Shloka 32

Adhyāya 180: Jīva, Śarīra, and the Fire Analogy (भृगु–भरद्वाज संवादः)

Devanagari script

अनियतशयनासन: प्रकृत्या दमनियमव्रतसत्यशौचयुक्त: । अपगतफलसंचय: प्रह्ृष्टो व्रतमिदमाजगरं शुचिश्चरामि

Transliteration

aniyata-śayanāsanaḥ prakṛtyā dama-niyama-vrata-satya-śauca-yuktaḥ | apagata-phala-saṃcayaḥ prahṛṣṭo vratam idam ājagaraṃ śuciś carāmi ||

Translation

আমার শয়ন-আসনের কোনো নির্দিষ্ট স্থান নেই। স্বভাবতই আমি দমন, নিয়ম, ব্রত, সত্য ও শৌচে যুক্ত। কর্মফলের সঞ্চয় আমার থেকে অপগত হয়েছে। প্রফুল্লচিত্তে আমি শুচিভাবে এই আজগর-ব্রত পালন করি।

Word by Word

• {'aniyata': 'unfixed, not determined', 'śayana-āsana': 'sleeping and sitting

• resting places/postures', 'prakṛtyā': 'by nature, inherently', 'dama': 'sense-control, self-restraint', 'niyama': 'observance, discipline (inner/outer restraints)', 'vrata': 'vow, religious/ethical discipline', 'satya': 'truthfulness', 'śauca': 'purity, cleanliness (outer and inner)', 'yuktaḥ': 'endowed with, possessed of', 'apagata': 'gone away, removed', 'phala': 'fruit, result (of action)', 'saṃcaya': 'accumulation, store', 'prahṛṣṭaḥ': 'glad, delighted, serene', 'idam': 'this', 'ājagara': 'python

• metaphor for one who remains still, ungrasping, accepting what comes', 'śuciḥ': 'pure, clean, purified', 'carāmi': 'I practice

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma (Bhīṣma)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches renunciation of attachment to results (phala) through disciplined virtues—self-control (dama), observances (niyama), vows (vrata), truth (satya), and purity (śauca)—culminating in the ājagara-vrata: a life of minimal needs, no fixed comforts, and calm acceptance without acquisitive striving.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and liberation-oriented conduct, Bhishma describes an ascetic mode of life: he has no settled resting place, lives by inner discipline, and practices the ‘python-vow,’ presenting it as an ideal of contentment and freedom from karmic accumulation.