Shloka 34

धर्मस्य बहुद्वारत्वम् — Nārada’s Audience with Indra (Śānti-parva 340)

Devanagari script

“महाबली वासुदेव सम्पूर्ण भूतोंके आत्मा हैं। पृथ्वी, जल, तेज, वायु और आकाश--ये पाँच महाभूत हैं ।। ते समेता महात्मान: शरीरमिति संज्ञितम्‌ । तदा विशति यो ब्रद्यान्नदृश्यो लघुविक्रम:,“वे सब महाभूत एक साथ मिलकर ही शरीर नाम धारण करते हैं। ब्रह्म! उस समय अदृश्यभावसे जो शीघ्रगामी चेतन उसमें प्रवेश करता है, वही जीवात्मा है

Transliteration

bhīṣma uvāca | mahābalī vāsudevaḥ sampūrṇa-bhūtānām ātmā | pṛthivī jalaṃ tejo vāyur ākāśaś ca—etāni pañca mahābhūtāni || te sametā mahātmānaḥ śarīram iti saṃjñitam | tadā viśati yo brahman adṛśyo laghu-vikramaḥ ||

Translation

Bhīṣma said: “Mighty Vāsudeva is the inner Self of all beings in their entirety. Earth, water, fire, wind, and space—these are the five great elements. When these great elements come together, they are collectively designated as the ‘body’. Then, O Brahmin, the unseen, swift-moving conscious principle that enters into it is what is called the individual self (jīva).”

Word by Word

• {'mahābalī': 'mighty, of great power', 'vāsudevaḥ': 'Vāsudeva (Kṛṣṇa/Nārāyaṇa), the supreme indwelling Lord', 'ātmā': 'Self

• indwelling principle', 'bhūta': 'being

• constituent of embodied existence', 'pañca mahābhūtāni': 'the five great elements (earth, water, fire, wind, space)', 'pṛthivī': 'earth', 'jala': 'water', 'tejas': 'fire

• heat-energy', 'vāyu': 'wind

• vital air', 'ākāśa': 'space

• ether', 'sametāḥ': 'assembled together

• combined', 'śarīra': 'body

• embodied frame', 'saṃjñitam': 'designated

• known as', 'brahman': 'O Brahman

• address to a learned sage/priestly interlocutor', 'adṛśyaḥ': 'unseen

• imperceptible', 'laghu-vikramaḥ': 'swift in movement

• quick-acting', 'viśati': 'enters'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Vāsudeva
• Brahman (addressee)
• pañca mahābhūtāni (earth, water, fire, wind, space)
• śarīra (body)
• jīva (individual self)