Shloka 13

Aśoka-śāstra: Nārada’s Instruction on the Cessation of Śoka

Grief

Devanagari script

ऊर्णनाभेर्यथा चक्र छिद्रें सोम॑ं प्रपश्यति

Transliteration

ūrṇanābher yathā cakra-chidre somaṃ prapaśyati

Translation

Yājñavalkya said: “Just as a spider, looking through the opening at the hub of its web, beholds the moon, so too does the discerning person perceive the higher reality through a subtle ‘aperture’—a refined point of insight amid the woven structures of the world.”

Word by Word

• ūrṇanābheḥ: of the spider
• ūrṇanābheḥ: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: ūrṇanābhi
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Singular

• yathā: as/just as
• yathā: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: yathā

• cakra: wheel/circle (web-like circle)
• cakra: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: cakra
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• chidre: in the hole/opening
• chidre: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: chidra
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• somam: the moon (Soma)
• somam: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: soma
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• prapaśyati: sees/beholds
• prapaśyati: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: pra√paś (paś)
• Form: Present, Third, Singular

Speaker

याज्ञवल्क्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

• याज्ञवल्क्य (Yājñavalkya)
• ऊर्णनाभि (spider)
• सोम (the Moon/Soma)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

True understanding is not gained by grasping the whole ‘web’ of appearances, but by cultivating a subtle, focused insight—through which one can directly perceive the higher truth beyond worldly constructions.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s didactic setting, Yājñavalkya instructs through a vivid analogy: the spider and its web illustrate how the mind’s structures can both obscure and, when rightly ‘opened’ by discernment, become a means to perceive what is otherwise distant or hidden.