Shloka 20
Dehānta (Cyavana) and Upapatti: Kāśyapa’s Questions and the Siddha’s Account of Death, Pain, and Karmic Re-embodiment
तादृशीमेव लभते वेदनां मानव: पुनः । भिन्नसंधिरथ क्लेदमद्धि: स लभते नर:
tādṛśīm eva labhate vedanāṁ mānavaḥ punaḥ | bhinnasandhir atha kledam addhiḥ sa labhate naraḥ, vipravara |
Le Siddha dit : «L’homme éprouve de nouveau une douleur de même nature. Lorsque les articulations du corps se déchirent, il subit cette agonie ; et à la naissance, trempé de l’humidité du sein maternel, il est saisi d’un trouble extrême. Ainsi, ô le plus éminent des brahmanes, on voit tous les êtres abandonner leurs corps, et l’entrée dans le ventre comme la chute hors du ventre s’accompagnent d’une souffrance semblable à celle de la mort.»
सिद्ध उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the continuity of suffering across death and rebirth: the agony of dying (as bodily joints loosen and break) is mirrored by the distress of entering and emerging from the womb. The ethical-philosophical thrust is toward vairagya (detachment) and sober reflection on saṁsāra, encouraging the listener to seek liberation rather than cling to bodily existence.
A Siddha addresses a Brahmin, describing what beings undergo at death and at birth. He explains that the embodied self experiences intense pain when leaving the body and similarly suffers during gestation and delivery, being drenched in womb-fluid and distressed—presented as an observation meant to instruct and awaken discernment.