Shloka 11
Nārada Instructs Dakṣa’s Sons; Allegory of the World; Dakṣa Curses Nārada
भू: क्षेत्रं जीवसंज्ञं यदनादि निजबन्धनम् । अदृष्ट्वा तस्य निर्वाणं किमसत्कर्मभिर्भवेत् ॥ ११ ॥
bhūḥ kṣetraṁ jīva-saṁjñaṁ yad anādi nija-bandhanam adṛṣṭvā tasya nirvāṇaṁ kim asat-karmabhir bhavet
‘ਭੂಃ’ ਅਰਥਾਤ ਕਰਮ-ਖੇਤਰ; ਜੀਵ ਦਾ ਇਹ ਦੇਹ ਹੀ ਕਰਮਾਂ ਦਾ ਖੇਤਰ ਅਤੇ ਝੂਠੀਆਂ ਉਪਾਧੀਆਂ ਦਾ ਆਧਾਰ ਹੈ। ਅਨਾਦੀ ਕਾਲ ਤੋਂ ਉਹ ਵੱਖ-ਵੱਖ ਦੇਹ ਪਾ ਕੇ ਸੰਸਾਰ-ਬੰਧਨ ਦੀ ਜੜ੍ਹ ਵਿੱਚ ਫਸਿਆ ਹੈ। ਜੋ ਇਸ ਬੰਧਨ-ਨਿਵ੍ਰਿੱਤੀ ਵੱਲ ਨਾ ਤੱਕੇ ਅਤੇ ਅਸਥਾਈ ਫਲ ਵਾਲੇ ਕਰਮਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਲੱਗਾ ਰਹੇ, ਉਸ ਨੂੰ ਕੀ ਲਾਭ?
Nārada Muni spoke to the Haryaśvas, the sons of Prajāpati Dakṣa, about ten allegorical subjects — the king, the kingdom, the river, the house, the physical elements and so forth. After considering these by themselves, the Haryaśvas could understand that the living entity encaged in his body seeks happiness, but takes no interest in how to become free from his encagement. This is a very important verse, since all the living entities in the material world are very active, having obtained their particular types of bodies. A man works all day and night for sense gratification, and animals like hogs and dogs also work for sense gratification all day and night. Birds, beasts and all other conditioned living entities engage in various activities without knowledge of the soul encaged within the body. Especially in the human form of body, one’s duty is to act in such a way that he can release himself from his encagement, but without the instructions of Nārada or his representative in the disciplic succession, people blindly engage in bodily activities to enjoy māyā-sukha — flickering, temporary happiness. They do not know how to become free from their material encagement. Ṛṣabhadeva therefore said that such activity is not at all good, since it encages the soul again and again in a body subjected to the threefold miseries of the material condition.
FAQs
This verse teaches that without realizing liberation from the soul’s beginningless bondage, engagement in impure or misdirected actions (asat-karma) cannot yield true benefit.
Narada instructed Daksha’s sons to turn away from mere worldly productivity and instead seek spiritual realization, warning that actions divorced from liberation keep the jīva bound.
Evaluate your goals: reduce actions that deepen attachment and cultivate practices aimed at realization—bhakti, self-inquiry, and disciplined living—so work supports liberation rather than bondage.