Shloka 3

Devanagari script

मानुषत्वाद्‌ दिवं याति दिवो मानुष्यमेव च । मानुष्यान्निर यस्थानमानन्त्यं प्रतिपद्यते,कभी मानव-योनिसे स्वर्गलोकमें जाता है और कभी स्वर्गसे मनुष्यलोकमें लौट आता है। मनुष्यलोकसे कभी-कभी अनन्त नरकोंमें भी पड़ता है

Transliteration

mānuṣatvād divaṃ yāti divo mānuṣyam eva ca | mānuṣyān nirayastānam ānantyaṃ pratipadyate ||

Translation

ヴァシシュタは言った。「人としての境涯から天に至り、天よりまた人の生へと帰る。さらに人界から、時に尽きることなき地獄の住処へと堕ちることもある。かくして衆生は、その業に従い、高き運命と低き運命の間を巡りゆく。」

Word by Word

मानुषत्वात्from human-ness / from the human state

दिवम्to heaven

यातिgoes

दिवःfrom heaven

मानुष्यम्human state / humanity (as a condition)

एवindeed / just

चand

मानुष्यात्from the human state

निरयस्थानम्a place of hell

अनन्त्यम्endless / infinite

प्रतिपद्यतेattains / reaches / falls into

Speaker

वसिष्ठ उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vasiṣṭha

Svarga (heaven)

Manuṣyaloka (human world)

Niraya/Naraka (hell)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches karmic mobility: beings do not remain fixed in one realm. From human life one may rise to heaven through merit, return again to human birth when that merit is exhausted, and through wrongdoing may descend into hellish states—so ethical action (dharma) is decisive for one’s trajectory.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vasiṣṭha is instructing his listener in the moral logic of saṃsāra, describing how a jīva moves among human, heavenly, and hellish destinations. The point is admonitory: human life is a pivotal station where choices can lead upward or downward.