Shloka 7

मृत्युकारणप्रश्नः / Inquiry into the Cause and Designation of Death

Devanagari script

ताम्येयु: प्रच्युता: पृथ्व्या यथा पूर्णा नदीं नरा: | अवगाढा हाविद्वांसो विद्धि लोकमिमं तथा,जैसे तैरनेकी कला न जाननेवाले मनुष्य यदि किनारेकी भूमिसे जलपूर्ण नदीमें गिर पड़ते हैं तो गोते खाते हुए महान्‌ क्लेश सहन करते हैं; उसी प्रकार अज्ञानी मनुष्य इस संसार-सागरमें ड्ूबकर कष्ट भोगते रहते हैं--ऐसा समझो

Transliteration

tāmyeyuḥ pracyutāḥ pṛthvyā yathā pūrṇāṃ nadīṃ narāḥ | avagāḍhā hāvidvāṃso viddhi lokam imaṃ tathā ||

Translation

ویاس نے کہا—جس طرح دریا کے کنارے سے لبالب بھرے دریا میں گر پڑنے والے، تیرنے کی مہارت سے محروم لوگ ڈوبتے ابھرتے سخت کرب جھیلتے ہیں؛ اسی طرح جاہل لوگ اس دنیا کے سمندرِ سنسار میں غرق ہو کر برابر دکھ بھگتتے رہتے ہیں—یوں سمجھو۔

Word by Word

• {'tāmyeyuḥ': 'would be distressed

• would suffer exhaustion/torment', 'pracyutāḥ': 'fallen down

• cast off', 'pṛthvyāḥ (pṛthvyā)': 'from the ground/earth

• from the bank', 'yathā': 'just as', 'pūrṇām': 'full

• filled to the brim', 'nadīm': 'river', 'narāḥ': 'men

• people', 'avagāḍhāḥ': 'plunged into

• entered deeply', 'avidvāṃsaḥ': 'the unknowing

• ignorant persons', 'viddhi': 'know

• understand', 'lokam': 'world

• realm of worldly existence', 'imam': 'this', 'tathā': 'so

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyāsa
• loka (the world)
• nadī (river)
• pṛthvī (earth/riverbank)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Ignorance is like not knowing how to swim: when one is plunged into worldly existence, one repeatedly sinks into distress. The implied remedy is knowledge/discernment that enables one to cross saṃsāra rather than be overwhelmed by it.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vyāsa instructs his listener using a vivid analogy: people who fall into a flooded river without swimming skill suffer greatly; likewise, the unwise, immersed in the world, continue to experience suffering.