Shloka 11
निरय-परमस्थान-वर्णनम्
Niraya and the Supreme Station: A Metaphysical Re-reading
भूगुरुवाच अत्रोच्यते-अनूतात् खलु तमः प्रादुर्भूत॑ ततस्तमो-ग्रस्ता अधर्ममेवानुवर्तन्ते न धर्म क्रोधलोभहिंसानूृता-दिभिरवच्छन्ना न खल्वस्मिललोके नामुत्र सुखमाप्रु-वन्ति । विविधव्याधिरुजोपतापैरवकीर्यन्ते | वधबन्धन-परिक्लेशादिभिकश्न क्षुत्पिपासाश्रमकृतैरुपतापैरुप-तप्यन्ते । वर्षवातात्युष्णातिशीतकृतैश्व प्रतिभयैः: शारीरैर्दु:खैरुपतप्यन्ते । बन्धुधनविनाशविप्रयोगकृतैश्न मानसै: शोकैरभि भूयन्ते जरामृत्युकृतैश्वान्यैरिति
bhṛgur uvāca: atrocyate—anūtāt khalu tamaḥ prādurbhūtaṃ; tataḥ tamo-grastā adharmaṃ evānuvartante, na dharmam. krodha-lobha-hiṃsā-anṛta-ādibhir avacchannā na khalv asmin loke nāmutra sukham āpnuvanti. vividhavyādhi-rujopātāpaiḥ avakīryante. vadha-bandhana-parikleśādibhiś ca kṣut-pipāsā-śrama-kṛtair upatāpaiḥ upatapyante. varṣa-vāta-ati-uṣṇa-ati-śīta-kṛtaiś ca pratibhayaiḥ śārīrair duḥkhair upatapyante. bandhu-dhana-vināśa-viprayoga-kṛtaiś ca mānasaiḥ śokair abhibhūyante, jarā-mṛtyu-kṛtaiś cānyair iti.
Bhṛgu said: “Here it is taught that from ignorance, indeed, darkness arises. Then, seized by that darkness, people follow only unrighteousness and not dharma. Covered over by anger, greed, violence, falsehood, and the like, they obtain happiness neither in this world nor in the next. They are scattered and afflicted by many diseases, pains, and torments. They are further tormented by sufferings such as killing, imprisonment, and other hardships, and by distress born of hunger, thirst, and exhaustion. They are also tormented by bodily miseries and fears caused by rain, wind, excessive heat, and extreme cold. They are overwhelmed by mental grief arising from the destruction of relatives and wealth and from separation. And they are afflicted by other troubles brought about by old age and death.”
भरद्वाज उवाच
Educational Q&A
Ignorance gives rise to tamas (moral and mental darkness). When people are dominated by that darkness, they choose adharma—driven by anger, greed, violence, and falsehood—and therefore fail to attain happiness either here or hereafter, instead reaping many forms of bodily and mental suffering.
In a didactic passage of the Śānti Parva, Bhṛgu delivers a moral diagnosis: he traces unethical conduct to ignorance and then lists the cascading consequences—disease, punishment and bondage, hunger and fatigue, harsh weather, fear, grief from loss and separation, and finally old age and death.