आकाशजस्य कर्माणि मृत्यो सन्ति न कानिचित् । एष आकाशजो विप्रो जातः खादेव केवलात् ॥ १८ ॥
ākāśajasya karmāṇi mṛtyō santi na kānicit | ēṣa ākāśajō viprō jātaḥ khādēva kēvalāt || 18 ||
Translation
"Death, Ākāśaja has no actions at all. This brahmin Ākāśaja was born of space alone.
Word by word
- ākāśajasya
- Ākāśaja's
- karmāṇi
- actions
- mṛtyō
- Death
- santi
- has
- na
- no
- kānicit
- at all
- ēṣa
- this
- ākāśajō
- (ākāśajaḥ) Ākāśaja
- viprō
- (vipraḥ) brahmin
- jātaḥ
- was born
- khād
- (khāt) of space
- ēva
- indeed
- kēvalāt
- alone
Meaning
The commentary explains in a note how one can have no actions: the actions that have begun to bear fruit (prārabdha) are used up by living through their fruit; those stored (sañcita) are burned by knowledge; and those to come (āgāmi) cannot arise, for their seed is gone. So there is nothing left for Death to use. Or, it adds, the meaning is that he has none of the present actions that make one mortal: the sense of "I", attachment and the like. To be born of space alone is to be born of nothing but awareness, with no other cause.