Shloka 48

दैव–पुरुषकार-प्रश्नः

Daiva–Puruṣakāra Inquiry: Fate and Human Effort

Devanagari script

एतत्‌ ते सर्वमाख्यातं मया वै मुनिसत्तम | फलं पुरुषकारस्य सदा संदृश्य तत्त्वतः,मुनिश्रेष्ठ! मैंने सदा पुरुषार्थके ही फलको प्रत्यक्ष देखकर यथार्थरूपसे ये सारी बातें तुम्हें बतायी हैं

Transliteration

etat te sarvam ākhyātaṃ mayā vai munisattama | phalaṃ puruṣakārasya sadā saṃdṛśya tattvataḥ ||

Translation

Bhishma said: “O best of sages, I have told you all this in full. Having always beheld, in truth and directly, the outcome of human effort, I have explained these matters to you as they really are.”

Word by Word

• {'etat': 'this (teaching, matter at hand)', 'te': 'to you', 'sarvam': 'all, entirely', 'ākhyātam': 'declared, explained, narrated', 'mayā': 'by me', 'vai': 'indeed, certainly (emphatic particle)', 'munisattama': 'best among sages', 'phalam': 'fruit, result, consequence', 'puruṣakārasya': 'of human effort

• personal initiative/exertion', 'sadā': 'always', 'saṃdṛśya': 'having seen directly

• having observed', 'tattvataḥ': 'in accordance with truth

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• munisattama (addressed sage)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhishma emphasizes puruṣakāra—human effort and personal initiative—as a real, observable force whose results can be directly seen. He frames his instruction as grounded in lived truth (tattvataḥ), not mere speculation.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhishma, in an instructive discourse, addresses a sage and concludes or summarizes that he has fully explained the subject, basing his counsel on direct observation of the consequences of human endeavor.