Shloka 11

Yoga-kṛtya (योककृत्य) — Vyāsa on Sense-Restraint, Obstacles, and Brahman-Realization

Devanagari script

ते समेत्य महात्मानो हरान्योन्यमभिसंश्रिता: । शरीराश्रयणं प्राप्तास्तत: पुरुष उच्यते,परंतु ये सातों व्यापक पदार्थ ईश्वरकी इच्छा होनेपर जब एक-दूसरेसे मिलकर परस्पर सहयोगी हो गये, तब भिन्न-भिन्न शरीरके आकारमें परिणत हुए। उस शरीरनामक पुरमें निवास करनेके कारण जीवात्मा पुरुष कहलाता है

Transliteration

te sametya mahātmāno harānyonyam abhisaṁśritāḥ | śarīrāśrayaṇaṁ prāptās tataḥ puruṣa ucyate ||

Translation

Vyāsa said: When those great, all-pervading principles, coming together and mutually supporting one another, take on the condition of being lodged in a body, then the indwelling self is called ‘puruṣa’—so named because it dwells within the ‘pura’, the city-like body.

Word by Word

तेthey (those)

समेत्यhaving come together

महात्मानःgreat-souled ones

हरान्योन्यम्mutually (each other), reciprocally

अभिसंश्रिताःhaving resorted to / having depended on

शरीराश्रयणम्taking refuge in a body / bodily support

प्राप्ताःhaving attained / having reached

ततःthen; from that

पुरुषःthe person (puruṣa)

उच्यतेis called

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vyāsa

puruṣa

śarīra (body as ‘pura’)

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?

Embodiment arises when fundamental, pervasive constituents combine and mutually depend on one another; the self is termed ‘puruṣa’ because it dwells in the body conceived as a ‘pura’ (city). The verse clarifies the relation between the indwelling self and the composite body.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vyāsa continues a philosophical explanation in Śānti Parva, describing how subtle principles, once conjoined, become established in distinct bodily forms, and how this leads to the conventional designation of the embodied self as ‘puruṣa’.