Shloka 6
Dehānta (Cyavana) and Upapatti: Kāśyapa’s Questions and the Siddha’s Account of Death, Pain, and Karmic Re-embodiment
सिद्ध उवाच आयु:कीर्तिकराणीह यानि कृत्यानि सेवते । शरीरग्रहणे यस्मिंस्तेषु क्षीणेषु सर्वश:
siddha uvāca āyuḥ-kīrti-karāṇīha yāni kṛtyāni sevate | śarīra-grahaṇe yasmiṁs teṣu kṣīṇeṣu sarvaśaḥ ||
The Siddha said: “In this world, whatever acts a person undertakes that generate longevity and fame become the causes for obtaining a body. After the body is assumed, when all those deeds are completely exhausted by yielding their results, then the being’s allotted lifespan also begins to run down. In that condition he turns to contrary, harmful actions; and as the time of destruction draws near, his understanding becomes perverted.”
सिद्ध उवाच
Educational Q&A
Meritorious actions can lead to embodied existence and its enjoyments (longevity, reputation), but once their results are exhausted, decline sets in; near the end, one may fall into harmful conduct and confused judgment—so one should cultivate steady discernment and dharmic restraint rather than rely on temporary karmic fruits.
A Siddha addresses a listener (contextually a sage such as Kāśyapa in the surrounding discourse) and explains the karmic mechanism behind embodiment and decline: deeds ripen into a body and its allotted span, and when those deeds are spent, the being’s condition deteriorates and the mind tends toward error as death approaches.