Shloka 253

Aśmagīta: Janaka’s Inquiry on Loss, Kāla, and the Limits of Control (अश्मगीता)

Devanagari script

निर्माणे यस्य यद्‌ दिष्टं तेन गच्छति सेतुना । रोग

Transliteration

nirmāṇe yasya yad diṣṭaṃ tena gacchati setunā | rogo 'gnir jalaṃ śastraṃ bubhukṣā pipāsā vipattir viṣaṃ jvaraś ca uccasthānād patanaṃ ca—etāni sarvāṇi jīvasya mṛtyu-nimittāni | janma-kāle yasya yac chubha-aśubhaṃ prārabdha-vaśān nimittaṃ niyataṃ kṛtaṃ tad eva tasya setuḥ; tenaiva sa gacchati, arthāt paralokaṃ yāti |

Translation

阇那迦说：对每个众生而言，凡在其出生之时已被注定的结局，便由那同一座“桥”（setu）而离去。疾病、火、水、兵刃、饥饿、口渴、灾厄、毒、热病以及从高处坠落——这些都只是可能成为死亡原因的机缘。然而，出生时由业报之余势（prārabdha）所钉定的那一特定机缘，才是为此人所设的桥；唯由此桥而渡——也就是前往来世。

Word by Word

• {'nirmāṇa': 'coming into being

• (here) the time of embodiment/birth', 'diṣṭa': 'ordained, appointed, destined', 'setu': 'bridge

• a fixed means of crossing (metaphor for the destined occasion of death)', 'gacchati': 'goes, departs', 'roga': 'disease', 'agni': 'fire', 'jala': 'water', 'śastra': 'weapon', 'bubhukṣā': 'hunger', 'pipāsā': 'thirst', 'vipatti': 'misfortune, calamity', 'viṣa': 'poison', 'jvara': 'fever', 'uccasthānāt patanam': 'falling from a high place', 'jīva': 'living being, embodied self', 'mṛtyu-nimitta': 'occasion/cause leading to death', 'janma-kāla': 'time of birth', 'prārabdha': 'already-begun karma bearing fruit in the present life', 'niyata': 'fixed, determined', 'paraloka': 'the other world

Speaker

जनक उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Janaka

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Many external factors can appear to cause death, but the text emphasizes that the specific manner and moment of death are governed by prārabdha (ripened karma) fixed from birth; those factors are only instruments through which destiny operates.

What is happening in the narrative?

King Janaka is speaking in a reflective, philosophical context, explaining to his listener(s) that death comes through a pre-appointed ‘bridge’ (setu), even though it may outwardly seem to arise from disease, accident, violence, or other contingencies.