Shloka 20
Dehānta (Cyavana) and Upapatti: Kāśyapa’s Questions and the Siddha’s Account of Death, Pain, and Karmic Re-embodiment
तादृशीमेव लभते वेदनां मानव: पुनः । भिन्नसंधिरथ क्लेदमद्धि: स लभते नर:
tādṛśīm eva labhate vedanāṁ mānavaḥ punaḥ | bhinnasandhir atha kledam addhiḥ sa labhate naraḥ, vipravara |
Der Siddha sprach: „Der Mensch erfährt wiederum Schmerz von eben derselben Art. Wenn die Gelenke des Körpers auseinandergerissen werden, erleidet er jene Qual; und bei der Geburt, vom feuchten Saft des Mutterleibes durchtränkt, gerät er in heftigste Bedrängnis. So, o vortrefflichster der Brahmanen, sieht man alle Wesen ihre Körper verlassen; und Eintritt in den Leib wie das Herausfallen aus ihm sind von Leiden begleitet, das dem beim Tod gleicht.“
सिद्ध उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the continuity of suffering across death and rebirth: the agony of dying (as bodily joints loosen and break) is mirrored by the distress of entering and emerging from the womb. The ethical-philosophical thrust is toward vairagya (detachment) and sober reflection on saṁsāra, encouraging the listener to seek liberation rather than cling to bodily existence.
A Siddha addresses a Brahmin, describing what beings undergo at death and at birth. He explains that the embodied self experiences intense pain when leaving the body and similarly suffers during gestation and delivery, being drenched in womb-fluid and distressed—presented as an observation meant to instruct and awaken discernment.