukham
—
the mouth
;
kṣetram
—
the generating center
;
chandasām
—
of the Vedic hymns, such as Gāyatrī
;
sapta
—
seven
;
dhātavaḥ
—
skin and six other layers
;
havya
—
kavya — offerings for the demigods and the forefathers
;
amṛta
—
food for human beings
;
annānām
—
of all sorts of foodstuffs
;
jihvā
—
the tongue
;
sarva
—
all
;
rasasya
—
of all delicacies
;
ca
—
also .
Translation
Lord Brahmā said: The mouth of the virāṭ-puruṣa [the universal form of the Lord] is the generating center of the voice, and the controlling deity is Fire. His skin and six other layers are the generating centers of the Vedic hymns, and His tongue is the productive center of different foodstuffs and delicacies for offering to the demigods, the forefathers and the general mass of people.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Brahmā said: From the mouth of the Lord arose speech, the speech organ, and Agni in the universal form. From his seven dhātus arose the seven Vedic meters. From the Lord’s tongue arose the remnants of offerings to devatās and Pitṛs, the six tastes, and from the Lord’s place of tasting arose the tongue and Varuṇa.
Purport
The opulences of the universal form of the Lord are described herein. It is said that His mouth is the generating center of all kinds of voices, and its controlling deity is the fire demigod. And His skin and other six layers of bodily construction are the representative generating centers of the seven kinds of Vedic hymns, like the Gāyatrī. Gāyatrī is the beginning of all Vedic
mantras,
and it is explained in the first volume of
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Since the generating centers are the different parts of the universal form of the Lord, and since the form of the Lord is transcendental to the material creation, it is to be understood that the voice, the tongue, the skin, etc., suggest that the Lord in His transcendental form is not without them. The material voice, or the energy of taking in foodstuff, is generated originally from the Lord; such actions are but perverted reflections of the original reservoirs — the transcendental situation is not without spiritual variegatedness. In the spiritual world, all the perverted forms of material variegatedness are fully represented in their original spiritual identity. The only difference is that material activities are contaminated by the three modes of material nature, whereas the potencies in the spiritual world are all pure because they are engaged in the unalloyed transcendental loving service of the Lord. In the spiritual world, the Lord is the sublime enjoyer of everything, and the living entities there are all engaged in His transcendental loving service without any contamination of the modes of material nature. The activities in the spiritual world are without any of the difficulties of the material world, but there is no question of impersonal voidness on the spiritual platform, as suggested by the impersonalists. Devotional service is defined in the
Nārada-paṣcarātra
as follows:
sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-
sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate
Originally, since all the senses are produced of the Lord’s reservoir of senses, the sensual activities of the material world are to be purified by the process of devotional service, and thus the perfection of life can be attained simply by purifying the present position of our material activities. And the purifying process begins from the stage of being liberated from the conception of different designations. Every living entity is engaged in some sort of service, either for the self, or for the family, or for the society, country, etc., but unfortunately, all such services are rendered due to material attachment. The attachments of the material affinity may be simply changed to the service of the Lord, and thus the treatment of being freed from material attachment begins automatically. The process of liberation is therefore easier through devotional service than by any other methods, for in the
Bhagavad-gītā
(12.5)
it is said that one is subjected to various kinds of tribulations if one is impersonally attached:
kleśo ’dhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
In the sixth chapter the speech and other elements arising from the universal form’s limbs and the three fourths and one quarter powers are described.
From the Lord, who was accompanied by māyā-śakti, the universal form arose. This is explained.
Akrūra says:
bhūs toyam agniḥ pavanaṁ kham ādir
mahān ajādir mana indriyāṇi |
sarvendriyārthā vibudhāś ca sarve
ye hetavas te jagato ’ṅga-bhūtāḥ ||
Earth; water; fire; air; ether and its source, false ego; the mahat-tattva, the total material nature and her source, the Supreme Lord’s puruṣa expansion; the mind; the senses; the sense objects; and the senses’ presiding deities—all these causes of the cosmic manifestation are born from your transcendental body. SB 10.40.2
Which limbs of the universal form arose from which limbs of the Supreme Lord? Speech of the universal form and the individual living beings, their organs of speaking, and the presiding deity of the voice organ, namely fire, arose from the mouth of the Lord. The words are modifying the word hareḥ in the seventh verse. Kṣetram means the place of origination. Though speech and fire etc. arise from material ahaṅkāra, they are said to arise from the mouth and other bodily parts of the Lord because they are vibhūtis of the Lord’s various limbs such as the mouth. Māyā is also the śakti of the Lord and therefore non-different from him. śakti-śaktimator abhedāt śakteḥ kāryaṁ śaktimato ’pi bhavati: because of non-difference between the śakti and the possessor of the śakti, the effect of the śakti becomes non-different from the possessor of the śakti. Speech, fire etc. and all their expansions in the spiritual world are eternal and full of consciousness since they are part of the spiritual pastimes. But their vibhūtis in the material world are māyā and temporary.
There are seven meters such as gāyatrī. The seven dhātus of the Lord such as skin, being the places of origination, became the seven meters. The place of origination is in the nominative case and the items arising are in the possessive case. The meaning is “From the place of origination arose that particular devatā and sense organ.” This should be understood for all the items listed. Havyam is food for the devatās. Kavyam is food for the Pitṛs. Amṛtam is the remnants of food from both, which becomes food for men. From the organ of taste of the Supreme Lord arose the six types of taste in the universal form (and water). Ca indicates that Varuṇa, the devatā of the tongue (and the tongue of the universal form) arose from the palate, place of tasting on the Lord. [Note: There is a distinction between the sense organ, which is subtle, and the place of the sense organ, or the gross manifestation of the organ made of the gross elements. This distinction is applied to the Supreme Lord and his organs as well. From his sense organ, if it is a knowledge sense, arises the gross element and the sense object (tan-mātrā). From the place of the organ, or the form of the organ, arises the sense devatā and the sense organ of the universal form and the individual living entities. All factors are not always listed in the following verses but should be understood. ]