Shloka 91

नारद–शुक संवादः

Impermanence, Svabhāva, and Śuka’s Resolve for Yoga

Devanagari script

अज्ञानत: कर्मयोनिं भजन्ते तां तां राज॑स्ते तथा यान्त्यभावम्‌ । तथा वर्णा ज्ञानहीना: पतन्‍्ते घोरादज्ञानात्‌ प्राकृतं योनिजालम्‌

Transliteration

ajñānataḥ karmayoniṁ bhajante tāṁ tāṁ rājās te tathā yānty abhāvam | tathā varṇā jñānahīnāḥ patanti ghorād ajñānāt prākṛtaṁ yonijālam, rājan |

Translation

Yājñavalkya said: “Through ignorance, people resort to a womb of action—taking birth in this or that condition—and in the same way they pass away again. Likewise, those who are devoid of true knowledge fall, because of dreadful ignorance, into the natural net of many kinds of births. O king, it is ignorance that drives human beings into repeated embodiment and death across diverse forms.”

Word by Word

• {'ajñānataḥ': 'from ignorance

• due to ignorance', 'karmayoniṁ': 'a womb/source constituted by karma

• birth grounded in action and its results', 'bhajante': 'they resort to

• they enter into', 'tāṁ tāṁ': 'this and that

• various (states/forms)', 'rājān / rājan': 'O king (vocative)', 'te': 'they', 'tathā': 'thus

• likewise', 'yānti': 'they go

• they proceed', 'abhāvam': 'non-being

• death (passing away from embodied existence)', 'varṇāḥ': 'classes/orders (varṇas)

• people of social orders', 'jñānahīnāḥ': 'devoid of knowledge

• lacking true insight', 'patanti': 'they fall (into lower states)', 'ghorāt': 'from dreadful/terrible (cause)

• because of the dreadful (ignorance)', 'ajñānāt': 'from ignorance', 'prākṛtam': 'natural

• material/instinctual', 'yonijālam': 'a net/mesh of wombs

Speaker

याज़्वल्क्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Yājñavalkya
• King (rājan)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Ignorance (ajñāna) is the root cause of repeated birth and death: lacking true knowledge, beings are driven by karma into diverse wombs and conditions, falling into the material web of samsara. The implied remedy is jñāna—right insight that loosens bondage to karmic rebirth.

What is happening in the narrative?

In a didactic exchange within the Śānti Parva, the sage Yājñavalkya addresses a king and explains why humans undergo varied births and deaths. He frames transmigration as a consequence of ignorance, emphasizing the ethical-spiritual need for knowledge rather than mere action.