Shloka 39

Nārada’s Darśana of Viśvarūpa Nārāyaṇa and the Caturmūrti Doctrine (नारदस्य नारायणदर्शनं चतुर्मूर्तिविचारश्च)

Devanagari script

प्रसार्येह यथाड्रानि कूर्म: संहरते पुनः । तथेन्द्रियाणि मनसा संयन्तव्यानि भिक्षुणा,जैसे कछुआ अपने अंगोंको फैलाकर फिर समेट लेता है, उसी प्रकार संन्यासीको मनके द्वारा इन्द्रियोंपर नियन्त्रण रखना चाहिये

Transliteration

prasāryeha yathāṅgāni kūrmaḥ saṃharate punaḥ | tathendriyāṇi manasā saṃyantavyāni bhikṣuṇā ||

Translation

Janaka said: “Just as a tortoise extends its limbs and then draws them back again, so should a mendicant restrain the senses by means of the mind.”

Word by Word

प्रसार्यhaving extended/spread out

इहhere

यथाjust as

अङ्गानिlimbs

कूर्मःa tortoise

संहरतेdraws in, withdraws

पुनःagain

तथाso, in the same way

इन्द्रियाणिthe senses

मनसाby the mind

संयन्तव्यानिshould be restrained/controlled

भिक्षुणाby a mendicant/renunciant

Speaker

जनक उवाच

Characters & Entities

Janaka

tortoise (kūrma)

mind (manas)

senses (indriyāṇi)

mendicant/renunciant (bhikṣu)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Sense-restraint is essential for a renunciant: like a tortoise withdrawing its limbs, one should withdraw the senses from their objects through steady mental discipline, cultivating inner stability and freedom from impulsive desire.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma and liberation-oriented conduct, King Janaka speaks as a teacher, offering a practical metaphor to describe how a bhikṣu should manage the senses—by consciously drawing them back under the governance of the mind.