Shloka 10
अध्याय ३३ — धृतराष्ट्रस्य कुशलप्रश्नाः तथा विदुरस्य योगसमाधिः
Chapter 33: Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Welfare-Inquiries and Vidura’s Yogic Absorption
अश्वमेधे श्रुतिश्वेयमश्व॒संज्ञपनं प्रति । लोकान्तरगता नित्यं प्राणा नित्यं शरीरिणाम्,अश्वमेध यज्ञमें जब अश्वका वध किया जाता है, उस समय जो 'सूर्य ते चक्षु: वात॑ प्राण:” (तुम्हारे नेत्र सूर्यकोी और प्राण वायुको प्राप्त हों) इत्यादि मन्त्र पढ़े जाते हैं, उनसे यह सूचित होता है कि देहधारियोंके प्राण--इन्द्रियाँ निश्चितरूपसे सर्वदा लोकान्तरमें स्थित होती हैं। (अतः परलोकमें गये हुए जीवोंका वैसे ही रूपसे इस लोकमें पुनः प्रकट हो जाना असम्भव नहीं है)
aśvamedhe śrutiś ceyam aśvasaṃjñapanaṃ prati | lokāntaragātā nityaṃ prāṇā nityaṃ śarīriṇām ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “In the Aśvamedha there is this Vedic teaching connected with the consecration and killing of the horse: the vital forces of embodied beings are ever established in another world. The mantras recited at that moment—such as ‘May your eye go to the Sun; may your breath go to the Wind’—indicate that the senses and life-breath do not simply perish with the body but abide in their proper cosmic destinations. Therefore, it is not impossible for those who have gone to the other world to appear again here in a corresponding form.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses Aśvamedha mantras to argue that an embodied being’s vital forces (prāṇa/indriyas) are not annihilated with the body; they are continually situated in their cosmic/otherworldly destinations (lokāntara). Hence, post-mortem continuity and even reappearance are presented as conceivable within the epic’s metaphysical framework.
Vaiśampāyana explains a doctrinal point by citing the Vedic practice in the Aśvamedha: at the ritual moment when the horse is dispatched, mantras assign the eye to the Sun and the breath to the Wind. He interprets this as evidence for the ongoing, otherworldly placement of life-breath and faculties, supporting the possibility of beings manifesting again after death.