Shloka 12
निरय-परमस्थान-वर्णनम्
Niraya and the Supreme Station: A Metaphysical Re-reading
भगुजीने कहा--मुने! असत्यसे अज्ञानकी उत्पत्ति हुई है; अतः तमोग्रस्त मनुष्य अधर्मके ही पीछे चलते हैं; धर्मका अनुसरण नहीं करते हैं। जो लोग क्रोध, लोभ, हिंसा और असत्य आदिसे आच्छादित हैं, वे न तो इस लोकमें सुखी होते हैं और न परलोकमें ही। वे नाना प्रकारके रोग, व्याधि और तापसे संतप्त होते रहते हैं। वध और बन्धन आदिके क्लेशोंसे तथा भूख, प्यास और थकावटके कारण होनेवाले संतापोंसे भी पीड़ित होते हैं। इतना ही नहीं, उन्हें आँधी, पानी, अत्यन्त गर्मी और अधिक सर्दीसे उत्पन्न हुए भयंकर शारीरिक कष्ट भी सहन करने पड़ते हैं। बन्धु-बान्धवोंकी मृत्यु, धनके नाश और प्रेमीजनोंके वियोगके कारण होनेवाले मानसिक शोक भी उन्हें सताते रहते हैं। बुढ़ापा और मृत्युके कारण भी बहुत-से दूसरे-दूसरे क्लेश भी उन्हें पीड़ा देते रहते हैं ।। यस्त्वेतै: शारीरमानसैर्दु:खैर्न संस्पृश्यते स सुखं वेद । न चैते दोषा: स्वर्गे प्रादुर्भवन्ति | तत्र खलु भवन्ति,जो इन शारीरिक और मानसिक दु:खोंके सम्बन्धसे रहित है, उसीको सुखका अनुभव होता है। स्वर्गलोकमें ये पूर्वोक्त दुःखरूप दोष नहीं उत्पन्न होते हैं। वहाँ निम्नांकित बातें होती हैं
bhāradvāja uvāca—
“asatyād ajñānasya utpattir bhavati; ataḥ tamograstā manuṣyā adharmam eva anusaranti, na dharmam. ye krodha-lobha-hiṃsā-asatyādibhiḥ ācchāditāḥ, te na iha loke sukhinaḥ bhavanti, na ca paraloke. te nānā-vidhair roga-vyādhi-tāpaiḥ santapyante; vadha-bandhanādi-kleśaiḥ, kṣudhā-tṛṣṇā-śrama-janitaiś ca santāpaiḥ pīḍyante. api ca vāta-varṣa-ati-uṣṇa-ati-śīta-janitaiḥ ghora-śārīra-duḥkhaiḥ sahante. bandhu-bāndhava-maraṇa-dhana-nāśa-priya-viyoga-hetubhiḥ mānasaiḥ śokaiś ca satatam abhibhūyante. jarā-mṛtyu-nimittāś ca bahavaḥ anye’pi kleśāḥ tān pīḍayanti.
yaḥ tu etaiḥ śārīra-mānasaiḥ duḥkhaiḥ na saṃspṛśyate, sa sukhaṃ veda. na ca ete doṣāḥ svarge prādurbhavanti; tatra khalu bhavanti …”
Bharadvaja said: “From untruth arises ignorance. Therefore, people overwhelmed by darkness (tamas) pursue only unrighteousness and do not follow dharma. Those covered by anger, greed, violence, and falsehood are happy neither in this world nor in the next. They are continually scorched by many kinds of illnesses, afflictions, and burning pains; they are tormented by the sufferings of killing and imprisonment, and by distress born of hunger, thirst, and exhaustion. Moreover, they must endure dreadful bodily hardships produced by windstorms, rain, extreme heat, and severe cold. Mental grief also assails them—caused by the death of kinsmen, loss of wealth, and separation from loved ones. Old age and death, too, bring many other pains that keep wounding them again and again. But the one who is untouched by these bodily and mental sufferings truly knows happiness. Such fault-like sufferings do not arise in heaven; there, indeed, a different condition prevails.”
भरद्वाज उवाच
Educational Q&A
Falsehood breeds ignorance, which strengthens tamas and leads people toward adharma. Such vices (anger, greed, violence, untruth) generate suffering in both body and mind, in this world and beyond; true happiness is described as freedom from these afflictions, and heaven is portrayed as a realm where such suffering-doṣas do not arise.
In a didactic exchange within the Shanti Parva, Bharadvaja explains the causal chain from untruth to ignorance and unrighteous conduct, then lists the concrete forms of misery that follow—disease, punishment, deprivation, harsh weather, bereavement, loss, separation, old age, and death—before contrasting this with the condition of svarga where these pains are absent.