Shloka 13

Brahmopadeśa on Saṃnyāsa, Tapas, and Jñāna (ब्रह्मोपदेशः—संन्यासतपोज्ञानविमर्शः)

Devanagari script

महाभूतविशालश्न विशेषयति शाखिन: । सदापत्र: सदापुष्प: शुभाशुभफलोदय:

Transliteration

mahābhūtaviśālaśna viśeṣayati śākhinaḥ | sadāpatraḥ sadāpuṣpaḥ śubhāśubhaphalodayaḥ ||

Translation

Vāyu-deva said: “That vast expanse of the great elements makes the trees distinct and manifest. Ever-leafed and ever-flowering, it brings forth fruits—both auspicious and inauspicious.”

Word by Word

• महाभूतविशालश्नः: one who eats vast (quantities) of great elements / very large eater
• महाभूतविशालश्नः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: महाभूत-विशाल-अश्न (प्रातिपदिकम्)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• विशेषयति: distinguishes / makes special
• विशेषयति: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: विशेषय् (धातु; causative of √शिष्/√शेष् in sense ‘to distinguish/particularize’)
• Form: Present, Third, Singular, Parasmaipada

• शाखिनः: trees (branch-bearing ones)
• शाखिनः: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: शाखिन् (प्रातिपदिकम्)
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• सदापत्रः: ever-leafed
• सदापत्रः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सदा-पत्र (प्रातिपदिकम्)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• सदापुष्पः: ever-flowering
• सदापुष्पः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सदा-पुष्प (प्रातिपदिकम्)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• शुभाशुभफलोदयः: having the arising of auspicious and inauspicious fruits
• शुभाशुभफलोदयः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: शुभ-अशुभ-फल-उदय (प्रातिपदिकम्)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyu-deva
• mahābhūtas (great elements)
• trees (śākhinaḥ)
• leaves (patra)
• flowers (puṣpa)
• fruits/results (phala)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse uses tree imagery to express moral causality: from the same living process arise different fruits—wholesome and unwholesome—implying that outcomes (phala) manifest according to conditions and conduct, and should be understood within dharma as consequences to be discerned and owned.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyu-deva is speaking and describing a cosmic-natural principle through metaphor: the vast elemental order differentiates living beings like trees, which continually bear leaves and flowers and then produce fruits of mixed quality—setting up reflection on how results arise in the world.