Shloka 8
Nārada and Aṅgirā Instruct Citraketu: Impermanence, Ātma-Tattva, and Mantra-Upadeśa
देहदेहिविभागोऽयमविवेककृत: पुरा । जातिव्यक्तिविभागोऽयं यथा वस्तुनि कल्पित: ॥ ८ ॥
deha-dehi-vibhāgo ’yam aviveka-kṛtaḥ purā jāti-vyakti-vibhāgo ’yaṁ yathā vastuni kalpitaḥ
ਦੇਹ ਤੇ ਦੇਹੀ ਦਾ ਇਹ ਭੇਦ, ਅਤੇ ਜਾਤੀ‑ਵਿਅਕਤੀ, ਦੇਸ਼‑ਵਿਅਕਤਿਤਵ ਆਦਿ ਵੰਡਾਂ—ਅਵਿਵੇਕੀ ਲੋਕਾਂ ਦੀ ਕਲਪਨਾ ਹੀ ਹਨ; ਜਿਵੇਂ ਇੱਕ ਹੀ ਵਸਤੂ ਉੱਤੇ ਨਾਮ‑ਰੂਪ ਦੇ ਭੇਦ ਘੜ ਲਏ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਹਨ।
Actually there are two energies — material and spiritual. Both of them are ever-existing because they are emanations from the eternal truth, the Supreme Lord. Because the individual soul, the individual living entity, has desired to act in forgetfulness of his original identity since time immemorial, he is accepting different positions in material bodies and being designated according to many divisions of nationality, community, society, species and so on.
FAQs
This verse says the rigid sense of separation between “body” and “embodied soul” arises from aviveka (lack of spiritual discrimination), like an imagined categorization imposed on one underlying reality.
Nārada instructs Citraketu to rise above grief and bodily identification by pointing out that perceived divisions—such as “I” and “mine” based on the body—are products of ignorance rather than ultimate truth.
Practice pausing before identifying with the body-based story (“this is me/mine”) and cultivate ātmā-buddhi (spiritual identity) through remembrance of the soul, scriptural hearing, and devotional practice to reduce grief-driven attachment.