Shloka 19

दमप्रशंसा — Praise of Self-Restraint

Dama

Devanagari script

दुःखं विद्यादुपादानादभिमानाच्च वर्धते | त्यागात्‌ तेभ्यो निरोध: स्यान्निरोधज्ञो विमुच्यते

Transliteration

duḥkhaṃ vidyād upādānād abhimānāc ca vardhate | tyāgāt tebhyo nirodhaḥ syān nirodhajño vimucyate ||

Translation

Bhīṣma said: One should understand that suffering arises from grasping and is further intensified by self-conceit. By relinquishing that conceit, those sufferings come to an end. The person who knows this method of bringing suffering to cessation becomes free.

Word by Word

• {'duḥkham': 'suffering, pain, distress', 'vidyāt (vidyād)': 'one should know/understand (optative of √vid)', 'upādānāt': 'from taking up, grasping, appropriation

• clinging', 'abhimānāt': 'from egoism, self-conceit, identification (especially with body/mine-ness)', 'ca': 'and', 'vardhate': 'increases, grows', 'tyāgāt': 'from renunciation, letting go, abandonment', 'tebhyaḥ': 'from those (i.e., from those causes/sufferings)', 'nirodhaḥ': 'cessation, stopping, restraint', 'syāt': 'would be, may occur', 'nirodhajñaḥ': 'one who knows cessation

• knower of the means of ending suffering', 'vimucyate': 'is released, becomes liberated (passive of vi-√muc)'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Suffering is rooted in grasping (upādāna) and is amplified by egoic identification (abhimāna). Letting go—especially of body-based pride and possessiveness—brings cessation (nirodha), and knowledge of this process leads to liberation.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva’s post-war instruction, Bhishma advises Yudhishthira on the inner causes of human misery and the practical path to peace: abandon ego and clinging to end suffering and move toward moksha.