Shloka 27

ध्यानयोगवर्णनम्

Description of the Path of Meditation

Devanagari script

न जीवनाशो<स्ति हि देहभेदे मिथ्यैतदाहुर्मुत इत्यबुद्धा: । जीवस्तु देहान्तरित: प्रयाति दशार्धतैवास्यथ शरीरभेद:,देहका नाश होनेपर भी जीवका नाश नहीं होता। जो जीवकी मृत्यु बताते हैं, वे अज्ञानी हैं और उनका वह कथन मिथ्या है। जीव तो इस मृत देहका त्याग करके दूसरे शरीरमें चला जाता है। शरीरके पाँच तत्त्वोंका अलग-अलग हो जाना ही शरीरका नाश है

Transliteration

bharadvāja uvāca | na jīvanāśo 'sti hi dehabhede mithyaitad āhur mṛta ity abuddhāḥ | jīvas tu dehāntaritaḥ prayāti daśārdhataivāsyatha śarīrabhedaḥ |

Translation

There is no destruction of the jīva when the body is broken up. Those who declare, “He is dead,” are unknowing; their statement is false. The jīva, leaving this body, goes on into another embodiment. What is called the “death” of the body is only the disjoining and dispersal of its constituent elements.

Word by Word

नnot

जीवनाशःdestruction of life (of the jīva)

अस्तिis/exists

हिindeed/for

देहभेदेin the separation/dissolution of the body

मिथ्याfalsely

एतत्this (statement)

आहुःthey say

मृतःdead

इतिthus/quoting

अबुद्धाःunintelligent/ignorant (people)

जीवःthe living self (jīva)

तुbut

देहान्तरितःhaving entered another body / transferred to another body

प्रयातिgoes/departs

दशार्धतयाby the state of being split into ten halves (i.e., complete disjunction)

एवindeed/only

अस्यof this/of it

अथthen/now

शरीरभेदःthe dissolution/separation of the body

Speaker

भरद्वाज उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bharadvāja

jīva

deha/śarīra

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches the continuity of the jīva: bodily death is merely the dissolution of the material body, while the living self is not annihilated and proceeds to another embodiment. Therefore, declaring the self ‘dead’ is ignorance, and true understanding supports detachment and steadiness in the face of mortality.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s reflective instruction, Bharadvāja articulates a doctrinal point about death: he corrects the common notion that a person truly perishes at bodily death, explaining instead that only the body’s elements separate while the jīva continues onward.