Shloka 16
Adhyāya 314 — हिमवदाश्रमः, शक्तिक्षेपकथा, तथा स्वाध्यायविधिः
Himalayan Hermitage, the Myth of the Thrown Spear, and Rules of Vedic Study
अस्तित्वं केवलत्वं च विनाभावं तथैव च । दैवतानि च मे ब्रूहि देहं यान्याश्रितानि वै
astitvaṁ kevalatvaṁ ca vinābhāvaṁ tathaiva ca | daivatāni ca me brūhi dehaṁ yānyāśritāni vai ||
Janaka dit : «Explique-moi le sens de l’existence, de la solitude absolue, et pareillement de la non-existence. Dis-moi aussi quelles sont, en vérité, les divinités qui prennent refuge dans le corps.»
जनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a philosophical inquiry: Janaka asks for clear definitions of being (astitva), radical independence or aloneness (kevalatva), and non-being/absence (vinābhāva), and seeks an account of the ‘deities’ associated with the body—often interpreted as the presiding principles behind the senses and vital functions—so that bodily experience can be understood without confusion about the Self.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on peace and liberation, King Janaka, portrayed as a ruler devoted to wisdom, questions a teacher about subtle metaphysical categories and about the divine powers connected with embodied life, aiming to discern what truly belongs to the Self versus what belongs to the body and its faculties.