Shloka 16

ब्राह्मणस्य पूर्वतरा वृत्तिः — The Earlier Ideal Conduct of a Brahmana

River-of-Saṃsāra Metaphor

Devanagari script

श्रैष्क्यं प्राप्प स्वजातीनां महाभोगाननुत्तमान्‌ | ह्ृतस्वरत्नराज्यस्त्वं ब्रूहि कस्मान्न शोचसि,“तुमने अपने जाति-भाइयोंमें सबसे श्रेष्ठ स्थान प्राप्त किया था और परम उत्तम महान्‌ भोगोंपर अधिकार जमा रखा था; किंतु इस समय तुम्हारे रतन और राज्यका अपहरण हो गया है, तो भी बताओ, तुम्हें शोक क्‍यों नहीं होता है?

Transliteration

śraiṣkyaṃ prāpya svajātīnāṃ mahābhogān anuttamān | hṛtasvaratnarājyas tvaṃ brūhi kasmān na śocasi ||

Translation

Bhīṣma said: “Having attained the foremost rank among your own people and having enjoyed unsurpassed great pleasures, now that your jewels and kingdom have been taken away, tell me—why do you not grieve?”

Word by Word

• {'śraiṣkyam': 'pre-eminence, the highest/foremost status', 'prāpya': 'having attained, having obtained', 'svajātīnām': 'of one’s own people/kinsmen/caste-group', 'mahābhogān': 'great enjoyments, abundant pleasures, worldly prosperities', 'anuttamān': 'unsurpassed, excellent beyond compare', 'hṛta': 'taken away, stolen, deprived', 'svara': 'jewels/treasures (as in ‘ratna’)

• here part of a compound indicating valuables', 'ratna': 'gem, jewel', 'rājyaḥ / rājya': 'kingdom, sovereignty, royal power', 'tvam': 'you', 'brūhi': 'tell (me), speak', 'kasmāt': 'why? from what cause?', 'na': 'not', 'śocasi': 'you grieve, you lament'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• svajātīnāṃ (one’s own kinsmen/people)
• ratna (jewels/treasures)
• rājya (kingdom)