Shloka 19
अशुचिप्रस्तरे सुप्तः कीटदंशादिभिस् तथा भक्ष्यमाणो ऽपि नैवैषां समर्थो विनिवारणे
aśuciprastare suptaḥ kīṭadaṃśādibhis tathā bhakṣyamāṇo 'pi naivaiṣāṃ samartho vinivāraṇe
Wie jemand, der auf einem unreinen Lager schläft – obwohl er von Insekten und dergleichen gebissen und sogar verzehrt wird –, fehlt ihm die Kraft, sie abzuwehren.
Sage Parāśara (in instruction to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Analogy of spiritual sleep/impurity: without awakening to higher truth, beings cannot resist suffering and vice.
Teaching: Devotional
Quality: revealing
Concept: Spiritual ‘sleep’ in impurity renders one incapable of resisting duḥkha and pāpa; awakening comes through higher truth centered on Viṣṇu.
Vedantic Theme: Moksha
Application: Adopt daily practices that ‘wake’ discernment—nāma-japa, sāttvika habits, and satsanga—to reduce the bite of compulsions and suffering.
Vishishtadvaita: Liberating knowledge is not self-generated autonomy but grace-assisted awakening: the jīva, dependent and obscured, turns to the Lord as the sustaining refuge and revealer of truth.
Vishnu Form: Hari
Bhakti Type: shanta
FAQs
It depicts spiritual negligence: when consciousness is ‘asleep’ in impurity (inner disorder), one cannot effectively resist pain, temptation, or decline—just as a sleeper cannot stop insects from biting.
Parāśara frames it as a condition of ignorance: the person, dulled like one asleep, lacks the inner alertness needed to prevent afflictions and harmful impulses.
The verse supports the Purana’s view that true awakening and order are grounded in the supreme principle upheld by Vishnu; without alignment to that higher reality, resistance to bondage remains weak.