सोऽन्ते वैश्वानरो भूत्वा सन्दग्ध्वा सर्वाणि भूतानि पृथिव्यप्सु प्रलीयत आपस्तेजसि प्रलीयन्ते तेजो वायौ विलीयते वायुराकाशे विलीयत आकाशमिन्द्रियेष्विन्द्रियाणि तन्मात्रेषु तन्मात्राणि भूतादौ विलीयन्ते भूतादिर्महति विलीयते महानव्यक्ते विलीयतेऽव्यक्तमक्षरे विलीयते अक्षरं तमसि विलीयते तमः परे देव एकीभवति परस्तान्न सन्नासन्न सदसदित्येतन्निर्वाणानुशासनमिति वेदानुशासनमिति वेदानुशासनम्
so'nte vaiśvānaro bhūtvā sandagdhvā sarvāṇi bhūtāni pṛthivyapsu pralīyata āpastejasi pralīyante tejo vāyau vilīyate vāyurākāśe vilīyata ākāśamindriyeṣvindriyāṇi tanmātreṣu tanmātrāṇi bhūtādau vilīyante bhūtādirmahati vilīyate mahānavyakte vilīyate'vyaktamakṣare vilīyate akṣaraṃ tamasi vilīyate tamaḥ pare deva ekībhavati parastānna sannāsanna sadasadityetannirvāṇānuśāsanamiti vedānuśāsanamiti vedānuśāsanam
He at the end, having become Vaiśvānara and burnt up all beings — earth dissolves in the waters, the waters dissolve in fire, fire dissolves in wind, wind — in space, space — in the senses, the senses — in the subtle origins, the subtle origins — in the origin of the elements, the origin of the elements — in the great, the great — in the unmanifest, the unmanifest — in the imperishable, the imperishable — in darkness, and darkness becomes one in the Highest God. Beyond that — neither the existent, nor the non-existent, nor the existent-and-non-existent. Such is the teaching of nirvāṇa, such is the teaching of the Veda, such is the teaching of the Veda.
bf5d8228305b · publicado 29 jul 2026, 4:12:03 UTC
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Creation is rolled back, and rolled back in exactly the order in which it unfolded — only in reverse.
In the first khaṇḍa the order ran: darkness → the origin of the elements → space → wind → fire → the waters → earth. Here: earth → the waters → fire → wind → space → the senses → the subtle origins → the origin of the elements → the great → the unmanifest → the imperishable → darkness → the Highest God. The ladder is the same, but climbed from below upward and built out at the top.
The verb throughout is one: vilīyate, “dissolves, melts”. Not “is destroyed” and not “is shattered”: each step passes into the one from which it issued, as salt passes into water. There is no perishing of the world here — there is a return.
Vaiśvānara stands apart, “the fire common to all men”: he who “burnt up all beings”. The conflagration is named the beginning of the rolling-up — and yet what follows it is not ash but dissolution.
The summit of the ladder is described with care: darkness “becomes one in the Highest God”, and above him — the same three negations with which the book began. The circle is closed: what they began with, with that they end.
And a name is given to the whole exposition: nirvāṇa-anuśāsana, “the teaching of extinguishing”. The word nirvāṇa means literally “blowing out, going out”, as a lamp goes out — and here it is applied not to a man but to the universe.
This ladder Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa holds to be the chief exposition of the order of creation in the śruti, and by it he checks the others. The double “such is the teaching of the Veda” is the mark of a section's close; the same formula will end the further khaṇḍas.