Shloka 27
Karma, Preta-gati, and the Continuity of Phala
Mārkaṇḍeya’s Instruction
यत् पुनर्भवता प्रोक्तं न वेद्यं विद्यतीति च । ताभ्यां हीनमतो<न्यत्र पदमस्तीति चेदपि,अब तुमने जो यह कहा कि सुख-दुःखसे रहित कोई दूसरा वेद्य तत्त्व है ही नहीं, सो तुम्हारा यह मत ठीक है। सुख-दुःखसे शून्य कोई पदार्थ नहीं है। किंतु एक ऐसा पद है भी। जिस प्रकार बर्फमें उष्णता और अग्निमें शीतलता कहीं नहीं रहती, उसी प्रकार जो वेद्य-पद है, वह वास्तवमें सुख-दुःखसे रहित ही है। नागराज! मेरा तो यही विचार है, फिर आप जैसा मानें
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca — yat punar bhavatā proktaṃ na vedyaṃ vidyatīti ca | tābhyāṃ hīnam ato ’nyatra padam astīti ced api ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “But as for what you have stated—that there exists no knowable reality beyond the field of experience—my view differs. Nothing within ordinary experience is truly free from pleasure and pain; yet there is indeed a ‘state’ (pada) elsewhere, beyond them. Just as heat is not found in ice, nor coolness in fire, so that knowable state is in truth devoid of pleasure and pain. O lord of serpents, this is my understanding; you may accept it as you see fit.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Yudhiṣṭhira argues that while all ordinary, experiential objects are mixed with pleasure and pain, there is nevertheless a higher ‘knowable state’ (pada) that is genuinely beyond both—an ethical-philosophical claim pointing toward liberation and equanimity.
In a philosophical exchange with the Nāgarāja, Yudhiṣṭhira responds to the serpent-king’s assertion that no knowable reality exists beyond the realm characterized by pleasure and pain, and he counters by affirming a transcendent state free from both.