Shloka 11

Devanagari script

यथा च दीप: शरणे दीप्यमान: प्रकाशते । एवमेव शरीराणि प्रकाशयति चेतना,जिस प्रकार जलता हुआ दीपक समूचे घरमें प्रकाश फैलाता है, उसी प्रकार जीवकी चैतन्य शक्ति शरीरके सब अवयवोंको प्रकाशित करती है

Transliteration

yathā ca dīpaḥ śaraṇe dīpyamānaḥ prakāśate | evam eva śarīrāṇi prakāśayati cetanā ||

Translation

ఇల్లు అనే ఆశ్రయంలో వెలిగిన దీపం అంతటా వెలుగును ప్రసరింపజేసినట్లే, చైతన్యమే దేహంలోని సమస్త అవయవాలను ప్రకాశింపజేసి వాటిని క్రియాశీలం చేస్తుంది.

Word by Word

यथाjust as

चand

दीपःlamp

शरणेin a shelter/house

दीप्यमानःburning, shining

प्रकाशतेshines, becomes manifest

एवम्thus, in the same way

एवindeed, just

शरीराणिbodies

प्रकाशयतिilluminates, makes manifest

चेतनाconsciousness, sentience

Speaker

ब्राह्मण उवाच

Characters & Entities

dīpa (lamp)

śaraṇa (house/shelter)

cetanā (consciousness)

śarīra (body)

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Consciousness (cetanā) is the illuminating principle that makes the body’s faculties and experiences manifest, just as a lamp reveals what is inside a house; the body by itself is inert without that inner sentience.

What is happening in the narrative?

A brāhmaṇa speaker delivers a philosophical instruction using a familiar metaphor (a lamp lighting a dwelling) to explain how consciousness pervades and ‘lights up’ the embodied condition.