Shloka 22

नारद–असित (देवल) संवादः — भूतप्रभवाप्यय, इन्द्रिय-गुण-विवेक, क्षेत्रज्ञ-तत्त्व

Devanagari script

तदन्योन्यवरा: सर्वे प्राणिन: सप्त सप्तधा । यज्ञेषूपाकृतं विश्व प्राहुरुत्तमसंज्ञितम्‌,सात-सात प्रकारके जो ग्राम्य और आरण्य (जंगली) प्राणी हैं, वे सब एक-दूसरेकी अपेक्षा श्रेष्ठ हैं। इन सबमें “उत्तम” नामसे प्रसिद्ध जो सब-के-सब पुरुष या मनुष्यसंज्ञक प्राणी हैं, उन्हें भी यज्ञके लिये नियुक्त बताया गया है

Transliteration

tad anyonyavarāḥ sarve prāṇinaḥ sapta saptadhā | yajñeṣūpākṛtaṃ viśvaṃ prāhur uttamasaṃjñitam ||

Translation

กบิละกล่าวว่า—สรรพสัตว์ทั้งปวงถูกจัดเป็นหมวดหมู่เจ็ดชั้น และแต่ละหมวดถือว่าสูงส่งกว่าอีกหมวดหนึ่งโดยเทียบกันไป เขาทั้งหลายกล่าวว่าโลกทั้งสิ้นถูกนำเข้าสู่ขอบเขตแห่งยัชญะ; และในหมู่สัตว์ ผู้ที่เรียกว่า ‘อุตตมะ’ คือมนุษย์นั้น ถูกกำหนดไว้เป็นพิเศษให้รับหน้าที่และความรับผิดชอบแห่งยัชญะ

Word by Word

• {'tad': 'that

• in that manner (contextual connective)', 'anyonyavarāḥ': 'mutually superior

• each considered superior relative to another (comparative hierarchy)', 'sarve': 'all', 'prāṇinaḥ': 'living beings

• creatures', 'sapta': 'seven', 'saptadhā': 'in seven ways

• sevenfold', 'yajñeṣu': 'in sacrifices

• in the context of yajña', 'upākṛtam': 'brought near

• appointed/engaged (for a purpose)', 'viśvam': 'the whole world

• the universe', 'prāhuḥ': 'they say

• they declare', 'uttama-saṃjñitam': 'designated as ‘uttama’ (the excellent/supreme)

Speaker

कपिल उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Kapila
• prāṇinaḥ (living beings)
• yajña (sacrifice)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames a graded order among living beings and emphasizes that humans—called ‘uttama’—carry a distinctive obligation: to participate in and uphold yajña, understood as a moral-cosmic discipline that sustains the world.

What is happening in the narrative?

Kapila is instructing about the structure of living beings and their relation to yajña, asserting that the world is connected to sacrificial order and that humans, as the ‘excellent’ class, are especially tasked with sacrificial responsibility.