Shloka 24
Adhyaya 7 — Harishchandra Tested by Vishvamitra: The Gift of the Kingdom and the Pandava Curse-Backstory
हिरण्यं वा सुवर्णं वा पुत्रः पत्नी कलेवरम् ।
प्राणा राज्यं पुरं लक्ष्मीः यदभिप्रेतमात्मनः ॥
hiraṇyaṃ vā suvarṇaṃ vā putraḥ patnī kalevaram |
prāṇā rājyaṃ puraṃ lakṣmīr yad abhipretam ātmanaḥ ||
سواء أكان مالًا—فضةً أو ذهبًا—أم ابنًا، أم زوجةً، أم الجسدَ نفسه؛ وسواء أكانت أنفاسَ الحياة، أم مملكةً، أم مدينةً، أم رخاءً—فكل ما يعدّه المرء أعزَّ ما في باطنه (يصير موضوعَ التعلّق).
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FAQs
The verse catalogs the typical loci of human clinging—wealth, family, the body, life itself, political power, civic possession, and prosperity—implying that bondage is not to one specific thing but to whatever the mind crowns as ‘most dear.’ The ethical lesson is to recognize attachment as a mental fixation and to cultivate discernment (viveka) and restraint so that duty is performed without possessiveness.
This verse is primarily didactic (dharma/upadeśa) rather than a direct statement of the five purāṇic markers. It aligns most loosely with ‘Vaṃśānucarita’/narrative instruction sections insofar as Purāṇas embed ethical teaching within stories, but it is not itself sarga/pratisarga/manvantara/vaṃśa/vaṃśānucarita content.
Esoterically, the enumerated items represent concentric layers of identification: external possessions (wealth), relational identity (son/wife), embodied identity (body), existential identity (prāṇa), and social identity (kingdom/city/status). The teaching points to the inner ‘abhipreta’—the mind’s chosen center of selfhood—as the subtle knot (granthi) to be untied for freedom.