Shloka 67
Ādi-parva Adhyāya 3 — Janamejaya’s Rite, Dhaumya’s Parīkṣā, and Uttanka’s Kuṇḍala Quest (सर्पसत्रप्रस्तावना–गुरुपरीक्षा–उत्तङ्कोपाख्यान)
मुखेन गर्भ लभेतां युवानौ गतासुरेतत् प्रपदेन सूते । सद्यो जातो मातरमत्ति गर्भ- स्तावश्विनौ मुज्चथो जीवसे गा:,युवक माता-पिता संतानोत्पत्तिके लिये पहले मुखसे अन्नरूप गर्भ धारण करते हैं। तत्पश्चात् पुरुषोंमें वीर्यरूपमें और स्त्रीमें रजोरूपसे परिणत होकर वह अन्न जड शरीर बन जाता है। तत्पश्चात् जन्म लेनेवाला गर्भस्थ जीव उत्पन्न होते ही माताके स्तनोंका दूध पीने लगता है। हे अश्विनीकुमारो! पूर्वोक्त रूपसे संसार-बन्धनमें बँधे हुए जीवोंको आप तत्त्वज्ञान देकर मुक्त करते हैं। मेरे जीवन-निर्वाहके लिये मेरी नेत्रेन्द्रियको भी रोगसे मुक्त करें
mukhena garbhaṁ labhetāṁ yuvānau gatāsur etat prapadena sūte | sadyo jāto mātaram atti garbhas tāv aśvinau muñcatho jīvase gāḥ ||
Rama said: “In the beginning, the young pair receives the embryo through the mouth—food first becomes the seed of life. Thereafter, in the man it turns into semen and in the woman into menstrual essence, and from that the inert body is formed. As soon as the child is born, the embodied being at once drinks the mother’s milk. O Aśvinīkumāras, you release living beings bound in worldly existence by granting true knowledge; therefore, for the sake of my livelihood, free my faculty of sight as well from disease.”
राम उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links bodily generation to a moral-spiritual appeal: life is sustained through natural processes (food transforming into reproductive essence and birth), yet true release from bondage comes through higher knowledge. The Aśvins, famed as divine physicians, are invoked both for physical healing (restoring sight) and for liberating insight (tattvajñāna).
Rama addresses the Aśvin twins, describing conception and the newborn’s dependence on the mother’s milk, then turns the description into a petition: since the Aśvins free beings by imparting truth, they should also cure his affliction—specifically, his impaired vision—so he may sustain his life.