Shloka 21

नरनारायण-नारदसंवादः

Nara-Nārāyaṇa–Nārada Discourse on Vision, Elements, and Entry into Vāsudeva

Devanagari script

शीघ्रं परशरीराणि च्छिन्नबीजं शरीरिणम्‌ | प्राणिनं प्राणसंरोधे मांसश्लेष्मविवेष्टितम्‌

Transliteration

śīghraṃ paraśarīrāṇi chinnabījaṃ śarīriṇam | prāṇinaṃ prāṇasaṃrodhe māṃsaśleṣmaviveṣṭitam

Translation

Nārada nói: “Các thân khác chóng tàn hoại; còn hữu tình mang thân—kẻ có ‘hạt giống’ đã bị cắt đứt—là sinh vật bị giữ trong sự kiềm tỏa của hơi thở, bị bao bọc bởi thịt và đờm.”

Word by Word

• शीघ्रम्: quickly
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: शीघ्र
• Form: Avyaya (adverb)

• पर-शरीराणि: other bodies
• पर-शरीराणि: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: परशरीर
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Plural

• च्छिन्न-बीजम्: with seed cut off / seedless (cut at the root)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: च्छिन्नबीज
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• शरीरिणम्: the embodied one
• शरीरिणम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: शरीरिन्
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• प्राणिनम्: a living being
• प्राणिनम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्राणिन्
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• प्राण-संरोधे: in the restraint/suppression of breath (vital airs)
• प्राण-संरोधे: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्राणसंरोध
• Form: Masculine, Locative, Singular

• मांस-श्लेष्म-विवेष्टितम्: wrapped/encased in flesh and phlegm
• Type: Adjective
• Root: मांसश्लेष्मविवेष्टित
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

Speaker

नारद उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Nārada

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse stresses the perishability and material encasement of embodied life: bodies quickly pass away, and the living self is confined within a breath-bound organism wrapped in impure physical constituents. The ethical thrust is dispassion—reducing attachment to the body and turning toward liberation-oriented discipline.

What is happening in the narrative?

Nārada is speaking in an instructive mode, describing the embodied condition: the living being (jīva) is enclosed in a body sustained and constrained by prāṇa, and that body is materially constituted (flesh, phlegm), emphasizing its fragility and transience.