Shloka 52
Adhyaya 2 — The Lineage of Garuda and the Birth of the Wise Birds: Kanka and Kandhara
अन्ये तपस्याभिरता नीताः प्रेतनृपानुगैः ।
योगाभ्यासे रताश्चान्ये नैव प्रापुरमृत्युताम् ॥
anye tapasyābhiratā nītāḥ pretanṛpānugaiḥ | yogābhyāse ratāś cānye naiva prāpur amṛtyutām ||
有人虽奉行苦行（tapas），仍被鬼王——死者之主——的随从所掳去；有人虽沉浸于瑜伽修持，终究未得不死。
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FAQs
The verse cautions that external disciplines—tapas (austerity) and yogic practice—do not automatically confer liberation or deathlessness. If one remains bound by karma, wrong orientation, or incomplete realization, death still claims them. Ethically, it discourages pride in practices and implies the need for right knowledge, right aim, and alignment with dharma.
This verse is primarily didactic/ethical instruction rather than a direct statement of Sarga (creation), Pratisarga (re-creation), Vamsha (genealogies), Manvantara (Manu cycles), or Vamshanucarita (dynastic histories). It functions as ancillary teaching often embedded around those larger Purāṇic topics.
‘Followers of the preta-king’ symbolizes the inevitability of death for those who have not transcended identification with the perishable body-mind. Tapas and yoga, when treated as techniques for power or longevity rather than vehicles for ultimate realization, remain within samsāra. ‘Amṛtyutā’ here points beyond mere long life toward true transcendence of death through liberating knowledge.