Shloka 5
डन्ड्धमेति च निर्दन्द्धस्तासु तास्विह योनिषु । शीर्षरोगेडक्षिरोगे च दन््तशूले गलग्रहे
daṇḍham eti ca nirdaṇḍhas tāsu tāsviha yoniṣu | śīrṣa-roge 'kṣi-roge ca danta-śūle gala-grahe ||
Vasiṣṭha said: Even though the Self is in truth unbound and untouched by opposites, it comes to assume embodiment in one womb after another in this world and thereby undergoes experiences of pleasure and pain. Thus it may suffer at one time from headache, at another from disease of the eyes, at another from toothache, and at another from an affliction of the throat—showing how embodied life is marked by inevitable bodily distress despite the Self’s intrinsic freedom.
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the contrast between the Self’s intrinsic freedom (unbound by dualities) and the unavoidable pains that arise when consciousness is associated with a body through repeated births; it encourages dispassion and insight into the nature of embodied suffering.
Vasiṣṭha is explaining how, despite being essentially untouched, the individual in embodied existence passes through many births and experiences concrete bodily ailments—head, eye, tooth, and throat disorders—as examples of the pains that accompany worldly embodiment.