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

Transliteration

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

Translation

毗耶娑说：正如人从河岸坠入涨满的河流之中——又不谙游泳之术——便沉没挣扎，忍受巨大痛苦；同样，无明之人被投入此世间之海，便不断受苦。应当如此理解。

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.