Devanagari
मृतेऽण्ड एष एतस्मिन् यदभूत्ततो मार्तण्ड इति व्यपदेश: ।
हिरण्यगर्भ इति यद्धिरण्याण्डसमुद्भव: ॥ ४४ ॥
Verse text
mṛte ’ṇḍa eṣa etasmin yad abhūt tato mārtaṇḍa iti vyapadeśaḥ; hiraṇyagarbha iti yad dhiraṇyāṇḍa-samudbhavaḥ.
Synonyms
mṛte
—
dead
;
aṇḍe
—
in the globe
;
eṣaḥ
—
this
;
etasmin
—
in this
;
yat
—
which
;
abhūt
—
entered personally at the time of creation
;
tataḥ
—
from that
;
mārtaṇḍa
—
Mārtaṇḍa
;
iti
—
thus
;
vyapadeśaḥ
—
the designation
;
hiraṇya
—
garbhaḥ — known as Hiraṇyagarbha
;
iti
—
thus
;
yat
—
because
;
hiraṇya
—
aṇḍa — samudbhavaḥ — his material body was created from Hiraṇyagarbha .
Translation
The sun-god is also known as Vairāja, the total material body for all living entities. Because he entered this dull egg of the universe at the time of creation, he is also called Mārtaṇḍa. He is also known as Hiraṇyagarbha because he received his material body from Hiraṇyagarbha [Lord Brahmā].
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The sun is known as Mārtaṇḍa because he entered the unconscious universe. He is called Hiraṇyagarbha because he is the very existence of the universe called the Hiraṇyāṇḍa.
The name of the sun is used to explain the reason for it being situated in the middle of the universe. The sun entered into the unconscious universe. Therefore the sun is called Mārtaṇḍa, “he who entered the dead universe.” Who is the sun? The sun is the totality of jīvas with subtle covering-- Hiraṇyagarbha, because he is the very existence (sambhavaḥ) of the gross body of the universe called the hiraṇyāṇḍa, the golden egg.
Purport
The post of Lord Brahmā is meant for very highly elevated, spiritually advanced living beings. When such living beings are unavailable, Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, expands Himself as Lord Brahmā. This takes place very rarely. Consequently there are two kinds of Brahmās. Sometimes Brahmā is an ordinary living entity, and at other times Brahmā is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Brahmā spoken of here is an ordinary living being. Whether Brahmā is the Supreme Personality of Godhead or an ordinary living being, he is known as Vairāja Brahmā and Hiraṇyagarbha Brahmā. Therefore the sun-god is also accepted as Vairāja Brahmā.