Shloka 3
Yājñavalkya on the Unity of Sāṃkhya and Yoga and the Marks of Meditative Composure
चन्द्रमा इव भुतानां पुनस्तत्र सहस्रश: । लीयतेडप्रतिबुद्धत्वादेवमेष हाबुद्धिमान्
candramā iva bhūtānāṃ punas tatra sahasraśaḥ | līyate ’pratibuddhatvād evam eṣa hy abuddhimān ||
Vasiṣṭha disse: “Assim como a lua, entre os seres, é vista minguar e crescer repetidas vezes, do mesmo modo o ser encarnado ignorante—por não ter despertado para o verdadeiro conhecimento—se dissolve (morre) e torna a nascer, milhares de vezes.”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
Repeated birth and death (saṃsāra) continue due to non-awakening—lack of true knowledge. The verse uses the moon’s recurring waning and waxing to illustrate how the ignorant being repeatedly dissolves and reappears until awakened insight ends the cycle.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on liberation-oriented ethics and knowledge, Vasiṣṭha addresses the condition of the unawakened individual. He explains, through a natural metaphor (the moon’s phases), why the ignorant self undergoes countless cycles of death and rebirth.