Shloka 18
हृष्यति क्रुद्धयते कोअत्र शोचत्युद्धिजते च कः । इच्छति ध्यायति द्वेष्टि वाचमीरयते च कः,अतः यह जिज्ञासा होती है कि इस शरीरके अंदर कौन हर्ष और कौन क्रोध करता है? किसे शोक और उद्वेग होता है? इच्छा, ध्यान, द्वेष और बातचीत कौन करता है?
hṛṣyati kruddhyate ko 'tra śocaty udvijate ca kaḥ | icchati dhyāyati dveṣṭi vācam īrayate ca kaḥ ||
Bharadvāja sprach: „Wer ist es denn in diesem Körper, der sich freut, und wer gerät in Zorn? Wer trauert, und wer wird erregt? Wer begehrt, wer sinnt nach, wer hasst, und wer setzt die Rede in Bewegung?“
भरद्वाज उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a classic inquiry into agency: emotions (joy, anger, grief, agitation), mental functions (desire, contemplation, aversion), and speech appear to occur in a person, but the question is who truly performs them—body, senses, mind, or the inner Self. This sets up a discriminative teaching aimed at loosening identification with mental states and locating the real ‘knower’ beyond them.
In the Śānti Parva’s philosophical instruction, Bharadvāja speaks as a questioner, pressing for clarity about the inner mechanism of experience. His pointed series of questions initiates a discussion on the constituents of the person and the distinction between the experiencing Self and the instruments of experience (mind, senses, speech).