yasminn idaṁ yataś cedaṁ

yasminn idaṁ yataś cedaṁ

yenedaṁ ya idaṁ svayam

yo 'smāt parasmāc ca paras

taṁ prapadye svayambhuvam

I surrender to the Lord with independent forms, in whom this universe rests, from whom it arises, by whom it arises, and who is this universe, who all of its causes, but who is superior to all its causes.

This verse explains how the Lord is the cause and total of the universe’s ingredients. The universe exists in him, like a pot takes shelter in a house. It comes from him like a pot comes from a potter. It is made by him, like the pot is made by the wheel. The universe is the Lord, just as clay is the pot: and he is all the causes of the universe by his very nature (svayam). The idam is repeated many times to emphasis the Lord’s different relationships with the universe. He remains independent (svayam) and superior to all causes of the universe in forms like Rāma and Kṛṣṇa. 

|| 8.3.4 ||

yaḥ svātmanīdaṁ nija-māyayārpitaṁ

kvacid vibhātaṁ kva ca tat tirohitam

aviddha-dṛk sākṣy ubhayaṁ tad īkṣate

sa ātma-mūlo 'vatu māṁ parāt-paraḥ

By his will, by his māyā, this universe enters him, and again appears and again is annihilated. As the constant witness of creation and destruction of the universe, he witnesses everything. He is his own cause. May the Lord who superior to all causes of revelation protect me! 

 

Since the universe made of cause and effect exists without beginning, the Lord is the supreme manifester of the universe. By his will being created again and again (nija-māyayā), the universe enters him, and at the beginning of a kalpa sometimes appears at, and at the end of the kalpa it disappears. With unfailing vision he sees the creation and destruction of the universe. He is his own cause (ātmā-mūlaḥ). This means he is self-revealing, or independent. He is superior to those things which reveal. Śruti says cakṣuṣaś cakṣur uta śrotrasya śrotram: he is the eye of the eye, the ear of the ear. (Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.4.18)

|| 8.3.5 ||