Narada Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 25
Janaka’s Quest for Liberation; Pañcaśikha’s Sāṅkhya on Renunciation, Elements, Guṇas, and the Deathless State
अनात्मा ह्यात्मनो मृत्युः क्लेशो मृत्युर्जरामयः । आत्मानं मन्यते मोहात्तदसम्यक् परं मतम् ॥ २५ ॥
anātmā hyātmano mṛtyuḥ kleśo mṛtyurjarāmayaḥ | ātmānaṃ manyate mohāttadasamyak paraṃ matam || 25 ||
Bagi Ātman, yang bukan-Ātman itulah benar-benar kematian; penderitaan juga kematian, demikian pula tua dan penyakit. Kerana moha (kekeliruan), manusia menyangka yang bukan-Ātman sebagai Ātman—itulah salah faham yang paling tinggi.
Sanatkumara (teaching Narada in the Moksha-dharma dialogue)
Vrata: none
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: bhakti
FAQs
It defines bondage as misidentification: taking the non-self (body, senses, mind) to be the Self produces the experience of death, suffering, old age, and disease; liberation begins with correct discernment (ātma-viveka).
By exposing egoic identification as the root error, it prepares the devotee to surrender that false ‘I’ and anchor identity in the imperishable Self and the Lord—bhakti becomes steadier when one stops treating the perishable body-mind as the true self.
No specific Vedanga (Śikṣā, Vyākaraṇa, Chandas, Nirukta, Jyotiṣa, Kalpa) is taught directly; the practical takeaway is viveka-based self-inquiry—using precise meaning (nirukta-like clarity) to separate ātman from anātman.