Shloka 52
Adhyaya 2 — The Lineage of Garuda and the Birth of the Wise Birds: Kanka and Kandhara
अन्ये तपस्याभिरता नीताः प्रेतनृपानुगैः ।
योगाभ्यासे रताश्चान्ये नैव प्रापुरमृत्युताम् ॥
anye tapasyābhiratā nītāḥ pretanṛpānugaiḥ | yogābhyāse ratāś cānye naiva prāpur amṛtyutām ||
ചിലർ തപസ്സിൽ നിഷ്ഠയുള്ളവരായിട്ടും പ്രേതരാജന്റെ അനുചരന്മാർ അവരെ കൊണ്ടുപോയി; മറ്റുചിലർ യോഗാഭ്യാസത്തിൽ ലീനരായിട്ടും അമരത്വം പ്രാപിച്ചില്ല।
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FAQs
The verse cautions that external disciplines—tapas (austerity) and yogic practice—do not automatically confer liberation or deathlessness. If one remains bound by karma, wrong orientation, or incomplete realization, death still claims them. Ethically, it discourages pride in practices and implies the need for right knowledge, right aim, and alignment with dharma.
This verse is primarily didactic/ethical instruction rather than a direct statement of Sarga (creation), Pratisarga (re-creation), Vamsha (genealogies), Manvantara (Manu cycles), or Vamshanucarita (dynastic histories). It functions as ancillary teaching often embedded around those larger Purāṇic topics.
‘Followers of the preta-king’ symbolizes the inevitability of death for those who have not transcended identification with the perishable body-mind. Tapas and yoga, when treated as techniques for power or longevity rather than vehicles for ultimate realization, remain within samsāra. ‘Amṛtyutā’ here points beyond mere long life toward true transcendence of death through liberating knowledge.