babhrāma pṛthivīṁ prabhuḥ
babhrāma pṛthivīṁ prabhuḥ
nānurūpaṁ yadāvindad
abhūt sa vimanā iva
Searching for a place to live he wandered the earth. Not finding a suitable place, he became depressed.
Śaraṇam means a place to live, a place for enjoyment, the body. He wandered through various births in various forms because he could not find all the happiness he desired. He was “as if morose,” since he was not actually morose on getting pleasure in a pig’s body.
|| 4.25.12 ||
na sādhu mene tāḥ sarvā
bhūtale yāvatīḥ puraḥ
kāmān kāmayamāno 'sau
tasya tasyopapattaye
Desiring objects for attaining enjoyment, he thought that all the houses on earth were not suitable.
Though attaining material happiness everywhere in all the houses, he did not consider it enough for satisfying his desires, since cow bodies and other were not suitable for enjoyment. Yāvatīḥ should be yāvatyaḥ. The Śruti also explains how the bodies are unsuitable:
tābhyo gāmānayat. tā abruvan na vai no ’yamalam iti. tābhyo ’śvamānāt. tā abruvan na vai no ’yamalamiti.” iti tattaddehānāmasādhumananañca
He brought them a cow. They said, “That is not suitable.” He brought them a horse. They said, “That is not suitable.” Aitareya Upaniṣad 1.2.2
Śruti also shows how even in the womb one has awareness:
garbha-daśāyām eva mṛtaś cāhaṁ punar jātaṁ
Lying in the womb, having died, I was again born.
|| 4.25.13 ||
sa ekadā himavato
dakṣiṇeṣv atha sānuṣu
dadarśa navabhir dvārbhiḥ
puraṁ lakṣita-lakṣaṇām
Once, the King saw on the southern ridge of the Himalayas a city with nine gates, which he understood had good qualities.
In Bhārata, in the land of karma, as a result of performing actions to get human body, he saw a human body (puram) which had visibly good qualities. This means he was not blind or born in a low caste.
|| 4.25.14 ||
prākāropavanāṭṭāla-
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