Shloka 17

भीष्मस्वप्न-स्मृत्युपाख्यानम् | Bhīṣma’s Dream-Linked Recollection of the Paraśurāma Combat

Devanagari script

अपि चैतन्मया राजन्‌ नारदे5पि निवेदितम्‌ | व्यासे चैव तथा कार्य तौ चोभौ मामवोचताम्‌,राजन! मैंने यह वृत्तान्त देवर्षि नारद और महर्षि व्याससे भी निवेदन किया था। उस समय उन दोनोंने मुझसे कहा--“भीष्म! तुम्हें काशिराजकी कनन्‍्याके विषयमें तनिक भी विषाद नहीं करना चाहिये। दैवके विधानको पुरुषार्थके द्वारा कौन टाल सकता है?”

Transliteration

api caitanmāyā rājan nārade ’pi niveditam | vyāse caiva tathā kārya tau cobhau mām avocatām ||

Translation

“Moreover, O King, I also reported this very matter to the divine seer Nārada, and likewise it was to be conveyed to Vyāsa. Both of them said to me: ‘O King, you should not grieve in the least regarding the daughter of the King of Kāśī. Who, by human effort, can overturn what destiny has ordained?’”

Word by Word

• {'api ca': 'moreover

• and further', 'etad': 'this (matter/event)', 'mayā': 'by me', 'rājan': 'O king (vocative)', 'nāradaḥ': 'Nārada (divine sage)', 'api': 'also

• even', 'niveditam': 'was reported/informed

• was submitted', 'vyāse': 'to Vyāsa (locative/dative sense in context)', 'ca eva': 'and indeed

• and also', 'tathā': 'likewise

• in the same way', 'kāryam': 'to be done

• proper/necessary action (here: ‘it should be conveyed’)', 'tau ubhau': 'those two

• both of them', 'mām': 'to me', 'avocatām': 'they said (dual perfect/aorist sense)', 'viṣādaḥ': 'grief

• dejection', 'daiva-vidhānam': 'the ordinance of fate

• divine dispensation', 'puruṣārtha': 'human effort

Speaker

राम उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Rājan (King)
• Nārada
• Vyāsa
• Kāśirāja (King of Kāśī)
• Kāśī (Vārāṇasī)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse emphasizes acceptance of daiva-vidhāna (destiny/divine ordinance) and counsels freedom from grief over outcomes that lie beyond one’s control, suggesting that puruṣārtha (human effort) cannot always overturn what is fated.

What is happening in the narrative?

The speaker tells the king that he consulted the sages Nārada and Vyāsa about the troubling matter concerning the daughter of the King of Kāśī, and both sages advised him not to lament, because destiny cannot be easily countermanded by personal effort.