Shloka 6
Aśoka-śāstra: Nārada’s Instruction on the Cessation of Śoka
Grief
प्राणेन गन्धवहन नेत्राभ्यामग्निमेव च । भ्रूभ्यां चैवाश्विनौ देवा ललाटेन पितृनथ
prāṇena gandhavahanaṃ netrābhyām agnim eva ca | bhrūbhyāṃ caivāśvinau devā lalāṭena pitṝn atha ||
ಪ್ರಾಣವು ನಾಸಿಕೆಯಿಂದ ಹೊರಟರೆ ಗಂಧವಾಹಕನಾದ ವಾಯುದೇವನನ್ನು ಸೇರುತ್ತಾನೆ; ಎರಡೂ ಕಣ್ಣುಗಳಿಂದ ಹೊರಟರೆ ಅಗ್ನಿದೇವನನ್ನು; ಎರಡೂ ಭ್ರೂಗಳಿಂದ ಹೊರಟರೆ ಅಶ್ವಿನೀ ದೇವತೆಯರನ್ನು; ಲಲಾಟದಿಂದ ಹೊರಟರೆ ಪಿತೃಗಳನ್ನು ಪಡೆಯುತ್ತಾನೆ।
याज्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the point of exit of prāṇa at death corresponds to specific divine realms—Vāyu, Agni, the Aśvins, or the Pitṛs—presenting death as a structured transition governed by subtle physiology and cosmic order.
In Śānti Parva’s instructional setting, Yājñavalkya is expounding a doctrinal account of ‘utkrānti’ (departure of life-breath), mapping bodily exit-points to the deities or ancestral realm that the departing being is said to attain.