Shloka 1

Devanagari script

है ० बक। ] अति्ऑशाएड< ग्रयाधिकत्रिशततमो< ध्याय: प्रकृति-संसर्गके कारण जीवका अपनेको नाना प्रकारके कर्मोका कर्ता और भोक्ता मानना एवं नाना योनियोंमें बारंबार जन्म ग्रहण करना वसिष्ठ उवाच एवमप्रतिबुद्धत्वादबुद्धमनुवर्तते । देहाद्‌ देहसलहस्राणि तथा समभिपद्यते,वसिष्ठजी कहते हैं--राजन्‌! इस प्रकार जीव बोधहीन होनेके कारण अज्ञानका ही अनुसरण करता है; इसीलिये उसे एक शरीरसे सहस्रों शरीरोंमें भ्रमण करना पड़ता है

Transliteration

Vasiṣṭha uvāca: evam apratibuddhatvād abuddham anuvartate | dehād deha-sahasrāṇi tathā samabhipadyate ||

Translation

Vasiṣṭha sprach: „O König, so folgt das Selbst, weil es un-erwacht bleibt, allein der Unwissenheit. Darum wandert es von einem Körper zu tausenden von Körpern, immer wieder.“

Word by Word

वसिष्ठःVasiṣṭha

उवाचsaid

एवम्thus

अप्रतिबुद्धत्वात्from (the cause of) not being awakened / lack of realization

अबुद्धम्the unknowing (state/thing)

अनुवर्ततेfollows

देहात्from a body

देहसहस्राणिthousands of bodies

तथाso; likewise

समभिपद्यतेattains; comes to; reaches

Speaker

वसिष्ठ उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vasiṣṭha

Rājan (the King, addressed)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Ignorance (lack of awakening) makes the self identify with agency and experience, which sustains saṃsāra—repeated embodiment across many births; awakening/knowledge is implied as the remedy.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vasiṣṭha instructs the King in a reflective, liberation-oriented discourse, explaining why the jīva continues to migrate from body to body: it keeps following ignorance because it has not yet awakened.