Shloka 52

Adhyāya 42 — Mahābhūta–Indriya–Adhyātma-Vyavasthā

Brahmā’s Instruction on Elements and Faculties

Devanagari script

रोगशोकसमाविदष्टं पज्चस्रोत:समावृतम्‌ पजञ्चभूतसमायुक्तं नदद्वारं द्विदिवतम्‌

Transliteration

rogaśokasamāviḍaṣṭaṃ pañcasrotaḥsamāvṛtaṃ pañcabhūtasamāyuktaṃ navadvāraṃ dvidhāvitam

Translation

ਇਹ ਦੇਹ ਰੋਗ ਅਤੇ ਸ਼ੋਕ ਨਾਲ ਵਿਧਿਆ ਹੋਇਆ ਹੈ; ਪੰਜ ਸ੍ਰੋਤਾਂ (ਇੰਦ੍ਰੀਅ-ਪ੍ਰਵਾਹਾਂ) ਨਾਲ ਘਿਰਿਆ ਹੈ; ਪੰਜ ਮਹਾਭੂਤਾਂ ਨਾਲ ਬਣਿਆ ਹੈ; ਨੌਂ ਦਰਵਾਜ਼ਿਆਂ ਵਾਲਾ ਹੈ; ਅਤੇ ਦੋਹਾਂ ਪਾਸਿਆਂ ਦੀਆਂ ਖਿੱਚਾਂ ਨਾਲ ਚਲਾਇਆ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ।

Word by Word

• रोगशोकसमाविष्टम्: entered/afflicted by disease and grief
• रोगशोकसमाविष्टम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: रोग-शोक-समाविष्ट
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• पञ्चस्रोतःसमावृतम्: enclosed by five streams/channels
• पञ्चस्रोतःसमावृतम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पञ्च-स्रोतस्-समावृत
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• पञ्चभूतसमायुक्तम्: joined with the five elements
• पञ्चभूतसमायुक्तम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पञ्च-भूत-समायुक्त
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• नवद्वारम्: having nine gates (the body)
• नवद्वारम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: नव-द्वार
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• द्विदेवतम्: having two presiding deities / twofold divinity
• द्विदेवतम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: द्वि-देवत
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyu-deva
• the embodied being (śarīrin/jīva implied)
• five elements (pañcabhūta)
• nine gates (navadvāra)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames the body as a constructed, element-made ‘city’ with nine openings, vulnerable to illness and sorrow and swept along by sensory currents. Ethically, it urges discernment and restraint: do not mistake the body’s changing conditions and sense-flows for the true Self, and cultivate steadiness amid dual pulls.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyu-deva is describing the condition of embodied life in instructive, metaphorical terms—highlighting how the jīva, while dwelling in the body, is constrained by elemental composition, sense-channels, and the inevitable experiences of pain such as disease and grief.