Shloka 5
एक समयकी बात है, विदेहदेशके राजा जनकने वेद-वेत्ताओंमें श्रेष्ठ महर्षि पंचशिखसे, जिनके धर्म और अर्थ-विषयक संदेह नष्ट हो गये थे, इस प्रकार प्रश्न किया-- ।। केन वृत्तेन भगवन्नतिक्रामेज्जरान्तकौ । तपसा वाथ बुद्धा वा कर्मणा वा श्रुतेन वा,“भगवन्! किस आचार, तपस्या, बुद्धि, कर्म अथवा शास्त्रज्ञानके द्वारा मनुष्य जरा और मृत्युको लाँध सकता है?”
bhīṣma uvāca | eka-samayasya vṛttānto 'sti | videha-deśasya rājā janako veda-vettṛṣu śreṣṭhaṃ maharṣiṃ pañcaśikhaṃ, yasya dharma-artha-viṣayakāḥ saṃśayāḥ praṇaṣṭāḥ, evaṃ papraccha— kena vṛttena bhagavan atikrāmej jarāntakau? tapasā vātha buddhyā vā karmaṇā vā śrutena vā? | “bhagavan! kena ācāreṇa, tapasā, buddhyā, karmaṇā athavā śāstra-jñānena manuṣyo jarāṃ mṛtyuṃ ca laṅghayituṃ śaknoti?”
Bhishma said: Once, King Janaka of Videha questioned the great sage Panchashikha, foremost among the knowers of the Veda, whose doubts about dharma and worldly welfare had been dispelled. Janaka asked: “Revered sir, by what way of life can one pass beyond old age and death—by austerity, by insight, by action, or by learning from scripture? By what conduct, discipline, intelligence, deeds, or sacred knowledge can a person transcend decay and mortality?”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a classic dharmic inquiry: which human pursuit—ethical conduct, austerity, discernment, action, or scriptural learning—most effectively leads beyond the limits of aging and death. It sets up a teaching that liberation is not merely one external practice, but a principled path requiring right conduct and right understanding directed toward transcendence.
Bhishma recounts an earlier episode: King Janaka of Videha approaches the sage Panchashikha, renowned for Vedic mastery and clarity about dharma and artha, and asks him what means enables a person to cross beyond old age and death.