Shloka 22

नारद–असित (देवल) संवादः — भूतप्रभवाप्यय, इन्द्रिय-गुण-विवेक, क्षेत्रज्ञ-तत्त्व

Devanagari script

तदन्योन्यवरा: सर्वे प्राणिन: सप्त सप्तधा । यज्ञेषूपाकृतं विश्व प्राहुरुत्तमसंज्ञितम्‌

Transliteration

tad anyonyavarāḥ sarve prāṇinaḥ sapta saptadhā | yajñeṣūpākṛtaṃ viśvaṃ prāhur uttamasaṃjñitam ||

Translation

Kapila dit : Tous les êtres vivants sont ordonnés en sept catégories, chacune tenue pour supérieure à une autre par comparaison. Le monde entier, disent-ils, est introduit dans la sphère du yajña (sacrifice) ; et parmi les êtres, ceux que l’on désigne comme « les excellents », à savoir les humains, sont tout particulièrement institués pour le devoir et la responsabilité du sacrifice.

Word by Word

• {'tad': 'that

• in that manner (contextual connective)', 'anyonyavarāḥ': 'mutually superior

• each considered superior relative to another (comparative hierarchy)', 'sarve': 'all', 'prāṇinaḥ': 'living beings

• creatures', 'sapta': 'seven', 'saptadhā': 'in seven ways

• sevenfold', 'yajñeṣu': 'in sacrifices

• in the context of yajña', 'upākṛtam': 'brought near

• appointed/engaged (for a purpose)', 'viśvam': 'the whole world

• the universe', 'prāhuḥ': 'they say

• they declare', 'uttama-saṃjñitam': 'designated as ‘uttama’ (the excellent/supreme)

Speaker

कपिल उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Kapila
• prāṇinaḥ (living beings)
• yajña (sacrifice)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames a graded order among living beings and emphasizes that humans—called ‘uttama’—carry a distinctive obligation: to participate in and uphold yajña, understood as a moral-cosmic discipline that sustains the world.

What is happening in the narrative?

Kapila is instructing about the structure of living beings and their relation to yajña, asserting that the world is connected to sacrificial order and that humans, as the ‘excellent’ class, are especially tasked with sacrificial responsibility.