Shloka 44
Nārāyaṇasya Guhya-nāmāni Niruktāni (Etymologies of Nārāyaṇa’s Secret Epithets) / नारायणस्य गुह्यनामानि निरुक्तानि
यह शरीर पंचभूतोंका घर है। इसमें हड्डियोंके खंभे लगे हैं। यह नस-नाड़ियोंसे बँधा हुआ, रक्त-मांससे लिपा हुआ और चमड़ेसे मढ़ा हुआ है। इसमें मल-मूत्र भरा है, जिससे दुर्गन्ध आती रहती है। यह बुढ़ापा और शोकसे व्याप्त, रोगोंका घर, दुःखरूप, रजोगुणरूपी धूलसे ढका हुआ और अनित्य है; अतः तुम्हें इसकी आसक्तिको त्याग देना चाहिये ।। इदं विश्व जगत् सर्वमजगच्चापि यद् भवेत् | महाभूतात्मकं सर्व महद् यत् परमाश्रयात्
idam viśva-jagat sarvam ajagac cāpi yad bhavet | mahābhūtātmakam sarvaṁ mahad yat paramāśrayāt ||
Nārada said: This body is a dwelling made of the five great elements. Its bones stand like pillars; it is bound together by sinews and vessels, smeared with blood and flesh, and covered with skin. It is filled with filth and urine and continually gives off a foul odor. Pervaded by old age and grief, it is a home of diseases—painful in nature, coated with the dust of rajas, and impermanent. Therefore, you should abandon attachment to it. Indeed, this entire universe—whatever is moving and whatever is unmoving—arises as a vast formation constituted of the great elements, resting upon the supreme support.
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse urges dispassion toward the body by highlighting its elemental, impure, disease-prone, and impermanent nature, and points to a higher ‘supreme support’ beyond the elemental world; ethical clarity arises when one stops clinging to what inevitably decays.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on peace and liberation, Nārada addresses the listener with a contemplative critique of bodily attachment, then broadens the view to the cosmos itself as a manifestation of the great elements grounded in an ultimate principle.