Shloka 6
Varāha-avatāra: Viṣṇu’s subterranean intervention and the cosmic nāda (Śānti-parva 202)
यतो गृहीत्वा हि करोति यच्च यस्मिंश्व॒ तामारभते प्रवृत्तिम् । यस्मिंश्व॒ यद् येन च यश्न कर्ता यत् कारणं ते समुदायमाहु:,महर्षिगण कहते हैं जो कर्ता जिस कारणसे, जिस फलके उद्देश्यसे, जिस देश या कालमें, जिस प्रिय या अप्रियके निमित्त, जिस राग या द्वेषसे प्रभावित हो प्रवृत्तिमार्गका आश्रय ले जिस कर्मको करता है, इन सबके समुदायका जो कारण है, वही सबका स्वरूपभूत परब्रह्म परमात्मा है
yato gṛhītvā hi karoti yac ca yasmiṃś ca tām ārabhate pravṛttim | yasmiṃś ca yad yena ca yaś ca kartā yat kāraṇaṃ te samudāyam āhuḥ ||
Bhishma said: Whatever motive one takes up and then acts upon; whatever course of outward engagement one begins; the place or circumstance in which one acts; the particular deed, the means by which it is done, and the doer himself—together with the cause behind all these—sages declare this entire aggregate to rest upon a single underlying principle. That foundational cause, which gives form and coherence to all factors of action, is the Supreme Brahman, the inner Self of all.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames action as an aggregate of factors—motive, undertaking, context, deed, instrument, and doer—and points to a deeper, unifying cause behind them all. The sages identify that foundational cause as the Supreme Brahman/Paramatman, the reality that underlies and makes intelligible the whole field of agency and causation.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction section, Bhishma continues his discourse to Yudhishthira on dharma and right understanding. Here he shifts from practical ethics to a philosophical analysis of action, explaining how seers interpret the components of human activity and trace them back to an ultimate metaphysical ground.