Shloka 22

नारद–असित (देवल) संवादः — भूतप्रभवाप्यय, इन्द्रिय-गुण-विवेक, क्षेत्रज्ञ-तत्त्व

Devanagari script

तदन्योन्यवरा: सर्वे प्राणिन: सप्त सप्तधा । यज्ञेषूपाकृतं विश्व प्राहुरुत्तमसंज्ञितम्‌,सात-सात प्रकारके जो ग्राम्य और आरण्य (जंगली) प्राणी हैं, वे सब एक-दूसरेकी अपेक्षा श्रेष्ठ हैं। इन सबमें “उत्तम” नामसे प्रसिद्ध जो सब-के-सब पुरुष या मनुष्यसंज्ञक प्राणी हैं, उन्हें भी यज्ञके लिये नियुक्त बताया गया है

Transliteration

tad anyonyavarāḥ sarve prāṇinaḥ sapta saptadhā | yajñeṣūpākṛtaṃ viśvaṃ prāhur uttamasaṃjñitam ||

Translation

カピラは言った。「あらゆる生きとし生けるものは七つの類に配され、互いに照らしては一方が他方に勝ると見なされる。全世界は—人々の言によれば—ヤジュニャ（yajña、供犠）の領域へと取り込まれている。そして衆生のうち『最勝』と称される者、すなわち人間は、とりわけ供犠の務めと責任を担うべく定められている。」

Word by Word

• {'tad': 'that

• in that manner (contextual connective)', 'anyonyavarāḥ': 'mutually superior

• each considered superior relative to another (comparative hierarchy)', 'sarve': 'all', 'prāṇinaḥ': 'living beings

• creatures', 'sapta': 'seven', 'saptadhā': 'in seven ways

• sevenfold', 'yajñeṣu': 'in sacrifices

• in the context of yajña', 'upākṛtam': 'brought near

• appointed/engaged (for a purpose)', 'viśvam': 'the whole world

• the universe', 'prāhuḥ': 'they say

• they declare', 'uttama-saṃjñitam': 'designated as ‘uttama’ (the excellent/supreme)

Speaker

कपिल उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Kapila
• prāṇinaḥ (living beings)
• yajña (sacrifice)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames a graded order among living beings and emphasizes that humans—called ‘uttama’—carry a distinctive obligation: to participate in and uphold yajña, understood as a moral-cosmic discipline that sustains the world.

What is happening in the narrative?

Kapila is instructing about the structure of living beings and their relation to yajña, asserting that the world is connected to sacrificial order and that humans, as the ‘excellent’ class, are especially tasked with sacrificial responsibility.