जन्ममृत्युजरादुःखमनुयान्ति पुनः पुनः । विमृशन्ति न संसारं पशवः परिमोहिताः ॥ ३६ ॥
janmamṛtyujarāduḥkhamanuyānti punaḥ punaḥ | vimṛśanti na saṁsāraṁ paśavaḥ parimōhitāḥ || 36 ||
Translation
"They follow the pain of birth, death and old age again and again; deluded, like beasts, they do not reflect on the world."
Word by word
- janma
- of birth
- mṛtyu
- death
- jarā
- and old age
- duḥkham
- the pain
- anuyānti
- they follow
- punaḥ
- again
- vimṛśanti
- do reflect on
- na
- not
- saṁsāraṁ
- the world
- paśavaḥ
- like beasts
- parimōhitāḥ
- deluded
Meaning
The reason they are machines: they do not reflect (vimṛśanti). They go through birth, old age and death again and again, and never ask what this round is. The commentary: those who, having gained a human birth, do not inquire into the reality of the Self are mere animals, deluded by ignorance. The word paśu, "beast", also means the bound soul in the old texts, the creature tied by a rope. Rāma's merit, by contrast, is that he has stopped and asked. The reader may feel the force of the contrast: the difference between a human being and a beast, for the text, is not reason but inquiry.