Shloka 19
Brahmā’s Enumeration of Primacies (Ādi) and the Supremacy of Knowledge
Jñāna
सर्वे क्षयान्ता निचया: पतनान्ता: समुच्छया: । संयोगाश्न वियोगान्ता मरणान्तं च जीवितम्,समस्त संग्रहका अन्त है विनाश, उत्थानका अन्त है पतन, संयोगका अन्त है वियोग और जीवनका अन्त है मृत्यु
sarve kṣayāntā nicayāḥ patanāntāḥ samucchayāḥ | saṃyogāś ca viyogāntā maraṇāntaṃ ca jīvitam ||
Vāyu said: “All accumulations end in depletion; all elevations and piled-up heights end in a fall. Every union ends in separation, and life itself ends in death.” In this reflection, the speaker presses an ethical realism: do not cling to possessions, status, or relationships as permanent; act with steadiness and dharma, knowing that change and loss are woven into embodied existence.
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches impermanence: wealth and gains diminish, high positions collapse, relationships part, and life ends in death. Therefore one should practice non-attachment, humility, and dharmic action without intoxication by success or despair in loss.
Vāyudeva delivers a sober instruction, using universal truths about decline, separation, and mortality to counsel the listener toward steadiness and right conduct, rather than clinging to transient worldly conditions.