Shloka 24
पुरीं विहायोपगत उपरुद्धो भुजङ्गम: । यदा तमेवानु पुरी विशीर्णा प्रकृतिं गता ॥ २४ ॥
purīṁ vihāyopagata uparuddho bhujaṅgamaḥ yadā tam evānu purī viśīrṇā prakṛtiṁ gatā
The serpent, already arrested by Yavana-rāja’s soldiers and brought out of the city, followed his master along with the others. As soon as they all left the city, it was at once dismantled and crushed into dust.
When the living entity is arrested, all his followers — namely the life air, the senses and sense objects — immediately leave the lump of matter, the body. When the living entity and his companions leave, the body no longer works but turns into basic material elements — earth, water, fire, air and ether. When a city attacked by enemies is vacated by its inhabitants, the enemy immediately takes advantage of that city and bombards it to smash the whole thing to dust. When we say, “Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shall return,” we refer to the body. When a city is attacked and bombarded by enemies, the citizens generally leave, and the city ceases to exist.
FAQs
This verse explains that when the life-air (likened to a serpent) departs, the body—called a “city”—soon collapses and returns to material nature (prakṛti).
In the Purañjana allegory, the body is a “city” with many gates, while prāṇa is portrayed as a serpent because it moves within, sustains life, and when it exits, the body becomes lifeless and disintegrates.
It urges detachment from bodily identity and reminds one to invest in spiritual practice (bhakti) and self-realization, since the body inevitably returns to material elements after death.