Shloka 69
भरतचरितम्—मृगासक्ति-हेतुकः समाधिभङ्गः, जातिस्मरत्वं, रहूगण-जाḍभरत-संवादः
भूपादजङ्घाकट्यूरुजठरादिषु संस्थिते शिबिकेयं यदा स्कन्धे तदा भारः समस् त्वया
bhūpādajaṅghākaṭyūrujaṭharādiṣu saṃsthite śibikeyaṃ yadā skandhe tadā bhāraḥ samas tvayā
When this palanquin—resting upon the earth’s feet, shanks, hips, thighs, belly, and the rest—comes to your shoulder, then the burden becomes equal for you as well.
Sage Parāśara (narrating to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Illustrative analogy (palanquin and burden) to explain equal distribution/attribution when the load reaches one’s shoulder—resolving the prior reasoning question
Teaching: Philosophical
Quality: compassionate
Concept: By the palanquin analogy, what is distributed across many supports becomes ‘equal’ for the one who finally bears it—clarifying how predicates can apply through association and standpoint.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Use concrete analogies to separate the unchanging witness from changing bodily supports, and to understand how responsibility/experience is ‘borne’ at the level of embodied identity.
Vishishtadvaita: Supports the idea of relational predication: the self as knower/bearer is spoken of in relation to body-mind supports, while its essential purity remains—aligning with Viśiṣṭādvaita’s body–self (śarīra–śarīrin) framework under the Lord.
FAQs
It teaches that support and burden in the world are shared—when the load shifts onto one’s own shoulder, one recognizes the same responsibility borne by others within the cosmic arrangement.
By presenting the world as a structured, interlinked system (likened to a carried palanquin), Parāśara implies that harmony depends on balanced roles and the fair distribution of weight within the whole.
Even when Vishnu is not named in the line, the Purana’s worldview frames such balance and structure as grounded in Vishnu’s sustaining sovereignty—cosmic order (dharma) operates under the Supreme Reality who upholds the universe.