Devanagari
तमोमात्रामुपादाय प्रतिसंरुद्धविक्रम: ।
कालेनानुगताशेष आस्ते तूष्णीं दिनात्यये ॥ २८ ॥
Verse text
tamo-mātrām upādāya
pratisaṁruddha-vikramaḥ
kālenānugatāśeṣa
āste tūṣṇīṁ dinātyaye
Synonyms
tamaḥ
—
the mode of ignorance, or the darkness of night
;
mātrām
—
an insignificant portion only
;
upādāya
—
accepting
;
pratisaṁruddha
—
vikramaḥ — suspending all power of manifestation
;
kālena
—
by means of the eternal kāla
;
anugata
—
merged in
;
aśeṣaḥ
—
innumerable living entities
;
āste
—
remains
;
tūṣṇīm
—
silent
;
dina
—
atyaye — at the end of the day .
Translation
At the end of the day, under the insignificant portion of the mode of darkness, the powerful manifestation of the universe merges in the darkness of night. By the influence of eternal time, the innumerable living entities remain merged in that dissolution, and everything is silent.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Accepting a small portion of darkness through a form of Śiva, Kālāgni-rūdra, who covers the three worlds with fire, and merging the jīvas of the three worlds in his body, the Lord remains silent at the end of the day.
This verse describes the situation during Brahmā’s night. Accepting a small portion of darkness for destroying the three worlds through the form of Kālāgni-rūdra, having destroyed (pratisaṁruḍdhaḥ) bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ and svaḥ (vikramaḥ), covering them with fire and other elements the Lord also makes the jīvas (aśeṣam) of the three worlds merge (anugataḥ) into him. He remains silent in the sense that he stops the pastime of displaying the material realm. It was previously mentioned that vikrama means bhuḥ, bhuvaḥ and svaḥ. (SB 2.6.7)
Purport
This verse is an explanation of the night of Brahmā, which is the effect of the influence of time in touch with an insignificant portion of the modes of material nature in darkness. The dissolution of the three worlds is effected by the incarnation of darkness, Rudra, represented by the fire of eternal time which blazes over the three worlds. These three worlds are known as Bhūḥ, Bhuvaḥ and Svaḥ (Pātāla, Martya and Svarga). The innumerable living entities merge into that dissolution, which appears to be the dropping of the curtain of the scene of the Supreme Lord’s energy, and so everything becomes silent.