Shloka 5

Devanagari script

यथा होकरसा भूमिरोषध्यर्थानुसारिणी । तथा कर्मनुगा बुद्धिरन्तरात्मानुदर्शिनी,जैसे भूमिमें एक ही रस होता है तो भी उसमें जैसा बीज बोया जाता है, उसीके अनुसार वह उसमें रस उत्पन्न करती है, उसी तरह अन्तरात्मासे ही प्रकाशित बुद्धि पूर्वजन्मके कर्मोके अनुसार ही एक शरीरसे दूसरे शरीरको प्राप्त होती है

Transliteration

yathā ekarasā bhūmir oṣadhy-arthānusāriṇī | tathā karmānugā buddhir antarātmānudarśinī ||

Translation

Bhīṣma said: “Just as the earth is of one and the same essence, yet brings forth the particular sap and yield according to the kind of seed that is sown, so too the intellect—illumined by the inner Self—moves in accordance with one’s past actions, carrying the being onward from one embodiment to another.”

Word by Word

यथाjust as

एकरसाof one (same) taste/essence

भूमिःearth, soil

ओषधि-अर्थ-अनुसारिणीproducing (results) according to the purpose/nature of plants

तथाso, likewise

कर्म-अनुगाfollowing (past) actions/karma

बुद्धिःintellect, understanding

अन्तरात्म-अनुदर्शिनीillumined by/seeing through the inner self

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

bhūmi (earth/soil)

oṣadhi (plants/herbs)

buddhi (intellect)

antarātman (inner Self)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Underlying reality may be one (like the earth’s single essence), yet outcomes differ according to causes: the intellect and one’s course through embodiments are shaped by prior karma, even while the inner Self illumines the process.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and liberation, Bhīṣma teaches Yudhiṣṭhira using an analogy: as soil yields different plants according to the seed, so a being’s intellect and embodied destiny proceed according to past deeds, with the inner Self as the light by which this is known.