Shloka 12

Yoga-kṛtya (योककृत्य) — Vyāsa on Sense-Restraint, Obstacles, and Brahman-Realization

Devanagari script

शरीरं श्रयणाद्‌ भवति मूर्तिमत्‌ षोडशात्मकम्‌ | तमाविशन्ति भूतानि महान्ति सह कर्मणा,पञ्च स्थूल महाभूत, दस इन्द्रियाँ और मन--इन सोलह तत्त्वोंसे शरीरका निर्माण हुआ है। इन सबका आश्रय होनेके कारण ही देहको शरीर कहते हैं। शरीरके उत्पन्न होनेपर उसमें जीवोंके भोगावशिष्ट कर्मोके साथ सूक्ष्म महाभूत प्रवेश करते हैं

Transliteration

śarīraṃ śrayaṇād bhavati mūrtimat ṣoḍaśātmakam | tam āviśanti bhūtāni mahānti saha karmaṇā ||

Translation

ব্যাসে ক’লে—আশ্ৰয়স্থল হোৱাৰ বাবে দেহক ‘শৰীৰ’ বুলি কোৱা হয়। ই মূৰ্তিমন্ত আৰু ষোল তত্ত্বে গঠিত। এনে শৰীৰ উৎপন্ন হ’লে, মহাভূতসমূহ ভোগাৱশিষ্ট কৰ্মসহ তাত প্ৰৱেশ কৰে।

Word by Word

• {'śarīram': 'body

• the embodied frame', 'śrayaṇāt': 'because of being a support/refuge

• from serving as a basis', 'bhavati': 'becomes

• comes to be', 'mūrtimat': 'having form

• embodied', 'ṣoḍaśa-ātmakam': 'consisting of sixteen constituents/principles', 'tam': 'it (the body)', 'āviśanti': 'enter

• take up residence in', 'bhūtāni': 'elements

• beings (here: elemental constituents)', 'mahānti': 'great (i.e., the great elements)', 'saha': 'together with', 'karmaṇā': 'with karma

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyāsa
• śarīra (the body)
• bhūta (the elements)
• karma

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The body is an ethical and experiential instrument: it is a support (śrayaṇa) made of sixteen constituents, and it becomes the field where karma’s remaining results can mature through embodied life.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on liberation-oriented knowledge, Vyāsa defines the body’s constitution and explains how the elements, together with karmic residue, enter the newly formed body to enable lived experience and moral consequence.