Shloka 26
Nārāyaṇasya Guhya-nāmāni Niruktāni (Etymologies of Nārāyaṇa’s Secret Epithets) / नारायणस्य गुह्यनामानि निरुक्तानि
तत्र मृत्युजरादु:खै सततं समभिद्रुत: । संसारे पच्यते जन्तुस्तत्कर्थं नावबुद्धयसे
tatra mṛtyu-jarā-duḥkhaiḥ satataṃ samabhidrutaḥ | saṃsāre pacyate jantus tat kathaṃ nāvabuddhyase ||
Là, dans ce cycle de l’existence, l’être est sans cesse assailli par la mort, la vieillesse et la douleur. Ainsi, toute créature née dans le saṃsāra est, pour ainsi dire, cuite dans le feu de l’affliction—pourquoi ne saisis-tu pas et ne considères-tu pas cette vérité ?
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
Nārada urges clear-eyed awareness of saṃsāra: embodied life is inevitably and repeatedly afflicted by old age, death, and manifold sufferings. Recognizing this is meant to awaken dispassion (vairāgya) and prompt a turn toward dharma and liberation-oriented living rather than complacent attachment.
Nārada is instructing his listener in the Shānti Parva’s reflective, didactic mode. He emphasizes the universal condition of beings across many births—continual oppression by mortality and pain—using the vivid metaphor of creatures being ‘cooked’ in the heat of worldly affliction to provoke insight and urgency.