Shloka 4
Kṛṣṇa’s Dhyāna and the Prompt to Question Bhīṣma (कृष्णध्यानं भीष्मप्रश्नप्रेरणा च)
वाक् च सत्त्वं च गोविन्द बुद्धौ संवेशितानि ते । सर्वे चैव गुणा देवा: क्षेत्रज्ञे ते निवेशिता:
vāk ca sattvaṃ ca govinda buddau saṃveśitāni te | sarve caiva guṇā devāḥ kṣetrajñe te niveśitāḥ, govinda | mana tathā vāk-ādi sampūrṇendriyāṇi tvayā buddhiṃ līnāni kṛtāni | samastān guṇān indriyānugrāhakān devatāś ca tvayā kṣetrajña-ātmani pratiṣṭhāpitāḥ ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “O Govinda, you have gathered speech and the inner strength of being into the intellect. Indeed, all the qualities and the presiding deities who empower the senses have been placed by you in the Knower of the Field, the Self. You have caused the mind and the whole set of faculties—beginning with speech—to be absorbed into understanding, and you have established the entire play of qualities and the sense-governing divinities in the witnessing soul.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse points to an inward integration: speech, mind, and the senses—along with their governing forces—are to be gathered into buddhi (discriminative understanding) and finally grounded in the kṣetrajña, the witnessing Self. Ethically, it implies mastery over impulses and clarity of discernment as the basis for dharmic living.
Yudhiṣṭhira addresses Govinda (Kṛṣṇa) in a reflective, philosophical mode, praising him as the one who can ‘place’ the faculties and their powers into their proper inner source. The statement functions as a recognition of Kṛṣṇa’s role as guide toward self-knowledge and inner governance.