Shloka 133
Aśoka-śāstra: Nārada’s Instruction on the Cessation of Śoka
Grief
तथैव च सहस्रांशुं सप्तरात्रेण मृत्युभाक् । जो मनुष्य सूर्य और चन्द्रमाके मण्डलको मकड़ीके जालेके समान छिठ्रयुक्त देखता है, वह सात रातमें ही मृत्युका भागी होता है
tathaiva ca sahasrāṃśuṃ sapta-rātreṇa mṛtyu-bhāk | yo manuṣyaḥ sūrya-candra-māṇḍalaṃ makāḍī-jāla-sadṛśaṃ chidra-yuktaṃ paśyati sa sapta-rātreṇaiva mṛtyu-bhāg bhavati ||
Yājñavalkya disse: “Do mesmo modo, quem percebe os discos do Sol e da Lua como se estivessem crivados de furos, à semelhança de uma teia de aranha, fica destinado à morte dentro de sete noites. O ensinamento apresenta tal visão como um presságio ominoso, advertindo que a percepção distorcida das luzes cósmicas sinaliza perigo iminente e conclama à vigilância e ao autocontrole.”
याज्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse treats an abnormal, hole-riddled appearance of the Sun and Moon as a grave portent: a warning that one’s life is in immediate peril. Ethically, it functions as a caution to respond to ominous signs with heightened self-control, alertness, and dharmic conduct.
In Yājñavalkya’s instruction (within the didactic setting of Śānti Parva), he enumerates signs and consequences; here he states that seeing the solar and lunar discs as perforated like a spider’s web indicates death within seven nights.