Shloka 4
Kāma–Mamatā–Upadeśa
Discourse on Desire, Possessiveness, and Ritual Duty
ब्रह्ममृत्यू ततो राजन्नात्मन्येव व्यवस्थितौ । अदृश्यमानौ भूतानि योधयेतामसंशयम्,राजन! इस प्रकार मृत्यु और अमृत दोनों अपने भीतर ही स्थित हैं। ये दोनों अदृश्य रहकर प्राणियोंको लड़ाते हैं अर्थात् किसीको अपना मानना और किसीको अपना न मानना यह भाव ही युद्धका कारण है, इसमें संशय नहीं है
brahmamṛtyū tato rājann ātmany eva vyavasthitau | adṛśyamānau bhūtāni yodhayetām asaṃśayam ||
Vāyu said: “Therefore, O king, both immortality (brahman-like deathlessness) and death are established within one’s own self. Though unseen, these two drive living beings into conflict—without doubt. It is the inner tendency to claim some as ‘mine’ and deny others as ‘not mine’ that becomes the seed of strife.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
Death and deathlessness are not merely external events but inner principles: one’s orientation toward the Self (brahma/amṛta) leads toward freedom, while identification with separative notions fosters mortality-bound fear and aggression. The verse points to possessiveness—‘mine’ versus ‘not mine’—as an unseen driver that provokes beings into conflict.
Vāyudeva addresses the king and explains a subtle cause behind warfare and hostility. He frames conflict as arising from invisible inner forces—mortality and immortality—operating within beings, especially through the psychology of attachment and exclusion.