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 ||
Sinabi ni Yājñavalkya: “Gayundin, ang sinumang nakakakita sa mga bilog ng Araw at Buwan na wari’y butas-butas na parang sapot ng gagamba ay nakatakdang mamatay sa loob ng pitong gabi. Itinuturing ng aral na ito ang gayong pangitain bilang masamang pangitain, nagbababala na ang baluktot na pagtanaw sa mga ilaw ng sansinukob ay hudyat ng nalalapit na panganib at humihimok sa pagbabantay at pagpipigil.”
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.