Just as there is contact between the crystal and the ray of light, or between water and water, so in Brahman there is capacity for the universe nowhere [apart from Brahman].

Two classical analogies shape this verse. The first—a crystal (sphāṭika) colored by the proximity of a flower—illustrates how pure substance appears modified without truly being so. The crystal remains transparent; only the ignorance of the observer attributes the color to the crystal itself. The second analogy—water in water—is even more radical: there are not two things coming into contact, but rather identity without differentiation.

The conclusion “sāmarthyam asti na kva cit”—the capacity for the universe is not located anywhere apart from Brahman—nullifies the distinction between saguṇa and nirguṇa as separate ontological levels. There is not one Brahman “with qualities” and another “without qualities”; there is a single Brahman whose nature is the infinite capacity (sāmarthya) to appear as everything without losing its identity.

This has direct implications for the practice of samādhi. The Haṭha Pradīpikā (IV.3–4) describes samādhi as the state in which prāṇa and manas dissolve into the bindu, the dimensionless point. But this “dissolving” is not annihilation; it is the recognition that there was never any real separation. Like water falling into water: nothing is lost, nothing is gained; it simply is what it always was.

Two classic analogies structure this verse. The first — a crystal (sphāṭika) colored by the proximity of a flower — illustrates how pure substance appears modified without truly being so. The crystal remains transparent; only the observer’s ignorance attributes the color to the crystal itself. The second analogy — water in water — is even more radical: there are not two things coming into contact, but rather identity without differentiation.

The conclusion “sāmarthyam asti na kva cit” — the capacity for the universe is not located anywhere apart from Brahman — nullifies the distinction between saguṇa and nirguṇa as separate ontological levels. There is not one Brahman “with qualities” and another “without qualities”; there is a single Brahman whose nature is the infinite capacity (sāmarthya) to appear as everything without losing its identity.

This has direct implications for the practice of samādhi. The Haṭha Pradīpikā (IV.3-4) describes samādhi as the state in which prāṇa and manas dissolve into the bindu, the dimensionless point. But this “dissolving” is not an annihilation; it is the recognition that there was never any real separation. Like water falling into water: nothing is lost, nothing is gained; it simply is what it always was.