Shloka 28
Dehānta (Cyavana) and Upapatti: Kāśyapa’s Questions and the Siddha’s Account of Death, Pain, and Karmic Re-embodiment
ततः सचेतनो जनन््तुर्नाभिजानाति किंचन । तमसा संवृतज्ञान: संवृतेष्वेव मर्मसु । स जीवो निरधिष्ठानक्षाल्यते मातरिश्वना
tataḥ sacetano jantur nābhijānāti kiṃcana | tamasā saṃvṛtajñānaḥ saṃvṛteṣv eva marmaṣu | sa jīvo niradhiṣṭhānaḥ kṣālyate mātariśvanā ||
Alors, bien que l’être vivant soit encore conscient, il ne comprend plus rien. La puissance de connaître est voilée par les ténèbres (l’ignorance), et même les points vitaux au-dedans semblent comme fermés. À cette ultime heure, le jīva se trouve sans appui, et le vent (le souffle vital) le déloge de son siège : ainsi le soi incarné est poussé, sans défense, par les forces qui gouvernent la mort.
सिद्ध उवाच
Educational Q&A
At the time of death, ignorance (tamas/avidyā) can eclipse discernment so thoroughly that even a conscious being cannot comprehend what is happening. The verse highlights human helplessness when inner clarity is absent, implying an ethical urgency: cultivate knowledge, self-control, and spiritual steadiness before the final moment, rather than relying on lucidity at the end.
A Siddha describes the dying condition: the creature’s cognition is covered by tamas, the vital junctions (marmas) are obstructed, and the jīva—lacking a stable support—is swept away by Mātariśvan (the wind/life-breath), i.e., the departing prāṇa dislodges the embodied self from its bodily seat.