Shloka 3

Devanagari script

चन्द्रमा इव भुतानां पुनस्तत्र सहस्रश: । लीयतेडप्रतिबुद्धत्वादेवमेष हाबुद्धिमान्‌,जैसे चन्द्रमाका सहस्रों बार क्षय और सहस्(्रों बार वृद्धि होती रहती है, उसी प्रकार अज्ञानी जीव भी अज्ञानवश ही सहस्रों बार लयको प्राप्त होता है (और जन्म लेता है)

Transliteration

candramā iva bhūtānāṃ punas tatra sahasraśaḥ | līyate ’pratibuddhatvād evam eṣa hy abuddhimān ||

Translation

Vasiṣṭha said: “Just as the moon among beings is seen to wane and wax again and again, so too the ignorant embodied self—because it has not awakened to true knowledge—repeatedly dissolves (dies) and is born again, thousands of times. This ceaseless return is driven not by fate but by unawakened understanding.”

Word by Word

चन्द्रमाthe moon

इवlike/as

भूतानाम्of beings/creatures

पुनःagain

तत्रthere/in that state

सहस्रशःa thousandfold; many times

लीयतेmerges/dissolves

अप्रतिबुद्धत्वात्from non-awakening; due to ignorance

एवम्thus/in this manner

एषःthis (one)

अबुद्धिमान्unintelligent; ignorant

Speaker

वसिष्ठ उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vasiṣṭha

Moon (Candramā)

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?

Repeated birth and death (saṃsāra) continue due to non-awakening—lack of true knowledge. The verse uses the moon’s recurring waning and waxing to illustrate how the ignorant being repeatedly dissolves and reappears until awakened insight ends the cycle.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s instruction on liberation-oriented ethics and knowledge, Vasiṣṭha addresses the condition of the unawakened individual. He explains, through a natural metaphor (the moon’s phases), why the ignorant self undergoes countless cycles of death and rebirth.