Text 55
ghrāṇād vāyur abhidyetām
akṣiṇī cakṣur etayoḥ
tasmāt sūryo nyabhidyetāṁ
karṇau śrotraṁ tato diśaḥ
ghrāṇāt — from the olfactory sense; vāyuḥ — the wind-god; abhidyetām — appeared; akṣiṇī — the two eyes; cakṣuḥ — the sense of sight; etayoḥ — in them; tasmāt — from that; sūryaḥ — the sun-god; nyabhidyetām — appeared; karṇau — the two ears; śrotram — the auditory sense; tataḥ — from that; diśaḥ — the deities presiding over the directions.
In the wake of the olfactory sense came the wind-god, who presides over that sense. Thereafter a pair of eyes appeared in the universal form, and in them the sense of sight. In the wake of this sense came the sun-god, who presides over it. Next there appeared in Him a pair of ears, and in them the auditory sense and in its wake the Dig-devatās, or the deities who preside over the directions.
The appearance of different bodily parts of the Lord’s universal form and the appearance of the presiding deities of those bodily parts is being described. As in the womb of a mother a child gradually grows different bodily parts, so in the universal womb the universal form of the Lord gives rise to the creation of various paraphernalia. The senses appear, and over each of them there is a presiding deity. It is corroborated by this statement of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and also by Brahma-saṁhitā, that the sun appeared after the appearance of the eyes of the universal form of the Lord. The sun is dependent on the eyes of the universal form. The Brahma-saṁhitā also says that the sun is the eye of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. Yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā. Savitā means “the sun.” The sun is the eye of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Actually, everything is created by the universal body of the Supreme Godhead. Material nature is simply the supplier of materials. The creation is actually done by the Supreme Lord, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (9.10). Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram: “Under My direction does material nature create all moving and nonmoving objects in the cosmic creation.”