Narada Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 50
Janaka’s Quest for Liberation; Pañcaśikha’s Sāṅkhya on Renunciation, Elements, Guṇas, and the Deathless State
जनक उवाच । भगवन्यदि न प्रेत्य संज्ञा भवति कस्यचित् । एवं सति किमज्ञानं ज्ञानं वा किं करिष्यति ॥ ५० ॥
janaka uvāca | bhagavanyadi na pretya saṃjñā bhavati kasyacit | evaṃ sati kimajñānaṃ jñānaṃ vā kiṃ kariṣyati || 50 ||
ജനകൻ പറഞ്ഞു— ഹേ ഭഗവൻ! മരണാനന്തരം ആര്ക്കും ബോധം നിലനിൽക്കാതിരുന്നാൽ, അജ്ഞാനമോ ജ്ഞാനമോ എന്ത് ഫലം ചെയ്യും? ॥50॥
Janaka
Vrata: none
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: adbhuta
FAQs
It challenges a nihilistic view of death by asking: if there is no post-mortem awareness, then spiritual striving becomes meaningless—prompting the teaching that true knowledge concerns the enduring Self (ātman) and liberation (mokṣa).
Indirectly, it sets up the need for a lasting spiritual reality; bhakti is meaningful because the soul’s relationship with the Divine (often framed as Vishnu/Narayana in Moksha-dharma contexts) is not destroyed by death.
No specific Vedanga (such as Vyākaraṇa, Jyotiṣa, or Kalpa) is taught in this verse; it is primarily a mokṣa-śāstra question about consciousness (saṃjñā) and the value of jñāna.