5
Viṃśatikā / All 22 verses / 5
तिरश्चां सम्भवः स्वर्गे यथा न नरके तथा न प्रेतानां यतस् तज्जं दुःखं नानुभवन्ति ते
tiraścāṃ sambhavaḥ svarge yathā na narake tathā na pretānāṃ yatas tajjaṃ duḥkhaṃ nānubhavanti te
The line
As animals are not born in heaven, so they are not born in hell. And these are not pretas, because they do not undergo the suffering born of that state.
नेपालीमा
जसरी पशु स्वर्गमा जन्मिँदैनन्, त्यसरी तिनीहरू नरकमा जन्मिँदैनन्। र यी प्रेत होइनन्, किनकि तिनीहरू त्यो अवस्थाबाट जन्मेको दुःख भोग्दैनन्।
Where it sits
Verse 4 used the guards as an example of a seeing with no such being. Verse 5 closes the escape 'but the guards are animals, or pretas.' Verse 6 then asks why, if karma (कर्म) can produce a being, it cannot produce a cognition.
Split: tiraścām (तिरश्चाम्) + sambhavaḥ (सम्भवः) + svarge (स्वर्गे) + yathā (यथा) + na (न) + narake (नरके) + tathā (तथा) + na (न) + pretānām (प्रेतानाम्) + yatas (यत) + taj-jam (तज्-जम्) + duḥkham (दुःखम्) + na (न) + anubhavanti (अनुभवन्ति) + te (ते)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| tiraścām (तिरश्चाम्) | genitive plural | of animals. tiraśc (तिरश्च्) is what goes horizontally, a beast. |
| sambhavaḥ (सम्भवः) | nominative singular, masculine | arising, being born. |
| svarge (स्वर्गे) | locative singular, masculine | in heaven. |
| yathā (यथा) | indeclinable | as. |
| na (न) | indeclinable | not. |
| narake (नरके) | locative singular, masculine | in hell. |
| tathā (तथा) | indeclinable | so. |
| na (न) | indeclinable | not. |
| pretānām (प्रेतानाम्) | genitive plural, masculine | of pretas (प्रेत), hungry ghosts. |
| yatas (यत) | indeclinable | because. |
| taj-jam (तज्-जम्) | accusative singular, neuter | born from that. The suffering that belongs to that birth. |
| duḥkham (दुःखम्) | accusative singular, neuter | suffering. |
| na (न) | indeclinable | not. |
| anubhavanti (अनुभवन्ति) | present, third person plural | they experience. |
| te (ते) | nominative plural, masculine | they. The hell-guards of verse 4. |
The phrases
If the guards were animals, animals would be born in hell. They are not born in heaven, and they are not born in hell either. If the guards were pretas (प्रेत), they would feel the suffering of a preta (प्रेत) birth. They are the ones inflicting it. So the objector cannot save the guards by calling them a kind of being.
yathā na ... tathā na (यथा न ... तथा न) is 'just as not, so also not.'
Sanskrit in this line
yatas (यत) is the reason-word, indeclinable, same job as an ablative. tajjam (तज्जम्) is tad (तद्) plus ja (ज), 'born from that.'
Say it back
Why are the guards neither animals nor pretas?