Shloka 5
Adhyāya 179 — Bharadvāja’s Reductionist Inquiry into Jīva and Pañcabhūta Dissolution
उपदेशं महाप्राज्ञ शमस्योपदिशस्व मे । कां बुद्धि समनुध्याय शान्तश्नरसि निर्वृत:
upadeśaṁ mahāprājña śamasya upadiśasva me | kāṁ buddhiṁ samanudhyāya śāntaś carasi nirvṛtaḥ ||
“মহাপ্রাজ্ঞ! আমাকে শমের (অন্তঃশান্তির) উপদেশ দিন। কোন বুদ্ধিকে আশ্রয় করে আপনি শান্ত ও তৃপ্ত হয়ে বিচরণ করেন?”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames peace (śama) as something grounded in a particular buddhi—an inner understanding cultivated through sustained contemplation (samanudhyāya). Bhīṣma seeks the practical and ethical basis of tranquility: what insight enables a person to live calmly and with contentment.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction-setting, Bhīṣma, lying on his bed of arrows and guiding the post-war moral inquiry, asks a highly wise interlocutor for a teaching on mental peace. He requests the specific kind of reflective wisdom that allows the teacher to remain serene and fulfilled.