Shloka 433
याथातथ्येन भगवन् वक्तुमहसि मेडनघ । 'चेष्टाशील जीवात्मा इस शरीरका भार कैसे वहन करता है? फिर कैसे और किस रंगके शरीरको धारण करता है। निष्पाप भगवन्! यह सब मुझे यथार्थरूपसे बताइये”
yāthātathyena bhagavan vaktum arhasi medhānagha | ceṣṭāśīlaḥ jīvātmā asya śarīrasya bhāraṃ kathaṃ vahatī? punaḥ kathaṃ ca kasya varṇasya śarīraṃ dhārayati | niṣpāpa bhagavan etat sarvaṃ me yathārtharūpeṇa vaktum arhasi ||
The Brahmin said: “O Blessed Lord, O sinless one endowed with wisdom—please explain this to me exactly as it truly is. How does the individual self, ever engaged in activity, bear the burden of this body? And then, how does it take up another body, and of what complexion or type? O faultless Lord, tell me all this in its real form.”
ब्राह्मण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a philosophical inquiry into the relation between the embodied self and the body: how the jīvātman sustains bodily life and how, driven by its tendencies and karma, it assumes another embodiment. Ethically, it points to accountability across lives and the need for truthful, precise understanding (yāthātathyena) rather than speculation.
A Brahmin respectfully questions a revered, ‘sinless’ teacher figure, asking for an exact explanation of how the active individual self carries the body’s burden and how it later takes on a new body of a particular ‘varṇa’ (here, primarily color/type). The scene sets up a doctrinal exposition on embodiment and transmigration.