Shloka 12

Brahmacarya-Upāya: Jñāna, Śauca, and the Mind’s Role in Desire (शान्ति पर्व, अध्याय २०७)

Devanagari script

ततस्तस्मिन्‌ महाबाहो प्रादुर्भूते महात्मनि । भास्करप्रतिमं दिव्यं नाभ्यां पच्मामजायत,वे संकर्षण ही समस्त भूतोंको धारण करते है तथा वे ही भूत और भविष्यके भी आधार हैं। उन महाबाहु महात्मा संकर्षणका प्रादुर्भाव होनेके पश्चात्‌ श्रीहरिकी नाभिसे एक दिव्य कमल प्रकट हुआ, जो सूर्यके समान प्रकाशमान था

Transliteration

tatas tasmin mahābāho prādurbhūte mahātmani | bhāskarapratimaṃ divyaṃ nābhyāṃ padmam ajāyata ||

Translation

Bhishma said: “Then, O mighty-armed one, when that great-souled being had manifested, a radiant, divine lotus—shining like the sun—arose from his navel.”

Word by Word

• {'tatas': 'then, thereafter', 'tasmin': 'in/when that (one/event)', 'mahābāho': 'O mighty-armed one (address

• here to Yudhiṣṭhira)', 'prādurbhūte': 'having appeared, having manifested', 'mahātmani': 'in/with regard to the great-souled one', 'bhāskara': 'the sun', 'pratima': 'like, comparable to', 'bhāskarapratimam': 'sun-like, radiant as the sun', 'divyam': 'divine, celestial', 'nābhyām': 'from the navel', 'padmam': 'lotus', 'ajāyata': 'was born, arose, came into being'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Yudhiṣṭhira (implied by address mahābāho)
• Mahātman (the manifested great being; contextually Saṅkarṣaṇa/Viṣṇu tradition)
• Divine lotus (padma)
• Sun (bhāskara)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse uses the image of a sun-bright lotus arising from the divine navel to convey sacred origin and ordered creation: the cosmos and its principles emerge from a transcendent source, inviting reverence and alignment with dharma grounded in that higher reality.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhishma continues a cosmogonic account: after the manifestation of a great divine being, a radiant lotus appears from his navel—an emblematic step in the unfolding of creation and the appearance of further creative agencies.