Shloka 5
शुकस्य योगसिद्धिः (Śuka’s Yogic Attainment and Ascent)
एक समयकी बात है, विदेहदेशके राजा जनकने वेद-वेत्ताओंमें श्रेष्ठ महर्षि पंचशिखसे, जिनके धर्म और अर्थ-विषयक संदेह नष्ट हो गये थे, इस प्रकार प्रश्न किया-- ।।
bhīṣma uvāca | eka-samayasya vṛttānto 'sti | videha-deśasya rājā janako veda-vettṛṣu śreṣṭhaṃ maharṣiṃ pañcaśikhaṃ, yasya dharma-artha-viṣayakāḥ saṃśayāḥ praṇaṣṭāḥ, evaṃ papraccha— kena vṛttena bhagavan atikrāmej jarāntakau? tapasā vātha buddhyā vā karmaṇā vā śrutena vā? | “bhagavan! kena ācāreṇa, tapasā, buddhyā, karmaṇā athavā śāstra-jñānena manuṣyo jarāṃ mṛtyuṃ ca laṅghayituṃ śaknoti?”
ভীষ্ম ক’লে—এবাৰ বিদেহৰ ৰজা জনকে, বেদজ্ঞানীসকলৰ মাজত শ্ৰেষ্ঠ আৰু যাঁৰ ধৰ্ম-অৰ্থ বিষয়ক সংশয় নাশ পাইছিল সেই মহর্ষি পঞ্চশিখক এইদৰে সুধিলে—“ভগৱন্! কোন আচার-জীৱনে মানুহে জৰা আৰু মৃত্যুক অতিক্ৰম কৰিব পাৰে—তপস্যাৰে, বুদ্ধিৰে, কৰ্মৰে, নে শ্ৰুতি-শাস্ত্ৰজ্ঞানৰে?”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a classic dharmic inquiry: which human pursuit—ethical conduct, austerity, discernment, action, or scriptural learning—most effectively leads beyond the limits of aging and death. It sets up a teaching that liberation is not merely one external practice, but a principled path requiring right conduct and right understanding directed toward transcendence.
Bhishma recounts an earlier episode: King Janaka of Videha approaches the sage Panchashikha, renowned for Vedic mastery and clarity about dharma and artha, and asks him what means enables a person to cross beyond old age and death.