स्वप्नसंवित्तिपुरवत् स्मृतिजातखपुष्पवत् । जगत्संसरणं स्वान्तर्मृतोऽनुभवति स्वयम् ॥ १३ ॥
svapnasaṁvittipuravat smṛtijātakhapuṣpavat | jagatsaṁsaraṇaṁ svāntarmṛtō’nubhavati svayam || 13 ||
Translation
like a city in a dream, like a sky-flower born of memory: so the dead one himself experiences within himself the round of the world.
Word by word
- svapna
- dream
- saṁvitti
- in
- pura
- a city
- vat
- like
- smṛti
- of memory
- jāta
- born
- kha
- sky
- puṣpa
- -flower
- jagat
- of the world
- saṁsaraṇaṁ
- the round
- sva
- himself
- antar
- (antaḥ) within
- mṛtō
- (mṛtaḥ) the dead one
- anubhavati
- experiences
- svayam
- himself
Meaning
The last two images and the conclusion. A city in a dream (svapna-saṃvitti-pura) and a flower in the sky (kha-puṣpa), the classic example of the impossible, imagined from memory. So the one who has died experiences "the round of the world" (jagat-saṃsaraṇa) within himself (sva-antar), by himself (svayam). The commentary: the dead man experiences this in his own heart. Everything in these six verses has been built up to this point: whatever world appears after death is like a dream, made of memory and desire. And if the worlds after death are so, the reader is left to ask what this one is.