Å›rÄ«-sanandana uvÄca
sva-sṛṣá¹am idam ÄpÄ«ya
Å›ayÄnaá¹ saha Å›aktibhiḥ
tad-ante bodhayÄá¹ cakrus
tal-liṅgaiḥ śrutayaḥ param
yathÄ Å›ayÄnaá¹ saá¹rÄjaá¹
vandinas tat-parÄkramaiḥ
pratyūṣe 'bhetya su-ślokair
bodhayanty anujīvinaḥ
Å›rÄ«-sanandanaḥ - ÅšrÄ« Sanandana (the exalted mind-born son of BrahmÄ who was chosen to reply to the sages' inquiry); uvÄca - said; sva - by Himself; sṛṣá¹am - created; idam - this (universe); ÄpÄ«ya - having withdrawn; Å›ayÄnam - lying asleep; saha - with; Å›aktibhiḥ - His energies; tat - of that (period of universal dissolution); ante - at the end; bodhayÄm cakruḥ - they awakened Him; tat - His; liá¹…gaiḥ - with (descriptions of) His characteristics; Å›rutayaḥ - the Vedas; param - the Supreme; yathÄ - just as; Å›ayÄnam - sleeping; saá¹rÄjam - a king; vandinaḥ - his court poets; tat - his; parÄkramaiḥ - with (recitations of) the heroic deeds; pratyÅ«á¹£e - at dawn; abhetya - approaching him; suÅ›lokaiḥ - poetic; bodhayanti - they awaken; anujÄ«vinaḥ - 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.
At the time of creation, the Vedas are the first emanation from the breathing of Lord MahÄ-Viṣṇu, and in personified form they serve Him by waking Him from His mystic sleep. This statement made by Sanandana implies that Sanaka and the other sages had asked him the same question that NÄrada had asked NÄrÄyaṇa Ṛṣi and MahÄrÄja ParÄ«ká¹£it had asked Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ«. Sanandana refers the question back to the example of the personified Vedas themselves in their address to Lord MahÄ-Viṣṇu. Even though the Vedas knew that the Lord, being omniscient, does not need to be informed of His glories, they enthusiastically took this opportunity to praise Him.
