Shloka 21

नरनारायण-नारदसंवादः

Nara-Nārāyaṇa–Nārada Discourse on Vision, Elements, and Entry into Vāsudeva

Devanagari script

शीघ्रं परशरीराणि च्छिन्नबीजं शरीरिणम्‌ | प्राणिनं प्राणसंरोधे मांसश्लेष्मविवेष्टितम्‌

Transliteration

śīghraṃ paraśarīrāṇi chinnabījaṃ śarīriṇam | prāṇinaṃ prāṇasaṃrodhe māṃsaśleṣmaviveṣṭitam

Translation

Nārada sprach: „Schnell vergehen andere Körper; und das verkörperte Wesen, dessen ‘Same’ abgeschnitten ist, ist ein lebendes Geschöpf, im Zwang des Atems gehalten—umhüllt von Fleisch und Schleim.“

Word by Word

शीघ्रम्quickly

पर-शरीराणिother bodies

च्छिन्न-बीजम्with seed cut off / seedless (cut at the root)

शरीरिणम्the embodied one

प्राणिनम्a living being

प्राण-संरोधेin the restraint/suppression of breath (vital airs)

मांस-श्लेष्म-विवेष्टितम्wrapped/encased in flesh and phlegm

Speaker

नारद उवाच

Characters & Entities

Nārada

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse stresses the perishability and material encasement of embodied life: bodies quickly pass away, and the living self is confined within a breath-bound organism wrapped in impure physical constituents. The ethical thrust is dispassion—reducing attachment to the body and turning toward liberation-oriented discipline.

What is happening in the narrative?

Nārada is speaking in an instructive mode, describing the embodied condition: the living being (jīva) is enclosed in a body sustained and constrained by prāṇa, and that body is materially constituted (flesh, phlegm), emphasizing its fragility and transience.