Shloka 23
रावण–मारीचसंवादः तथा मृगप्रलोभनपूर्वकं सीताहरणोपक्रमः
Rāvaṇa–Mārīca Dialogue and the Decoy-Deer Prelude to Sītā’s Abduction
जरा मृत्यु: कुतस्तेषां हर्ष: प्रीति: सुखं न च । न दु:खं न सुखं चापि रागद्वेषौ कुतो मुने,मुने! उनमें जरा-मृत्युकी सम्भावना तो हो ही कैसे सकती है? हर्ष, प्रीति तथा सुख आदि विकारोंका भी उनमें सर्वथा अभाव ही है। ऐसी स्थितिमें उनके भीतर दुःख-सुख तथा राग-द्वेषादि कैसे रह सकते हैं?
jarā mṛtyuḥ kutas teṣāṃ harṣaḥ prītiḥ sukhaṃ na ca | na duḥkhaṃ na sukhaṃ cāpi rāgadveṣau kuto mune ||
Wika ng banal na sugo: “O pantas, paano pa makalalapit sa kanila ang katandaan at kamatayan? Sa kanila’y ganap na walang puwang ang pagyanig ng loob—gaya ng pag-uumapaw na tuwa, pag-ibig, o ligaya. Sa gayong kalagayan, O pantas, paano pa mananatili sa kanila ang sakit at saya—at paano sisibol ang pagkakapit at pag-ayaw?”
देवदूत उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches transcendence of dualities: one who abides in a purified, higher state (beyond bodily identification) is not governed by aging and death in the same way, and mental fluctuations—pleasure/pain, attachment/aversion—lose their hold. Ethically, it points toward vairāgya (dispassion) and steadiness as marks of spiritual maturity.
A divine messenger addresses a sage and argues that for certain exalted beings (or those established in a liberated condition), ordinary human conditions—aging, death, and emotional extremes—do not apply. The speech functions as instruction, emphasizing the inner state in which worldly opposites cannot take root.