Shloka 32
Dehānta (Cyavana) and Upapatti: Kāśyapa’s Questions and the Siddha’s Account of Death, Pain, and Karmic Re-embodiment
यथान्धकारे खद्योतं लीयमानं ततस्ततः । चक्षुष्मन्त: प्रपश्यन्ति तथा च ज्ञानचक्षुष:
yathāndhakāre khadyotaṃ līyamānaṃ tatastataḥ | cakṣuṣmantaḥ prapaśyanti tathā ca jñānacakṣuṣaḥ ||
Just as people with ordinary sight can notice a firefly in the darkness, appearing and vanishing here and there, so too those endowed with the eye of knowledge—the perfected seers—continually perceive the living being as it is born, dies, and enters the womb again.
सिद्ध उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that enlightened perception (jñānacakṣus) can directly discern the ongoing cycle of transmigration—birth, death, and re-entry into the womb—just as ordinary eyes can spot a firefly flickering in darkness. It implies ethical accountability: actions have consequences that continue beyond a single lifetime.
A Siddha is instructing by analogy. Using the image of a firefly intermittently visible in the dark, he explains how perfected seers perceive the jīva’s movements through repeated embodiment, even when such realities remain obscure to common observers.