Text 5
ātman bhāvayase tāni
na parābhāvayan svayam
ātma-śaktim avaṣṭabhya
ūrṇanābhir ivāklamaḥ
ātman (ātmani) — by self; bhāvayase — manifest; tāni — all those; na — not; parābhāvayan — being defeated; svayam — yourself; ātma-śaktim — self-sufficient power; avaṣṭabhya — being employed; ūrṇa-nābhiḥ — the spider; iva — like; aklamaḥ — without help.
As the spider very easily creates the network of its cobweb and manifests its power of creation without being defeated by others, so also you yourself, by employment of your self-sufficient energy, create without any other’s help.
The best example of self-sufficiency is the sun. The sun does not require to be illuminated by any other body. Rather, it is the sun which helps all other illuminating agents, for in the presence of the sun no other illuminating agent becomes prominent. Nārada compared the position of Brahmā to the self-sufficiency of the spider, who creates its own field of activities without any other’s help by employment of its own energetic creation of saliva.