Shloka 2

Yājñavalkya on the Unity of Sāṃkhya and Yoga and the Marks of Meditative Composure

Devanagari script

धाम्ना धामसहस््राणि मरणान्तानि गच्छति । तिर्यग्योनिमनुष्यत्वे देवलोके तथैव च,वह पशु-पक्षी, मनुष्य तथा देवताओंकी योनियोंमें तथा एक स्थानसे सहसौरों स्थानोंमें बारंबार मरकर जाता और जन्म लेता है

Transliteration

dhāmnā dhāma-sahasrāṇi maraṇāntāni gacchati | tiryag-yoni-manuṣyatve deva-loke tathaiva ca ||

Translation

వసిష్ఠుడు పలికెను— తన స్వధామబలముచేత (అర్జిత స్థితిబలముచేత) జీవుడు మరణాంతమగు వేల వేల నివాసస్థానములలో సంచరించును. తిర్యగ్యోనులలో, మనుష్యస్థితిలో, దేవలోకములో కూడ—అదేవిధముగా—మళ్లీ మళ్లీ మరణించి జన్మించును.

Word by Word

धाम्नाby/through a (certain) abode/state

धामसहस्राणिthousands of abodes/states

मरणान्तानिending in death; having death as the end

गच्छतिgoes; reaches

तिर्यग्योनिमनुष्यत्वेin the state of being human among animal-births (i.e., in animal and human conditions)

देवलोकेin the world of the gods

तथाthus; likewise

एवindeed; just; only

चand

Speaker

वसिष्ठ उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vasiṣṭha

tiryag-yoni (animal births)

manuṣyatva (human state)

deva-loka (world of the gods)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

That worldly existence is a cycle of repeated births and deaths across many realms—animal, human, and divine—driven by one’s own accumulated karmic force and disposition; therefore one should seek liberation rather than mere higher rebirth.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vasiṣṭha is instructing about the nature of saṃsāra: the jīva migrates through countless ‘abodes’ (states of existence), each terminating in death, moving among animal, human, and heavenly worlds in accordance with its own causal momentum.