Shloka 80

Bhīṣma’s Śara-śayyā Stuti to Vāsudeva and Yogic Preparation for Dehotsarga

Body-Relinquishment

Devanagari script

जटिने दण्डिने नित्यं लम्बोदरशरीरिणे । कमण्डलूनिषज्जय तस्मै ब्रह्मात्मने नम:

Transliteration

jaṭine daṇḍine nityaṁ lambodaraśarīriṇe | kamaṇḍalūniṣajjaya tasmai brahmātmane namaḥ ||

Translation

يُقدِّم بهيشما سلامًا تعبديًّا إلى البرهمن-الذات، مُتَصوَّرًا في هيئة الزاهد: ذو خُصلٍ مُلبَّدة (جَطا)، حاملٌ للعصا، ذو بطنٍ مُتدلٍّ، ومعه كَمَنْدَلو (إناء الماء) ومقعدُ الزاهد.

Word by Word

जटिनेto the matted-haired one

दण्डिनेto the staff-bearer

नित्यम्always

लम्बोदर-शरीरिणेto the one having a body with a pendulous belly

कमण्डलु-निषज्जयto the one furnished/associated with a water-pot (kamaṇḍalu)

तस्मैto him

ब्रह्म-आत्मनेto him whose self is Brahman / the Brahman-souled one

नमःsalutation

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

Brahman (brahma)

Ascetic/renunciant (jaṭin, daṇḍin)

Daṇḍa (staff)

Kamaṇḍalu (water-pot)

Niṣajjā (seat)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Reverence is directed to the Brahman-Self, expressed through the ideal of renunciation: disciplined restraint (daṇḍa), simplicity (kamaṇḍalu, seat), and the ascetic identity (jaṭā). The ethical thrust is that inner realization and self-control are central to dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs on dharma and higher aims; here he utters a salutation (namaḥ) to the Brahman-Self, describing it in the recognizable form of an ascetic, thereby linking metaphysical truth with the lived discipline of renunciation.