Shloka 27
ध्यानयोगवर्णनम्
Description of the Path of Meditation
न जीवनाशो<स्ति हि देहभेदे मिथ्यैतदाहुर्मुत इत्यबुद्धा: । जीवस्तु देहान्तरित: प्रयाति दशार्धतैवास्यथ शरीरभेद:
bharadvāja uvāca | na jīvanāśo 'sti hi dehabhede mithyaitad āhur mṛta ity abuddhāḥ | jīvas tu dehāntaritaḥ prayāti daśārdhataivāsyatha śarīrabhedaḥ |
Il n’y a point d’anéantissement du jīva lorsque le corps se défait. Ceux qui disent : « Il est mort » sont sans intelligence ; leur parole est mensongère. Le jīva, quittant ce corps, s’en va vers un autre. Ce qu’on nomme la « mort » du corps n’est que la disjonction et la dispersion de ses éléments.
भरद्वाज उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches the continuity of the jīva: bodily death is merely the dissolution of the material body, while the living self is not annihilated and proceeds to another embodiment. Therefore, declaring the self ‘dead’ is ignorance, and true understanding supports detachment and steadiness in the face of mortality.
In Śānti Parva’s reflective instruction, Bharadvāja articulates a doctrinal point about death: he corrects the common notion that a person truly perishes at bodily death, explaining instead that only the body’s elements separate while the jīva continues onward.