Shloka 3
निरय-परमस्थान-वर्णनम्
Niraya and the Supreme Station: A Metaphysical Re-reading
स्वर्ग: प्रकाश इत्याहुर्नरक॑ तम एव च । सत्यानृतं तदुभयं प्राप्पते जगतीचरै:,स्वर्ग प्रकाशभय है और नरक अन्धकारमय है, ऐसा कहते हैं। सत्य और अनृतसे युक्त जो मानव-योनि है, वह ज्ञान और अज्ञान दोनोंके सम्मिश्रणसे जगत्के जीवोंको प्राप्त होती है
svargaḥ prakāśa ity āhur narakaṃ tama eva ca | satyānṛtaṃ tad ubhayaṃ prāpnoti jagatīcaraiḥ ||
भरद्वाज म्हणाले—स्वर्ग म्हणजे प्रकाश आणि नरक म्हणजे केवळ अंधार, असे म्हणतात. परंतु मानवी अवस्था सत्य-असत्याची मिश्रित आहे; ज्ञान-अज्ञान यांच्या गुंफणीतूनच जगात वावरणारे देहधारी दोन्हींचा अनुभव घेतात.
भरद्वाज उवाच
Educational Q&A
Heaven and hell are framed as light and darkness, but human life is portrayed as a mixed field of satya (truth/clarity) and anṛta (untruth/obscurity). Because of this mixture, beings in the world encounter both knowledge and ignorance and thereby move toward experiences associated with both ‘light’ and ‘darkness’.
In the Shanti Parva’s instructional discourse, Bharadvāja is explaining a moral-psychological mapping of realms: svarga as illumination and naraka as darkness, then qualifying it by describing the human realm as a blended condition through which worldly beings come to partake of both.