Shloka 19

दमप्रशंसा — Praise of Self-Restraint

Dama

Devanagari script

दुःखं विद्यादुपादानादभिमानाच्च वर्धते | त्यागात्‌ तेभ्यो निरोध: स्यान्निरोधज्ञो विमुच्यते,शरीरके ग्रहणमात्रसे दुःखकी प्राप्ति निश्चित समझनी चाहिये। शरीरमें अभिमान करनेसे उस दुःखकी वृद्धि होती है। अभिमानके त्यागसे उन दुःखोंका अन्त होता है। जो दुःखोंके अन्त होनेकी इस कलाको जानता है, वह मुक्त हो जाता है

Transliteration

duḥkhaṃ vidyād upādānād abhimānāc ca vardhate | tyāgāt tebhyo nirodhaḥ syān nirodhajño vimucyate ||

Translation

قال بهيشما: اعلموا أنّ المعاناة تنشأ من التعلّق والاقتناء، وتشتدّ بسبب الكِبْر وادّعاء الأنا. فإذا تُرِك ذلك الكِبْر انقطعت تلك المعاناة. ومن عرف هذه الطريقة لإيصال المعاناة إلى الانطفاء تحرّر.

Word by Word

• {'duḥkham': 'suffering, pain, distress', 'vidyāt (vidyād)': 'one should know/understand (optative of √vid)', 'upādānāt': 'from taking up, grasping, appropriation

• clinging', 'abhimānāt': 'from egoism, self-conceit, identification (especially with body/mine-ness)', 'ca': 'and', 'vardhate': 'increases, grows', 'tyāgāt': 'from renunciation, letting go, abandonment', 'tebhyaḥ': 'from those (i.e., from those causes/sufferings)', 'nirodhaḥ': 'cessation, stopping, restraint', 'syāt': 'would be, may occur', 'nirodhajñaḥ': 'one who knows cessation

• knower of the means of ending suffering', 'vimucyate': 'is released, becomes liberated (passive of vi-√muc)'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Suffering is rooted in grasping (upādāna) and is amplified by egoic identification (abhimāna). Letting go—especially of body-based pride and possessiveness—brings cessation (nirodha), and knowledge of this process leads to liberation.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva’s post-war instruction, Bhishma advises Yudhishthira on the inner causes of human misery and the practical path to peace: abandon ego and clinging to end suffering and move toward moksha.