Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam

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देवहूतिरुवाच
अथाप्यजोऽन्तःसलिले शयानं
भूतेन्द्रियार्थात्ममयं वपुस्ते ।
गुणप्रवाहं सदशेषबीजं
दध्यौ स्वयं यज्जठराब्जजातः ॥२॥

devahūtir uvāca
athāpy ajo ’ntaḥ-salile śayānaṁ
bhūtendriyārthātma-mayaṁ vapus te
guṇa-pravāhaṁ sad-aśeṣa-bījaṁ
dadhyau svayaṁ yaj-jaṭharābja-jātaḥ

WORD BY WORD

devahūtiḥ uvāca — Devahūti said; atha api — moreover; ajaḥ — Lord Brahmā; antaḥ-salile — in the water; śayānam — lying; bhūta — the material elements; indriya — the senses; artha — the sense objects; ātma — the mind; mayam — pervaded by; vapuḥ — body; te — Your; guṇa-pravāham — the source of the stream of the three modes of material nature; sat — manifest; aśeṣa — of all; bījam — the seed; dadhyau — meditated upon; svayam — himself; yat — of whom; jaṭhara — from the abdomen; abja — from the lotus flower; jātaḥ — born;

TRANSLATION

Devahūti said: Brahmā is said to be unborn because he takes birth from the lotus flower which grows from Your abdomen while You lie in the ocean at the bottom of the universe. But even Brahmā simply meditated upon You, whose body is the source of unlimited universes.

PURPORT

Brahmā is also named Aja, “he who is unborn.” Whenever we think of someone’s birth, there must be a material father and mother, for thus one is born. But Brahmā, being the first living creature within this universe, was born directly from the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is known as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, the Viṣṇu form lying down in the ocean at the bottom of the universe. Devahūti wanted to impress upon the Lord that when Brahmā wants to see Him, he has to meditate upon Him. “You are the seed of all creation,” she said. “Although Brahmā was directly born from You, he still has to perform many years of meditation, and even then he cannot see You directly, face to face. Your body is lying within the vast water at the bottom of the universe, and thus You are known as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu.”

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