Devanagari
दशोत्तराधिकैर्यत्र प्रविष्ट: परमाणुवत् ।
लक्ष्यतेऽन्तर्गताश्चान्ये कोटिशो ह्यण्डराशय: ॥ ४१ ॥
Verse text
daśottarādhikair yatra
praviṣṭaḥ paramāṇuvat
lakṣyate ’ntar-gatāś cānye
koṭiśo hy aṇḍa-rāśayaḥ
Synonyms
daśa
—
uttara — adhikaiḥ — with ten times greater thickness
;
yatra
—
in which
;
praviṣṭaḥ
—
entered
;
parama
—
aṇu — vat — like atoms
;
lakṣyate
—
it (the mass of universes) appears
;
antaḥ
—
gatāḥ — come together
;
ca
—
and
;
anye
—
in the other
;
koṭiśaḥ
—
clustered
;
hi
—
for
;
aṇḍa
—
rāśayaḥ — huge combination of universes .
Translation
The layers or elements covering the universes are each ten times thicker than the one before, and all the universes clustered together appear like atoms in a huge combination.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Within the pore hole of Mahāviṣṇu, the universe composed of sixteen transformations and eight elements, measuring 500,000,000 yojanas, covered by seven layers of elements which are ten times thicker than the previous layer, appears like a paramāṇu. Millions of other universes also, within the Lord’s pores, appear small as well.
The Lord was described as the soul of the universe. Now he is described as covering the whole universe. Beginning with eight elements (five gross elements, mahat-tattva, ahaṅkāra and prakṛti) and sixteen transformations (ten senses, mind, five sense objects), the universe, covered by seven layers such as earth (bahiḥ viśeṣādibhiḥ), each ten times thicker than the previous layer appears very small. This is the case not only with one universe, but others as well.
Purport
The coverings of the universes are also constituted of the elements of earth, water, fire, air and ether, and each is ten times thicker than the one before. The first covering of the universe is earth, and it is ten times thicker than the universe itself. If the universe is four billion miles in size, then the size of the earthly covering of the universe is four billion times ten. The covering of water is ten times greater than the earthly covering, the covering of fire is ten times greater than the watery covering, the covering of air is ten times greater than that of the fire, the covering of ether is ten times greater still than that of air, and so on. The universe within the coverings of matter appears to be like an atom in comparison to the coverings, and the number of universes is unknown even to those who can estimate the coverings of the universes.