Shloka 253

Aśmagīta: Janaka’s Inquiry on Loss, Kāla, and the Limits of Control (अश्मगीता)

Devanagari script

निर्माणे यस्य यद्‌ दिष्टं तेन गच्छति सेतुना । रोग

Transliteration

nirmāṇe yasya yad diṣṭaṃ tena gacchati setunā | rogo 'gnir jalaṃ śastraṃ bubhukṣā pipāsā vipattir viṣaṃ jvaraś ca uccasthānād patanaṃ ca—etāni sarvāṇi jīvasya mṛtyu-nimittāni | janma-kāle yasya yac chubha-aśubhaṃ prārabdha-vaśān nimittaṃ niyataṃ kṛtaṃ tad eva tasya setuḥ; tenaiva sa gacchati, arthāt paralokaṃ yāti |

Translation

जनक म्हणाले—जन्माच्या वेळी प्रारब्धवश ज्याच्यासाठी जे अंत-निमित्त ठरलेले असते, त्याच ‘सेतु’ने तो जातो. रोग, अग्नी, पाणी, शस्त्र, भूक, तहान, आपत्ती, विष, ज्वर आणि उंचावरून पडणे—ही सर्व मृत्यूची निमित्ते आहेत; पण जन्मत: ज्याचे निमित्त निश्चित झाले आहे, त्याच्याच द्वारा तो परलोकास प्रस्थान करतो.

Word by Word

• {'nirmāṇa': 'coming into being

• (here) the time of embodiment/birth', 'diṣṭa': 'ordained, appointed, destined', 'setu': 'bridge

• a fixed means of crossing (metaphor for the destined occasion of death)', 'gacchati': 'goes, departs', 'roga': 'disease', 'agni': 'fire', 'jala': 'water', 'śastra': 'weapon', 'bubhukṣā': 'hunger', 'pipāsā': 'thirst', 'vipatti': 'misfortune, calamity', 'viṣa': 'poison', 'jvara': 'fever', 'uccasthānāt patanam': 'falling from a high place', 'jīva': 'living being, embodied self', 'mṛtyu-nimitta': 'occasion/cause leading to death', 'janma-kāla': 'time of birth', 'prārabdha': 'already-begun karma bearing fruit in the present life', 'niyata': 'fixed, determined', 'paraloka': 'the other world

Speaker

जनक उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Janaka

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Many external factors can appear to cause death, but the text emphasizes that the specific manner and moment of death are governed by prārabdha (ripened karma) fixed from birth; those factors are only instruments through which destiny operates.

What is happening in the narrative?

King Janaka is speaking in a reflective, philosophical context, explaining to his listener(s) that death comes through a pre-appointed ‘bridge’ (setu), even though it may outwardly seem to arise from disease, accident, violence, or other contingencies.