मृत्युरुवाच । आकाशजस्य कर्माणि क्व स्थितानि वद प्रभो । धर्मराजोऽथ सञ्चिन्त्य सुचिरं प्रोक्तवानिदम् ॥ १७ ॥
mṛtyuruvāca | ākāśajasya karmāṇi kva sthitāni vada prabhō | dharmarājō’tha sañcintya suciraṁ prōktavānidam || 17 ||
Translation
Death said: "Where are Ākāśaja's actions? Tell me, lord." Then Dharmarāja thought a long while, and said this:
Word by word
- ākāśajasya
- Ākāśaja's
- karmāṇi
- actions
- kva
- where
- sthitāni
- are
- vada
- tell me
- prabhō
- lord
- dharmarājō
- (dharmarājaḥ) Dharmarāja, the king of dharma
- atha
- then
- sañcintya
- thought
- suciraṁ
- a long while
- prōktavān
- said
- idam
- this
Meaning
Yama, the king of dharma, does not answer at once. The commentary only notes that he reflected long. What he is about to say is not a fact about one brahmin but the nature of the self that has no actions, and he weighs it before he speaks.