Shloka 53
Kṣemadarśa–Kālakavṛkṣīya Saṃvāda: Counsel on Impermanence, Non-attachment, and Composure in Dispossession
महाह्नद: संक्षुभित आत्मनैव प्रसीदति । (इत्थं नरो5प्यात्मनैव कृतप्रज्ञ: प्रसीदति ।) एतदेवंगतस्याहं सुखं पश्यामि जीवितुम्
mahāhradaḥ saṁkṣubhita ātmanaiva prasīdati | itthaṁ naro 'py ātmanaiva kṛtaprajñaḥ prasīdati | etad evaṁgatasya ahaṁ sukhaṁ paśyāmi jīvitum |
Bhīṣma said: “A great lake, though churned and disturbed, becomes clear again by its own nature. In the same way, a person of steady, purified understanding regains calm and clarity through the self alone, even after being shaken. Therefore, O prince, the fact that you have come to this condition—this arising of a pure disposition in your mind—is auspicious. This kind of life alone I regard as truly happy.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
True clarity and peace are self-restored: even when the mind is disturbed, a person of steady wisdom (kṛtaprajña) returns to calm through inner discipline and the self’s own capacity for purification, like a lake settling back into clarity.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs a royal listener (addressed as “prince”), praising the emergence of pure, steady understanding and affirming that such an inwardly clarified life is the happiest and most auspicious way to live.