Shloka 2

Yājñavalkya on the Unity of Sāṃkhya and Yoga and the Marks of Meditative Composure

Devanagari script

धाम्ना धामसहस््राणि मरणान्तानि गच्छति । तिर्यग्योनिमनुष्यत्वे देवलोके तथैव च,वह पशु-पक्षी, मनुष्य तथा देवताओंकी योनियोंमें तथा एक स्थानसे सहसौरों स्थानोंमें बारंबार मरकर जाता और जन्म लेता है

Transliteration

dhāmnā dhāma-sahasrāṇi maraṇāntāni gacchati | tiryag-yoni-manuṣyatve deva-loke tathaiva ca ||

Translation

Vasiṣṭha nói: Do sức mạnh của trạng thái tự mình đã tích lũy (dhāman), hữu tình mang thân đi qua hàng ngàn cảnh giới, mỗi cảnh giới đều kết thúc bằng cái chết. Vì thế nó liên tiếp chết rồi sinh—trong loài súc sinh, trong thân phận con người, và cũng như vậy trong các cõi chư thiên.

Word by Word

धाम्नाby/through a (certain) abode/state

धामसहस्राणिthousands of abodes/states

मरणान्तानिending in death; having death as the end

गच्छतिgoes; reaches

तिर्यग्योनिमनुष्यत्वेin the state of being human among animal-births (i.e., in animal and human conditions)

देवलोकेin the world of the gods

तथाthus; likewise

एवindeed; just; only

चand

Speaker

वसिष्ठ उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vasiṣṭha

tiryag-yoni (animal births)

manuṣyatva (human state)

deva-loka (world of the gods)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

That worldly existence is a cycle of repeated births and deaths across many realms—animal, human, and divine—driven by one’s own accumulated karmic force and disposition; therefore one should seek liberation rather than mere higher rebirth.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vasiṣṭha is instructing about the nature of saṃsāra: the jīva migrates through countless ‘abodes’ (states of existence), each terminating in death, moving among animal, human, and heavenly worlds in accordance with its own causal momentum.