Shloka 8
कर्मनाशाभावः, गर्भे जीवप्रवेशः, आचारधर्मोपदेशः
Karma’s Non-Extinction, Jīva’s Entry into the Embryo, and Instruction on Conduct-Dharma
दधाति चेतसा सद्यः प्राणस्थानेष्ववस्थित: । ततः स्पन्दयतेड5ड्रानि स गर्भशक्षेतनान्वित:,वह जीवात्मा सम्पूर्ण भूतोंकी स्थितिका हेतु है, क्योंकि उसीके द्वारा सब प्राणी जीवित रहते हैं। वह जीव गर्भके समस्त अंगमें प्रविष्ट हो उसके प्रत्येक अंशमें तत्काल चेतनता ला देता है और वही प्राणोंके स्थान--वक्षःस्थलमें स्थित हो समस्त अंगोंका संचालन करता है। तभी वह गर्भ चेतनासे सम्पन्न होता है
dadhāti cetasā sadyaḥ prāṇasthāneṣv avasthitaḥ | tataḥ spandayate 'ṅgāni sa garbhaś cetanānvitaḥ ||
The Brāhmaṇa said: “Abiding in the seats of the vital breaths, the indwelling self at once bestows consciousness by its own awareness. Thereafter it sets the limbs in motion; thus the embryo becomes endowed with sentience. For this living self is the cause of the complete functioning of beings, since through it all creatures remain alive; having entered every part of the embryo, it immediately awakens each portion with consciousness, and, stationed in the vital region (the chest), it governs the activity of all the limbs.”
ब्राह्मण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that sentience and bodily activity depend on the indwelling living self (jīvātman): it imparts consciousness, animates the limbs, and sustains life through its presence in the seats of prāṇa.
A Brāhmaṇa speaker explains how an embryo becomes conscious and active: the life-principle enters and pervades the fetus, awakens awareness in its parts, and from the vital region governs the movement and functioning of the body.