श्रीसनन्दन उवाच स्वसृष्टमिदमापीय शयानं सह शक्तिभि: । तदन्ते बोधयां चक्रुस्तल्लिङ्गै: श्रुतय: परम् ॥ १२ ॥ यथा शयानं संराजं वन्दिनस्तत्पराक्रमै: । प्रत्यूषेऽभेत्य सुश्लोकैर्बोधयन्त्यनुजीविन: ॥ १३ ॥
śrī-sanandana uvāca sva-sṛṣṭam idam āpīya śayānaṁ saha śaktibhiḥ tad-ante bodhayāṁ cakrus tal-liṅgaiḥ śrutayaḥ param yathā śayānaṁ saṁrājaṁ vandinas tat-parākramaiḥ pratyūṣe ’bhetya su-ślokair bodhayanty anujīvinaḥ
- śrī-sanandanaḥ
- Śrī Sanandana (the exalted mind-born son of Brahmā who was chosen to reply to the sages’ inquiry)
- uvāca
- said
- sva
- by Himself
- sṛṣṭam
- created
- idam
- this (universe)
- āpīya
- having withdrawn
- śayānam
- lying asleep
- saha
- with
- śaktibhiḥ
- His energies
- tat
- of that (period of universal dissolution)
- ante
- at the end
- bodhayām cakruḥ
- they awakened Him
- tat
- His
- liṅgaiḥ
- with (descriptions of) His characteristics
- śrutayaḥ
- the Vedas
- param
- the Supreme
- yathā
- just as
- śayānam
- sleeping
- saṁrājam
- a king
- vandinaḥ
- his court poets
- tat
- his
- parākramaiḥ
- with (recitations of) the heroic deeds
- pratyūṣe
- at dawn
- abhetya
- approaching him
- suślokaiḥ
- poetic
- bodhayanti
- they awaken
- anujīvinaḥ
- his servants
Śrī Sanandana replied: After the Supreme Lord withdrew the universe He had previously created, He lay for some time as if asleep, and all His energies rested dormant within Him. When the time came for the next creation, the personified Vedas awakened Him by chanting His glories, just as the poets serving a king approach him at dawn and awaken him by reciting his heroic deeds.