Shloka 25
नरनारायण-नारदसंवादः
Nara-Nārāyaṇa–Nārada Discourse on Vision, Elements, and Entry into Vāsudeva
जहाँ खाये हुए अन्न और जल पच जाते हैं तथा सभी तरहके भक्ष्य पदार्थ जीर्ण हो जाते हैं, उसी पेटमें पड़ा हुआ गर्भ अन्नके समान क्यों नहीं पच जाता है ।।
yatra khāyānnajalaṁ pacyate tathā sarvavidha-bhakṣya-dravyāṇi jīryante, tasminn eva udare patitaḥ garbhaḥ annavat kathaṁ na pacyate? garbho mūtra-purīṣāṇāṁ svabhāva-niyatā gatiḥ; dhāraṇe vā visarge vā na kartā vidyate vaśaḥ.
Tinanong ni Nārada: “Sa tiyan ding yaon, kung saan natutunaw ang kinain at ininom at nadudurog ang lahat ng uri ng pagkain—bakit ang sanggol-sa-sinapupunan na nakahimlay roon ay hindi natutunaw na gaya ng pagkain?” At sinabi pa niya: “Ang landas ng sanggol—ang kaugnayan nito sa pagpigil o paglabas ng ihi at dumi—ay sumusunod sa tiyak na kaayusang likas; sa pagpigil man o pagpapakawala, walang isang malayang tagagawa na may ganap na kapangyarihan. May mga sanggol na nalalaglag sa sinapupunan, may mga naipapanganak, at marami ang namamatay kahit matapos ipanganak—na nagpapakita ng hangganan ng sariling pagkapanginoon at ng paghahari ng batas ng kalikasan sa buhay na may katawan.”
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights that bodily processes and the fate of the embryo operate under a fixed natural order (svabhāva-niyati), not under an independently controlling personal agent. It points to the limits of human mastery and the inevitability of birth, miscarriage, and death within embodied existence.
Nārada poses a physiological-philosophical question: if the stomach digests food, why does it not digest the embryo? He answers by invoking nature’s regulated course in gestation and excretion, and he observes that outcomes vary—some fetuses are lost, some are born, and some die after birth—underscoring the precariousness of life.