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 ‘Dharma’, 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 1.56 [Transmigration of the Individual Soul]
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
यदाऽणुमात्रिको भूत्वा बीजं स्थाणु चरिष्णु च ।
समाविशति संसृष्टस्तदा मूर्तिं विमुञ्चति ॥ ५६ ॥yadā'ṇumātriko bhūtvā bījaṃ sthāṇu cariṣṇu ca |
samāviśati saṃsṛṣṭastadā mūrtiṃ vimuñcati || 56 ||When, invested with minute particles, the Individual enters the moveable or immoveable Seed;—then, becoming united with the aforesaid (Subtile body), it assumes the (new) body.—(56)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘Invested with minute particles’—that which is constituted by minute, subtile, particles, parts. This may refer either to the ‘Puryaṣṭaka,’ or the ‘Intermediate Body’; or to the Soul itself;—all Souls being by their very nature, subtile; as stated in such texts as ‘This Self within the heart, is extremely minute.’
‘Seed’—The source of the physical body;—‘Immoveable,’ that which is the cause of the birth of trees, &c.;—‘Moveable,’ animate.—‘Enters into,’ becomes enclosed in;—then ‘united with the aforesaid,’—i.e., with Prāṇa and other constituents of the subtile body)—then ‘it assumes,’ attaches to itself, the body; i.e., takes up the new corporeal frame.—(56)