Vraṇa
Vraṇa, “the wound”
Grammar: masculine and neuter noun, from the root vraṇ (to wound): “a wound”, a sore, a breach in the body.
Meaning: a wound or sore; in the teaching on the ātmā, the wound of embodied life through which the jīva is touched by the guṇas.
In the scriptures: in the Brahma Purāṇa, Vasishṭha teaches King Karāla Janaka that in all the wanderings of the jīva through birth and death, prakṛti alone is the cause. In the tattva beyond prakṛti there is no vraṇa and no attachment to the fruit of karma. But as soon as the organs of knowledge and action, which may be called the doors of the wound (vraṇa-dvāra), and rāga, dvesha and the rest, born of the three guṇas, join him, the jīva comes to have ahaṅkāra (the sense of “I”) and mamakāra (the sense of “mine”). Though he has none of these, through ajñāna he thinks he has them all: the indriyas, the vraṇas, the marks, time, existence, death, moving about, the field, attachment, tattva, saṃsāra and destruction. Not serving the elders and not gaining viveka, he wanders through thousands of creations; by serving the elders, gaining viveka, practising yoga and receiving bhagavad-anugraha (divine grace), he grasps the tattva and becomes mukta (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 242).
Related terms: Indriya · Prakṛti · Ahaṅkāra · Mamakāra · Viveka
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 242