Shloka 136

Udyoga-parva Adhyāya 69: Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Reverential Address to Sañjaya on Vāsudeva

Devanagari script

शाश्वतत्वादनन्तश्न गोविन्दो वेदनाद्‌ गवाम्‌ | विक्रमण (वामनावतारमें तीनों लोकोंको आक्रान्त) करनेके कारण वे भगवान्‌ “विष्णु' कहलाते हैं। वे सबपर विजय पानेसे “जिष्णु', शाश्वत (नित्य) होनेसे 'अनन्त' तथा गौओं (इन्द्रियों)-के ज्ञाता और प्रकाशक होनेके कारण (गां विन्दति) इस व्युत्पत्तिके अनुसार 'गोविन्द' कहलाते हैं

Transliteration

śāśvatatvād anantaś ca govindo vedanād gavām | vikramaṇāt (vāmanāvatāre trīṇi lokāny ākrāntavān iti) sa bhagavān “viṣṇuḥ” ucyate | sa sarvān abhibhūya jayāt “jiṣṇuḥ”, śāśvatatvāt “anantaḥ”, gavām (indriyāṇām) jñātā prakāśakaś ca (gāṃ vindati iti vyutpattyā) “govindaḥ” iti kathyate ||

Translation

يشرح سنجيا الأسماء المقدّسة للربّ: لأنه أزليٌّ دائمٌ يُدعى «أننتا» (Ananta، اللامتناهي). ولأنه يعلم «الأبقار» ويُظهرها—والمقصود هنا الحواسّ—يُدعى «جوفيندا» (Govinda). ولأنه في تجسّد فامانا (Vāmana) خطا فاحتوى العوالم الثلاثة، يُدعى «فيشنو» (Viṣṇu). ولأنه يقهر الجميع يُدعى «جيشنو» (Jiṣṇu). وهكذا تُعرض هذه الأسماء كدلائل أخلاقية وتعبّدية على سرمديّته، وقدرته الشاملة، ونوره الذي يهدي القوى الباطنة.

Word by Word

• {'śāśvatatva': 'eternity

• perpetual, unchanging nature', 'ananta': 'endless

• also a divine epithet', 'govinda': '‘finder/knower of the cows’

• also a name of Kṛṣṇa', 'vedanā/vedana': 'knowing

• making known', 'gavaḥ (gauḥ)': 'cows

• here glossed as indriyas (senses)', 'vikramaṇa': 'striding forth

• cosmic pervasion', 'vāmanāvatāra': 'the Vāmana incarnation (the Dwarf form of the Lord)', 'trīṇi lokāni': 'the three worlds', 'ākrānta': 'overstepped, encompassed, pervaded', 'viṣṇu': 'the all-pervading Lord

• ‘one who strides/pervades’', 'jiṣṇu': 'victorious

• conqueror', 'vyutpatti': 'etymological derivation

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Govinda
• Viṣṇu
• Jiṣṇu
• Ananta
• Vāmana (avatāra)
• the three worlds (triloka)
• cows (gauḥ) / senses (indriyas)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches that divine names are not mere labels but convey ethical and spiritual meaning: the Lord is eternal (Ananta), all-pervading through cosmic action (Viṣṇu), victorious over all opposition (Jiṣṇu), and the one who knows and illumines the senses and inner life (Govinda).

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya is describing and interpreting the Lord’s epithets through traditional derivations, linking each name to a defining divine attribute and to the mythic act of Vāmana’s three strides that encompass the three worlds.