Shloka 5
Adhyāya 179 — Bharadvāja’s Reductionist Inquiry into Jīva and Pañcabhūta Dissolution
उपदेशं महाप्राज्ञ शमस्योपदिशस्व मे । कां बुद्धि समनुध्याय शान्तश्नरसि निर्वृत:,“महाप्राज्ञ! आप मुझे ऐसा उपदेश दीजिये, जिससे मुझे शान्ति मिले। कौन-सी ऐसी बुद्धि है, जिसका आश्रय लेकर आप शान्ति और संतोषके साथ विचरते हैं?”
upadeśaṁ mahāprājña śamasya upadiśasva me | kāṁ buddhiṁ samanudhyāya śāntaś carasi nirvṛtaḥ ||
Bhishma said: “O great sage of profound wisdom, instruct me in the discipline of inner stillness that leads to peace. What understanding do you contemplate and rely upon, by which you move through life tranquil and content?”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames peace (śama) as something grounded in a particular buddhi—an inner understanding cultivated through sustained contemplation (samanudhyāya). Bhīṣma seeks the practical and ethical basis of tranquility: what insight enables a person to live calmly and with contentment.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction-setting, Bhīṣma, lying on his bed of arrows and guiding the post-war moral inquiry, asks a highly wise interlocutor for a teaching on mental peace. He requests the specific kind of reflective wisdom that allows the teacher to remain serene and fulfilled.