Shloka 43

Mokṣa-dharma Yoga-Upadeśa: Equanimity, Sense-Restraint, and Vision of the Ātman (आत्मदर्शन-योगोपदेशः)

Devanagari script

जीव: कथं वहति च चेष्टमान: कलेवरम्‌ । कि वर्ण कीदृशं चैव निवेशयति वै पुन:

Transliteration

jīvaḥ kathaṁ vahati ca ceṣṭamānaḥ kalevaram | ki varṇa kīdṛśaṁ caiva niveśayati vai punaḥ ||

Translation

Bà-la-môn hỏi: “Sinh ngã, khi đang nỗ lực và vận động, mang vác khung thân này bằng cách nào? Và rồi nó lại nhập vào hình dạng và cảnh trạng như thế nào?”

Word by Word

• जीवः: the living being (soul)
• जीवः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: जीव
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• कथम्: how
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: कथम्

• वहति: carries/bears
• Type: Verb
• Root: वह्
• Form: Present, Third, Singular, Parasmaipada, Active

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• चेष्टमानः: acting/moving (endeavoring)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: चेष्ट्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular, शानच् (present active participle), Parasmaipada

• कलेवरम्: the body
• कलेवरम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: कलेवर
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• कि: what
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: किम्
• Form: Neuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular

• वर्णः: color/complexion
• Type: Noun
• Root: वर्ण
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• कीदृशम्: of what kind; what sort
• Type: Adjective
• Root: कीदृश
• Form: Neuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• एव: indeed/just
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• निवेशयति: places/settles/installs
• Type: Verb
• Root: नि-विश्
• Form: Present, Third, Singular, Parasmaipada, Causative (णिच्)

• वै: indeed (emphatic particle)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: वै

• पुनः: again; further
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: पुनः

Speaker

ब्राह्मण उवाच

Characters & Entities

• ब्राह्मण (speaker)
• जीव (individual self)
• कलेवर (body)
• वर्ण (varṇa/class)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames a classic dharmic inquiry: the jīva animates and sustains the body during action, and after death it ‘enters again’ into a new embodiment shaped by karma. It points to moral causality—conduct and intention influence the kind of future birth and condition one attains.

What is happening in the narrative?

A brāhmaṇa, in a dialogic setting, questions the mechanics of embodied existence: how the living self bears the body while acting, and what sort of form or varṇa it assumes upon re-embodiment. The verse functions as a prompt for a subsequent doctrinal explanation.