Shloka 32
Arjuna’s request to Krishna and the opening of the Kāśyapa–Brāhmaṇa mokṣa discourse (Āśvamedhika-parva 16)
पुन: पुनश्न मरणं जन्म चैव पुन: पुन: । आहारा विविधा भुक्ता: पीता नानाविधा: सतना:,बार-बार जन्म और बार-बार मृत्युका क्लेश उठाया है। तरह-तरहके आहार ग्रहण किये और अनेक स्तनोंका दूध पीया है
punaḥ punaś ca maraṇaṁ janma caiva punaḥ punaḥ | āhārā vividhā bhuktāḥ pītā nānāvidhāḥ stanāḥ ||
Again and again one undergoes the pain of death, and again and again of birth. Again and again one has consumed many kinds of food, and again and again has drunk milk from countless different breasts—an image of the long, weary cycle of saṁsāra and the futility of mere bodily continuance without higher insight.
सिद्ध उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse stresses the exhaustion and suffering inherent in repeated birth and death, using everyday bodily experiences (eating many foods, drinking milk from many mothers) to highlight the futility of remaining bound to saṁsāra and to prompt dispassion (vairāgya) and a search for liberation.
A Siddha speaks reflectively, pointing to the long history of embodied existence—countless lives marked by repeated deaths, births, and dependence on nourishment—framing the moment as a spiritual admonition to turn away from mere worldly continuity toward higher realization.