Bharadvaja Doubts that the Soul Exists

Verse 1 (12.184.1)

यदि प्राणयते वायुर्वायुरेव विचेष्टते । श्वसित्याभाषते चैव तस्माज्जीवो निरर्थकः ॥

yadi prāṇayate vāyurvāyureva viceṣṭate | śvasityābhāṣate caiva tasmājjīvo nirarthakaḥ

If it is the wind that gives breath, if the wind alone acts, breathes and speaks, then the soul is of no use.

Note on the text: Speaker: the input has no speaker. The page heads the adhyaya 'भरद्वाज उवाच' (labelled 12-184-1 to 9 श्लोक) and prints no later heading, and the critical edition heads CE 12.179.1 bharadvāja uvāca with Bhrigu answering only at 12.180.1; all 15 verses are therefore given to Bharadvaja.

Verse 2 (12.184.2)

यदूष्मभाव आग्नेयो वह्निना पच्यते यदि । अग्निर्जरयते चैतत्तस्माज्जीवो निरर्थकः ॥

yadūṣmabhāva āgneyo vahninā pacyate yadi | agnirjarayate caitattasmājjīvo nirarthakaḥ

If the state of heat is of fire, if food is cooked by fire, and fire alone digests it, then the soul is of no use.

Verse 3 (12.184.3)

जन्तोः प्रमीयमाणस्य जीवो नैवोपलभ्यते । वायुरेव जहात्येनमूष्मभावश्च नश्यति ॥

jantoḥ pramīyamāṇasya jīvo naivopalabhyate | vāyureva jahātyenamūṣmabhāvaśca naśyati

When a creature dies, no soul is found in him; only the wind leaves him, and the state of heat is lost.

Verse 4 (12.184.4)

यदि वायुमयो जीवः संश्लेषो यदि वायुना । वायुमण्डलवद्दृश्येद्गच्छन्सह मरुद्गणैः ॥

yadi vāyumayo jīvaḥ saṃśleṣo yadi vāyunā | vāyumaṇḍalavaddṛśyedgacchansaha marudgaṇaiḥ

If the soul were made of wind, if it were joined with the wind, it would be seen like a whirl of wind, going along with the hosts of the Maruts.

Verse 5 (12.184.5)

श्लेषो वा यदि वा जीवः सह तेन प्रणश्यति । महार्णववियुक्तत्वादन्यत्सलिलभाजनम् ॥

śleṣo vā yadi vā jīvaḥ saha tena praṇaśyati | mahārṇavaviyuktatvādanyatsalilabhājanam

Or if the soul is only a union with the wind, it perishes together with it; the vessel of water, once parted from the great ocean, is another thing.

Note on the text: Corrected श्लेष्मं वा → श्लेषो वा (misprint in Wikisource; श्लेष्मं is not a Sanskrit form; the sense is that of the critical edition's śleṣo yadi ca vātena, "if there is union with the wind", which the page's own note also cites as a reading (संश्लेषो यदि वातेन). A best judgement).

Verse 6 (12.184.6)

यत्क्षिपेत्सलिलं कूपे प्रदीपं वा हुताशने । तन्नश्यत्युभयं तद्वज्जीवो वातानलात्मकः ॥

yatkṣipetsalilaṃ kūpe pradīpaṃ vā hutāśane | tannaśyatyubhayaṃ tadvajjīvo vātānalātmakaḥ

What one throws in, water into a well or a lamp into a fire, both of these perish; so too the soul, which is of the nature of wind and fire.

Note on the text: Line 1 (यत्क्षिपेत्सलिलं कूपे प्रदीपं वा हुताशने) is a vulgate variant of CE 12.179.6a, 6c (kūpe vā salilaṃ dadyāt pradīpaṃ vā hutāśane / prakṣiptaṃ naśyati kṣipraṃ yathā naśyaty asau tathā); line 2 is the CE star line 12.179.6d*0492_01 (tan naśyaty ubhayaṃ tadvaj jīvo vātānalātmakaḥ). The alignment found no match.

Verse 7 (12.184.7)

पञ्च साधारणो ह्यस्मिञ्शरीरे जीवितं कुतः । तेषामन्यतरत्यागाच्चतुर्णां नास्ति संग्रहः ॥

pañca sādhāraṇo hyasmiñśarīre jīvitaṃ kutaḥ | teṣāmanyataratyāgāccaturṇāṃ nāsti saṃgrahaḥ

Where is there life in this body, which is common to the five? When any one of them is given up, there is no holding together of the other four.

Note on the text: Wikisource पञ्च साधारणो (CE: pañcasādhāraṇe) is kept as printed; the sense is 'common to the five'.

Verse 8 (12.184.8)

नश्यन्त्यापो ह्यनाधाराद्वायुरुच्छ्वासनिग्रहात् । नश्यते कोष्ठभेदात्खमग्निर्नश्यत्यभोजनात् ॥

naśyantyāpo hyanādhārādvāyurucchvāsanigrahāt | naśyate koṣṭhabhedātkhamagnirnaśyatyabhojanāt

Water fails for want of support, wind by the stopping of the breath; space is destroyed when the abdomen is split, and fire is destroyed by lack of food.

Verse 9 (12.184.9)

व्याधिप्राणपरिक्लेशैर्मेदिनी चैव शीर्यते । पीडितेऽन्यतमे ह्येषां संघातो याति पञ्चताम् ॥

vyādhiprāṇaparikleśairmedinī caiva śīryate | pīḍite'nyatame hyeṣāṃ saṃghāto yāti pañcatām

Through disease and the distress of the breaths the earth too wastes away. When any one of them is afflicted, the whole aggregate goes to its end in the five.

Verse 10 (12.184.10)

तस्मिन्पञ्चत्वमापन्ने जीवः किमनुधावति । किं वेदयति वा जीवः किं शृणोति ब्रवीति च ॥

tasminpañcatvamāpanne jīvaḥ kimanudhāvati | kiṃ vedayati vā jīvaḥ kiṃ śṛṇoti bravīti ca

When it has come to its dissolution into the five, what does the soul run after? What does the soul feel, or what does it hear or say?

Verse 11 (12.184.11)

एषा गौः परलोकस्थं तारयिष्यति मामिति । यो दत्त्वा म्रियते जन्तुः सा गौः कं तारयिष्यति ॥

eṣā gauḥ paralokasthaṃ tārayiṣyati māmiti | yo dattvā mriyate jantuḥ sā gauḥ kaṃ tārayiṣyati

'This cow will carry me across when I am in the other world': the man who dies after giving a cow with that thought, whom will that cow carry across?

Verse 12 (12.184.12)

गौश्च प्रतिग्रहीता च दाता चैव समं यदा । इहैव विलयं यान्ति कुतस्तेषां समागमः ॥

gauśca pratigrahītā ca dātā caiva samaṃ yadā | ihaiva vilayaṃ yānti kutasteṣāṃ samāgamaḥ

When the cow, the one who receives her and the giver all alike go to dissolution right here, how can they ever meet?

Verse 13 (12.184.13)

विहगैरुपभुक्तस्य शैलाग्रात्पतितस्य च । अग्निना चोपयुक्तस्य कुतः संजीवनं पुनः ॥

vihagairupabhuktasya śailāgrātpatitasya ca | agninā copayuktasya kutaḥ saṃjīvanaṃ punaḥ

For one who has been eaten by birds, or has fallen from a mountain peak, or has been consumed by fire, how can there be revival again?

Note on the text: Corrected शैलाग्नात् → शैलाग्रात् (misprint in Wikisource; ग्न for ग्र; the critical edition reads śailāgrāt).

Verse 14 (12.184.14)

छिन्नस्य यदि वृक्षस्य न मूलं प्रतिरोहति । बीजान्यस्य प्ररोहन्ति मृतः क्व पुनरेष्यति ॥

chinnasya yadi vṛkṣasya na mūlaṃ pratirohati | bījānyasya prarohanti mṛtaḥ kva punareṣyati

If the root of a felled tree does not sprout again, its seeds do sprout; but where will a dead man come back?

Verse 15 (12.184.15)

बीजमात्रं पुरा सृष्टं यदेतत्परिवर्तते । मृतामृताः प्रणश्यन्ति बीजाद्वीजं प्रवर्तते ॥

bījamātraṃ purā sṛṣṭaṃ yadetatparivartate | mṛtāmṛtāḥ praṇaśyanti bījādvījaṃ pravartate

Only the seed was created in the beginning, and it is that which goes round; one after another the dead perish, and from seed, seed continues.