श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच । तिर्यक्पुरुषदेवादेर्यो नाम स विनश्यति । यस्मिन्नेव प्रदेशेऽसौ तदैवेदं प्रपश्यति ॥ ८ ॥
śrīvasiṣṭha uvāca | tiryakpuruṣadēvādēryō nāma sa vinaśyati | yasminnēva pradēśē’sau tadaivēdaṁ prapaśyati || 8 ||
Translation
Śrī Vasiṣṭha said: Whatever being, beast, man, god or any other, perishes, in the very place where it perishes, at that moment it sees this world.
Word by word
- śrīvasiṣṭha
- Śrī Vasiṣṭha
- uvāca
- said
- tiryak
- beast
- puruṣa
- man
- dēva
- god
- ādēr
- (ādeḥ) or any other
- yō
- (yaḥ) whatever being
- nāma
- indeed
- sa
- it
- vinaśyati
- perishes
- yasminn
- (yasmin) in which
- ēva
- very
- pradēśē
- place
- asau
- it
- tadā
- at that moment
- idaṁ
- this
- prapaśyati
- sees
Meaning
Vasiṣṭha now shows how a world is "present" to a being. At death, in the very place and moment (yasmin eva pradeśe, tadā eva), the dying one sees a world. The commentary: the inner Self of the one who dies sees the threefold world described next, in that same place and time, not elsewhere and not later. The claim is radical. Another world does not wait somewhere far off; it opens where one is, at once, from within. The next verse says how.