Shloka 5
अव्यक्त-गुण-पुरुषविवेकः | Avyakta, Guṇas, and Discrimination of Puruṣa
डन्ड्धमेति च निर्दन्द्धस्तासु तास्विह योनिषु । शीर्षरोगेडक्षिरोगे च दन््तशूले गलग्रहे
daṇḍham eti ca nirdaṇḍhas tāsu tāsviha yoniṣu | śīrṣa-roge 'kṣi-roge ca danta-śūle gala-grahe ||
Vasiṣṭha dit : Bien que le Soi soit en vérité libre et intact, non touché par les contraires, il en vient à prendre corps, naissant d’un sein à l’autre en ce monde, et il éprouve alors plaisir et douleur. Ainsi souffre-t-il tantôt de maux de tête, tantôt de maladies des yeux, tantôt de rage de dents, tantôt d’une affection de la gorge—montrant que la vie incarnée porte inévitablement les peines du corps, malgré la liberté essentielle du Soi.
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the contrast between the Self’s intrinsic freedom (unbound by dualities) and the unavoidable pains that arise when consciousness is associated with a body through repeated births; it encourages dispassion and insight into the nature of embodied suffering.
Vasiṣṭha is explaining how, despite being essentially untouched, the individual in embodied existence passes through many births and experiences concrete bodily ailments—head, eye, tooth, and throat disorders—as examples of the pains that accompany worldly embodiment.