Shloka 23
The Fall of Purañjana and the Supersoul as the Eternal Friend
Purañjana-Upākhyāna Culmination
पशुवद्यवनैरेष नीयमान: स्वकं क्षयम् । अन्वद्रवन्ननुपथा: शोचन्तो भृशमातुरा: ॥ २३ ॥
paśuvad yavanair eṣa nīyamānaḥ svakaṁ kṣayam anvadravann anupathāḥ śocanto bhṛśam āturāḥ
ولمّا كان اليافانا يسوقون الملك بورنجانا إلى مقرّهم، موثقًا كالحيوان، اشتدّ حزن أتباعه؛ وبينما هم ينوحون بمرارة أُكرهوا على السير معه في الطريق.
When Yamarāja and his assistants take a living entity away to the place of judgment, the life, life air and desires, being followers of the living entity, also go with him. This is confirmed in the Vedas. When the living entity is taken away or arrested by Yamarāja ( tam utkrāmantam ), the life air also goes with him ( prāṇo ’nūtkrāmati ), and when the life air is gone ( prāṇam anūtkrāmantam ), all the senses ( sarve prāṇāḥ ) also go along ( anūtkrāmanti ). When the living entity and the life air are gone, the lump of matter produced of five elements — earth, water, air, fire and ether — is rejected and left behind. The living entity then goes to the court of judgment, and Yamarāja decides what kind of body he is going to get next. This process is unknown to modern scientists. Every living entity is responsible for his activities in this life, and after death he is taken to the court of Yamarāja, where it is decided what kind of body he will take next. Although the gross material body is left, the living entity and his desires, as well as the resultant reactions of his past activities, go on. It is Yamarāja who decides what kind of body one gets next in accordance with one’s past actions.
FAQs
This verse depicts the embodied being as helplessly driven like an animal by the Yavanas—an allegory for the irresistible force of time—toward inevitable destruction.
In the Purañjana allegory, the Yavanas symbolize impersonal, overpowering forces (often explained as agents of time, decay, and death) that seize the conditioned soul and carry him toward ruin.
Recognize that unchecked attachment ends in helpless lamentation; use the awareness of time’s certainty to cultivate detachment, devotion, and purposeful spiritual practice now.