Manusmriti with the Commentary of Medhatithi
by Ganganatha Jha | 1920 | 1,381,940 words | ISBN-10: 8120811550 | ISBN-13: 9788120811553
This is the English translation of the Manusmriti, which is a collection of Sanskrit verses dealing with 鈥楧harma鈥�, a collective name for human purpose, their duties and the law. Various topics will be dealt with, but this volume of the series includes 12 discourses (adhyaya). The commentary on this text by Medhatithi elaborately explains various t...
Verse 6.61
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
啶呧さ啷囙啷嵿し啷囙い 啶椸い啷�啶班啶ㄠ啶｀ぞ啶� 啶曕ぐ啷嵿ぎ啶︵啶粪じ啶啶︵啶さ啶距 啷�
啶ㄠた啶班く啷� 啶氞啶� 啶い啶ㄠ 啶ぞ啶むえ啶距ざ啷嵿 啶ぎ啶曕啶粪く啷� 啷� 啷ェ 啷�avek峁ta gat墨rn峁濁箛膩峁� karmado峁samudbhav膩岣� |
niraye caiva patana峁� y膩tan膩艣ca yamak峁ye || 61 ||He should reflect upon the conditions of men, arising from the defects of their deeds, their falling into hell and their sufferings in the abode of the death-god.鈥�(61)
Medh膩tithi鈥檚 commentary (manubh膩峁a):
What is stated here is a mode of meditating upon the Supreme Truth, consisting in the noting of the fact that birth and rebirth abound in pain.
Finding that life in the world abounds in sufferings caused by the separation from friends, relations, sons and wife and the loss of wealth &c., how could the man voluntarily go on undergoing the physical troubles of wandering about, begging for alms and so forth?
The 鈥�conditions鈥� of men abound in pain and result from the defects of their actions,鈥攆rom their doing what is forbidden; e.g., such acts as doing injury to living beings, stealing, adultery, cruelty, back-biting, improper intentions and so forth. Or 鈥榗onditions鈥� may stand for what the man undergoes in the world of the living itself,鈥攊n the shape of sorrows resulting from poverty, disease, ill-treatment and so forth.
As regards the other world, there is 鈥�falling into hell鈥欌赌�i.e., being born as worms and insects in places filled with urine, ordure and dirt &c.
鈥�Sufferings in the abode of the death-god鈥欌赌攊n the form of 碍耻尘产丑墨辫腻办补 and other hells.
Something more has to be reflected upon (and this is pointed out in the next verse).鈥�(61)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in 础辫补谤腻谤办补 (p. 968), which explains 鈥�驰补尘补办峁测别鈥� as 鈥榠n Yama鈥檚 abode鈥�;鈥攁nd in 驰补迟颈诲丑补谤尘补蝉补峁単谤补丑补 (p. 34).
Comparative notes by various authors
痴颈峁ａ箛耻 (96.36, 38).鈥斺�楬e shall reflect upon the anxieties arising in youth from not obtaining the objects of pleasure, and upon the abode in hells awarded as punishment for enjoying them after they have been obtained unlawfully; and on the fearful agonies of hell.鈥�
驰腻箩帽补惫补濒办测补 (3.63, 64).鈥斺�楬e should reflect upon residence in the womb, as also the sufferings brought about by one鈥檚 own acts, mental agonies, physical ailments and other troubles, decrepitude, bodily deformities, birth and rebirth during thousands of lives, and vicissitudes of pleasure and pain.鈥�