Ashtavakra Gita · Verse 10.6 · Ashtavakra speaks
Kingdom, sons, wives, bodies and pleasures have been lost to you birth after birth, even though you were attached to them.
Word by word
राज्यम्
rājyam
kingdom
noun, neuter, nominative singular
सुताः
sutāḥ
sons
noun, masculine, nominative plural
कलत्राणि
kalatrāṇi
wives
noun, neuter, nominative plural
शरीराणि
śarīrāṇi
bodies
noun, neuter, nominative plural
सुखानि
sukhāni
pleasures
noun, neuter, nominative plural
च
ca
and
conjunction
संसक्तस्य
saṃsaktasya
of the one attached
past participle used as adjective, masculine, genitive singular
Saṃsakta ('attached, clinging') captures the mechanism of saṃsāra: even intense attachment cannot prevent loss. The word implies that attachment is not merely useless but the very engine of recurring suffering across births.
अपि
api
even, although
concessive particle
नष्टानि
naṣṭāni
lost, perished
past participle, neuter, nominative plural, from √naś
तव
tava
your
pronoun, genitive singular, 2nd person
जन्मनि जन्मनि
janmani janmani
birth after birth
noun, neuter, locative singular (repeated for distributive sense)
The repetition of janmani (birth) is a standard Sanskrit device conveying iterative universality — 'in each and every birth'. The verse draws on the Vedāntic doctrine of repeated rebirth (punarjanma) as empirical evidence for the futility of attachment.