Shloka 28

Nārāyaṇasya Guhya-nāmāni Niruktāni (Etymologies of Nārāyaṇa’s Secret Epithets) / नारायणस्य गुह्यनामानि निरुक्तानि

Devanagari script

संवेष्ट्यमानं बहुभिमोहात्‌ तन्तुभिरात्मजै: । कोषकार इवात्मानं वेष्टयन्‌ नावबुध्यसे,जैसे रेशमका कीड़ा अपने ही शरीरसे उत्पन्न हुए तन्‍्तुओंद्वारा अपने-आपको आच्छादित कर लेता है, उसी प्रकार तुम भी मोहवश अपनेहीसे उत्पन्न सम्बन्धके बन्धनोंद्वारा अपने-आपको बाँधते जा रहे हो तो भी यह बात तुम्हारी समझमें नहीं आ रही है

Transliteration

saṃveṣṭyamānaṃ bahubhimohāt tantubhir ātmajaiḥ | koṣakāra ivātmānaṃ veṣṭayan nāvabudhyase ||

Translation

പട്ടുപുഴു തന്റെ ശരീരത്തിൽ നിന്നുത്ഭവിച്ച നൂലുകളാൽ തന്നെ തന്നെ പൊതിഞ്ഞ് കോശം തീർക്കുന്നതുപോലെ, നീയും മോഹവശാൽ നിന്നിൽ നിന്നുതന്നെ പിറന്ന ബന്ധബന്ധനങ്ങളാൽ നിന്നെ തന്നെ ബന്ധിച്ചുകൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്നു; എന്നിട്ടും നീ ഇതു തിരിച്ചറിയുന്നില്ല.

Word by Word

• {'saṃveṣṭyamānam': 'being wrapped/enveloped, being wound around', 'bahu-abhi-mohāt': 'due to great and repeated delusion

• from intense infatuation/confusion', 'tantubhiḥ': 'with threads

• strands (metaphor for bonds/attachments)', 'ātmajaiḥ': 'born of oneself

• self-generated (here: arising from one’s own actions/relations)', 'koṣakāraḥ': 'cocoon-maker

• silkworm', 'iva': 'like

• as', 'ātmānam': 'oneself

• the self', 'veṣṭayan': 'wrapping, winding around, enclosing', 'na avabudhyase': 'you do not understand/realize

Speaker

नारद उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Nārada
• koṣakāra (silkworm/cocoon-maker)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches that bondage is largely self-created: through delusion (moha) one spins ‘threads’ of attachment—relationships, possessiveness, and identity-based ties—and becomes trapped in them, failing to recognize that the prison is of one’s own making.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s instruction, Nārada admonishes the listener with a vivid metaphor: like a silkworm that produces threads from its own body and then gets enclosed by them, a person—confused by delusion—keeps tightening self-made bonds without realizing the process.