Shloka 35

Śakra–Namuci-saṃvāda: Śoka-nivāraṇa and Daiva-vicāra

Indra and Namuci on grief, composure, and inevitability

Devanagari script

तेषामयुगपद्धाव उच्छेदो नास्ति तामसे । आस्थितो युगपद्धावो व्यवहार: स लौकिक:,तमोगुणजनित सुषुप्तिकालमें अपने कारणमें विलीन हो जानेसे इन्द्रियाँ विषयोंका ग्रहण नहीं कर सकतीं, किंतु उनका नाश नहीं होता है। उनमें जो अपने विषयोंको एक साथ ग्रहण करनेकी शक्ति है, वह लौकिक व्यवहारमें ही दिखायी देती है (सुषुप्तिकालमें नहीं)

Transliteration

teṣām ayugapaddhāva ucchedo nāsti tāmase | āsthito yugapaddhāvo vyavahāraḥ sa laukikaḥ ||

Translation

Bhishma said: “In the state dominated by darkness (tamas)—such as deep sleep—there is no destruction of the faculties even though they do not operate to apprehend their objects, for they withdraw into their cause. The capacity for simultaneous apprehension is established only in ordinary worldly functioning; it is not manifest in the sleep-state.”

Word by Word

• {'teṣām': 'of them (i.e., the senses/faculties)', 'ayugapat': 'not simultaneously

• not all at once', 'dhāvaḥ': 'running/operation

• activity (of faculties)', 'ucchedaḥ': 'cutting off

• annihilation', 'nāsti': 'is not', 'tāmase': 'in the tamasic condition/state

• in darkness (tamas)', 'āsthitaḥ': 'established

• resorted to', 'yugapat': 'simultaneously

• all at once', 'vyavahāraḥ': 'practical activity

• worldly transaction/behavior', 'saḥ': 'that', 'laukikaḥ': 'worldly

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Even when the senses cease to function in deep sleep due to tamas, they are not destroyed; their capacities remain latent. Simultaneous apprehension is a feature of waking worldly activity, not of the sleep-state where faculties withdraw into their causal condition.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Shanti Parva’s philosophical instruction, Bhishma explains to the listener how the senses and cognition behave across states like waking and deep sleep, using the framework of guṇas—especially tamas—to clarify that non-operation is not the same as annihilation.