न पृथ्व्यादिमहाभूतगणा न च जगत्क्रमाः । मृतानां सन्ति तत्राऽपि तथाऽप्येषां जगद्भ्रमाः ॥ १७ ॥
na pṛthvyādimahābhūtagaṇā na ca jagatkramāḥ | mṛtānāṁ santi tatrā’pi tathā’pyēṣāṁ jagadbhramāḥ || 17 ||
Translation
For the dead there are no hosts of great elements, earth and the rest, nor orders of worlds; and yet, even there, they have the illusion of a world.
Word by word
- na
- no
- pṛthvy
- (pṛthvī) earth
- ādi
- and the rest
- mahābhūta
- of great elements
- gaṇā
- (gaṇāḥ) hosts
- ca
- and
- jagat
- of worlds
- kramāḥ
- orders
- mṛtānāṁ
- for the dead
- santi
- there are
- tatra
- there
- api
- even
- tathāpi
- and yet
- ēṣāṁ
- they have
- jagad
- (jagat) of a world
- bhramāḥ
- the illusion
Meaning
Now the denial (apavāda), after the laying-on. The dead have no earth, water and the other great elements, and no ordered worlds; and yet, the verse says, they still have the illusion of a world (jagad-bhrama). The commentary: these are all false, yet the dead and the living alike suffer the world-illusion, which cannot be uprooted without knowledge; and by this denial of the manifold, the Self that remains is established. The turn is quiet but decisive. If the dead can have a full world without any elements, then elements are not what makes a world. Mind alone is enough.