Food or fire,
poured into the mouth develops into speech or word. Vachaspati implies
the Veda or word. First arises the word, the mind sets itself upon it,
desirous of creation. This corresponds with the Mosaic Genesis.--'God
said; let there be light, and there was light.' The word was first.
56. The last question seems to be this: in dreamless slumber, the mind
disappears totally. If it is the mind upon which Prana rests, why does
not Prana also disappear? It is seen to separate itself from mind, for it
continues to exist while mind does not exist. If so, i.e., if existing,
as it must be admitted to do, why does it not apprehend objects? What is
it that restrains its powers of apprehension?
57. Bhutatmanam is ordinary Prajapati. Nilakantha takes it to mean here
individual Jiva or self.
58. It is, through words that desirable fruits, visible and invisible,
are acquired. Of course, word means both ordinary speech and Vedic
Mantras.
59. The speaker is the Brahmana, which Nilakantha explains to mean 'the
Brahmana named Manas or Mind'. Instead of such a learned interpretation,
we may take it as implying that the Brahmana is repeating the answer
which Bhutatman, i.e., Prajapati or Jiva, made to Word. The Brahmana is
the real speaker. He recites the words of Jiva. Immovable, according to
Nilakantha, means 'that which is seizable by the external senses'; and
'movable', that which is beyond the ken of the senses, such as heaven,
etc.
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