श्रीभगवानुवाच एवं पृष्टो महादेव: स्वयम्भूर्भूतभावन: । ध्यायमान: प्रश्नबीजं नाभ्यपद्यत कर्मधी: ॥ १८ ॥
śrī-bhagavān uvāca evaṁ pṛṣṭo mahā-devaḥ svayambhūr bhūta-bhāvanaḥ dhyāyamānaḥ praśna-bījaṁ nābhyapadyata karma-dhīḥ
- śrī-bhagavān uvāca
- the Supreme Personality of Godhead said
- evam
- thus
- pṛṣṭaḥ
- questioned
- mahā-devaḥ
- the great god Brahmā
- svayam-bhūḥ
- without material birth (born directly from the body of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu)
- bhūta
- of all conditioned souls
- bhāvanaḥ
- the creator (of their conditioned life)
- dhyāyamānaḥ
- seriously considering
- praśna
- of the question
- bījam
- the essential truth
- na abhyapadyata
- did not reach
- karma-dhīḥ
- intelligence bewildered by his own activities of creation
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Uddhava, Brahmā himself, who is born directly from the body of the Lord and who is the creator of all living entities within the material world, being the best of the demigods, seriously contemplated the question of his sons headed by Sanaka. The intelligence of Brahmā, however, was affected by his own activities of creation, and thus he could not discover the essential answer to this question.