Shloka 104

Devanagari script

जाती: स स्मरते बद्दीर्नाकपृष्ठे च मोदते । गम्यान्यपि च तीर्थानि कीर्तितान्यगमानि च

Transliteration

jātīḥ sa smarate baddhīr nākapṛṣṭhe ca modate | gamyāny api ca tīrthāni kīrtitāny agamāni ca

Translation

Pulastya berkata: “Ia mengingat banyak kelahiran ketika ia terbelenggu, dan ia bersukacita di puncak surga. Ia juga mengenang tīrtha-tīrtha suci yang sungguh ia datangi, bahkan tempat-tempat suci yang hanya ia dengar disebutkan—meski ia tak pernah pergi ke sana.”

Word by Word

जातिःbirth, lineage

सःhe

स्मरतेremembers

बद्धीन्kinsmen/relations (as bound ones)

नाकपृष्ठेon the surface of heaven

चand

मोदतेrejoices

गम्यानिto be gone to, accessible

अपिalso, even

चand

तीर्थानिpilgrimage places, holy fords

कीर्तितानिmentioned, proclaimed

अगमानिnot to be gone to, inaccessible

चand

Speaker

पुलस्त्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

Pulastya

nāka (heaven)

tīrthas (holy places)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores karmic continuity: even in heavenly enjoyment one retains awareness of past bondage and of one’s religious acts—both performed pilgrimages and merely heard-of holy places—highlighting that merit and memory follow the soul beyond a single life.

What is happening in the narrative?

Pulastya is describing the post-mortem experience of a person who attains heaven: he delights there, yet remembers prior constrained existences and recollects the tīrthas he visited as well as those he only heard praised but did not reach.