Shloka 18

Devanagari script

अतः: पर प्रवक्ष्यामि लोकानां कर्मसाक्षिण:

Transliteration

ataḥ paraṃ pravakṣyāmi lokānāṃ karmasākṣiṇaḥ

Translation

Bhishma sprach: „Darum will ich nun jene schildern, die als Zeugen der Taten der Welten stehen. Obgleich unsichtbar, beobachten sie unablässig die heilsamen und unheilsamen Handlungen aller Wesen und kennen die Wahrheit von Opfer (yajña), Gabe (dāna) und Verdienst (sukṛta). Ihre Namen sind Mṛtyu (Tod), Kāla (Zeit), die Viśvedevas und die verkörperten Pitṛs (Ahnväter). Neben ihnen blicken auch asketische Weise und vollendete Seher (siddha), die sich der Askese und der Befreiung (mokṣa) verschrieben haben, mit gütigem Blick auf die ganze Welt. Sie alle gewähren glückverheißende Früchte den Menschen, die ihre Namen rezitieren und rühmen.“

Word by Word

• अतः: therefore/from this
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अतः

• परम्: further/next
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: पर

• प्रवक्ष्यामि: I shall declare/tell
• Type: Verb
• Root: वच्
• Form: Lṛṭ (simple future), 1st, singular, Parasmaipada

• लोकानाम्: of the worlds/of people
• Type: Noun
• Root: लोक
• Form: masculine, genitive, plural

• कर्म: of action/deeds
• Type: Noun
• Root: कर्मन्
• Form: neuter, genitive, singular

• साक्षिणः: witnesses
• साक्षिणः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: साक्षिन्
• Form: masculine, nominative, plural

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Mṛtyu
• Kāla
• Viśvedevas
• Pitṛgaṇa (Pitṛs)
• Munis (ascetic sages)
• Siddha Maharṣis

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Actions are not morally private: unseen cosmic principles and divine/ancestral beings (and also realized sages) continually witness beings’ good and bad deeds. Remembering and honoring these witnesses—especially through name-recitation—supports ethical living and yields auspicious results.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma continues instructing Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma. Here he introduces a set of ‘witnesses of karma’—Mṛtyu, Kāla, the Viśvedevas, and the Pitṛs—and adds that ascetics and perfected seers also watch the world with goodwill, granting benefits to those who praise them.