Shloka 15

Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Inquiry and Sañjaya’s Etymologies of Kṛṣṇa’s Names

Puruṣottama-nāma-nirvacana

Devanagari script

एष एकायन: पन्था येन यान्ति मनीषिण: । त॑ं दृष्टवा मृत्युमत्येति महांस्तत्र न सज्जति

Transliteration

eṣa ekāyanaḥ panthā yena yānti manīṣiṇaḥ | taṃ dṛṣṭvā mṛtyum atyeti mahāṃs tatra na sajjati ||

Translation

Vyāsa sprach: „Dies ist der eine, gerade Weg, auf dem die Weisen schreiten. Wer diesen Weg geschaut—das heißt: wahrhaft erkannt—hat, überschreitet selbst den Tod; und der Großgesinnte haftet nicht an diesem Bereich des sterblichen Werdens.“

Word by Word

• {'eṣaḥ': 'this', 'ekāyanaḥ': 'having one goal

• the one direct course leading to the Supreme', 'panthāḥ': 'path, way', 'yena': 'by which', 'yānti': 'go, proceed', 'manīṣiṇaḥ': 'the discerning, sages, wise persons', 'tam': 'that (path)', 'dṛṣṭvā': 'having seen

• having realized/known', 'mṛtyum': 'death', 'atyeti': 'crosses beyond, overcomes', 'mahān': 'great (in spirit)

• great-souled', 'tatra': 'there

• in that (mortal sphere/condition)', 'na': 'not', 'sajjati': 'clings, becomes attached'}

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyasa

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

There is a single, direct spiritual way (ekāyana-pantha) recognized by the wise; when it is truly realized, one transcends mortality and no longer clings to saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death).

What is happening in the narrative?

In Vyasa’s instruction within Udyoga Parva, he emphasizes a liberating path of insight/realization: knowing that path enables one to overcome death and remain unattached to worldly existence, framing ethical steadiness amid the approaching conflict.