Narada Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 5
Saṃsāra-duḥkha: Karmic Descent, Garbhavāsa, Life’s Anxieties, Death, and the Call to Jñāna-Bhakti
तत एव पद्मयोनिमागत्य बलवद्वाधोद्वेजिता वृथोद्वेगभूयिष्ठाः क्षुत्क्षांता नित्यं वनचारिणो मातृष्वपि विषयातुरा वातादिक्लेषबहुलाः कश्मिंश्चिज्जन्मनि तृणाशनाः कस्मिंश्चिज्जन्मनि मांसामेध्याद्यदनाः कस्मिंश्चिज्जन्मनि कंदमूलफलाशना दुर्बलप्राणिपीडानिरता दुःखमनुभवंति ॥ ५ ॥
tata eva padmayonimāgatya balavadvādhodvejitā vṛthodvegabhūyiṣṭhāḥ kṣutkṣāṃtā nityaṃ vanacāriṇo mātṛṣvapi viṣayāturā vātādikleṣabahulāḥ kaśmiṃścijjanmani tṛṇāśanāḥ kasmiṃścijjanmani māṃsāmedhyādyadanāḥ kasmiṃścijjanmani kaṃdamūlaphalāśanā durbalaprāṇipīḍāniratā duḥkhamanubhavaṃti || 5 ||
Puis, entrant dans la sphère du Né du Lotus (Brahmā), les êtres sont tourmentés par de puissantes blessures et frayeurs, submergés d’angoisses inutiles, et contraints d’endurer faim et soif. Ils errent sans cesse dans les forêts; même envers leur mère, ils sont troublés par les objets des sens. De nombreux maux les assaillent, tels les désordres du vent (vāta). Dans certaines naissances ils se nourrissent d’herbe; dans d’autres, de chair et d’aliments impurs; dans d’autres, de bulbes, de racines et de fruits. Occupés à faire souffrir des créatures plus faibles, ils éprouvent la douleur.
Sanatkumara (teaching Narada on samsara and karmic suffering)
Vrata: none
Primary Rasa: karuna
Secondary Rasa: bibhatsa
FAQs
It portrays saṃsāra as a cycle of repeated births marked by fear, hunger, disease, and harmful tendencies—showing that karmic conditioning and attachment to sense-objects inevitably ripen as suffering, thereby motivating vairāgya (detachment) and the pursuit of mokṣa.
By highlighting the misery produced by viṣaya-āsakti (distress for sense-objects), the verse implicitly supports bhakti as a higher redirection of the mind—turning from unstable pleasures toward steady remembrance and refuge in the Divine, which the Narada tradition presents as the cure for anxiety and bondage.
No specific Vedāṅga technique is taught in this verse; however, it reflects a dharma-śāstric, ethical lesson central to Purāṇic instruction—avoidance of hiṃsā (harming weaker beings) and restraint of the senses as practical disciplines that reduce karmic suffering.