Manava Dharmashastra 1.6

1.6

tasyā mahārātryā anantaram | svayaṃ bhavatīti svayaṃbhūḥ | svecchayā kṛtaśarīraparigraho, na saṃsārthyātmavatkarmaparatantraṃ śarīragrahaṇamasya | avyakto dhyānayogābhyāsabhāvanāvarjitānāmaprakāśaḥ | athavā 'avyaktamidamityevaṃ paṭhitavyam | idamavyaktāvastham
vyañjayan sthūlarūpairvikāraiḥ prakāśamānayan | yadicchayā punarjagatprādurbhavati | prādurāsīt | prāduḥśabdaḥ prakāśe | tamonudaḥ | tamo mahāpralayāvasthā tāṃ nudati vināśayati punarjagatsṛjatyatastamonudaḥ | mahābhūtāni pṛthivyādīni | ādigrahaṇāttadguṇāḥ śabdādayo gṛhyante | teṣu vṛttaṃ prāptamojo vīryaṃ sṛṣṭisāmarthyaṃ yasya sa evamuktaḥ | svayamasamarthāni mahābhūtāni jagannirvartayitum | yadā tu tena tatra śaktirādhīyate tadā vṛttādyātmanā vikriyante | na tu prakṛtiśaktyavasthāni prakṛtirūpāpannāni mahābhūtāni jagatsargādau mahābhūtaśabdenābhipretāni | pāṭhāntaraṃ 'mahābhūtānuvṛttaujā' iti | anuvṛttamanugatamiti prāgukta evārthaḥ |

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
After the above described Great Night;—the ‘Self-born,’ he who comes into existence by himself; i.e. who takes up a body by his own will, his taking the body not being dependent upon his past acts, as it is in the case of beings undergoing births and deaths.

‘Unmanifest,’—not cognizable by people devoid of ability to contemplate and other powers produced by the practice of yoga. Or, it would be better to read ‘avyakṭam’ (in the Accusative), making it an epithet of ‘idam,’ ‘this;’ the meaning being ‘this universe which was in its unmanifest condition.’

‘Bringing into view’—making it perceptible in the form of the grosser products; that is, he by whose wish the World comes into existence.

‘Appeared’—the term ‘Prāduḥ (?)’—denotes visibility.

‘Dispelling darkness,’—‘darkness’ stands for the state of dissolution; he dispells, sets aside, that state; he creates the World afresh and is therefore said to ‘dispel darkness.’

‘Elemental Substances,’ earth and the rest.

‘Other things’—refers to Sound and other qualities of the said substances;—he has his ‘power’ i.e. creative power—‘operating,’ acting, upon the said substances &c. The Elemental Substances by themselves are incapable of producing the World; when however the requisite potency is instilled into them by him, they become transformed into the shape of trees and other things. The term ‘Elemental Substances’ here does not stand for the substances, which at the beginning of ‘creation,’ exist in the form of potencies lying latent in Primordial Matter.

Another reading is ‘mahābhūtānuvṛttaujāḥ;’ ‘anuvṛttam, meaning bent upon; the meaning of the epithet remains the same as before. (6)