Shloka 4

Udyoga-parva Adhyāya 69: Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Reverential Address to Sañjaya on Vāsudeva

Devanagari script

मौनाद्‌ ध्यानाच्च योगाच्च विद्धि भारत माधवम्‌ | सर्वतत्त्वमयत्वाच्च मधुहा मधुसूदन:,भारत! मौन, ध्यान और योगसे उनका बोध अथवा साक्षात्कार होता है; इसलिये आप उन्हें “माधव” समझें। मधु शब्दसे प्रतिपादित पृथ्वी आदि सम्पूर्ण तत्त्वोंके उपादान एवं अधिष्ठान होनेके कारण मधुसूदन श्रीकृष्णको “मधुहा' कहा गया है

Transliteration

maunād dhyānāc ca yogāc ca viddhi bhārata mādhavam | sarvatattvamayatvāc ca madhuhā madhusūdanaḥ ||

Translation

Sañjaya said: O Bhārata, know him as Mādhava—he is realized through silence, meditation, and yoga. And because he pervades and embodies all principles of reality, Madhusūdana is also called Madhuhā, the one who is the very ground and support of all elements.

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'maunāt (मौनात्)', 'definition': 'from silence

• inner stillness, restraint of speech and mind'}, {'term': 'dhyānāt (ध्यानात्)', 'definition': 'from meditation

• sustained contemplative attention'}, {'term': 'yogāt (योगात्)', 'definition': 'from yoga

• disciplined spiritual integration/union'}, {'term': 'viddhi (विद्धि)', 'definition': 'know

• understand, recognize'}, {'term': 'bhārata (भारत)', 'definition': 'O descendant of Bharata

• address to Dhṛtarāṣṭra (and/or the Kuru line)'}, {'term': 'mādhavam (माधवम्)', 'definition': 'Mādhava

• an epithet of Kṛṣṇa (often linked with Lakṣmī/‘mā’ and/or the Madhu lineage)'}, {'term': 'sarva-tattva-mayatvāt (सर्वतत्त्वमयत्वात्)', 'definition': 'because of being constituted of/identical with all tattvas

• pervading all fundamental principles'}, {'term': 'madhuhā (मधुहा)', 'definition': '‘Madhu-slayer’ or ‘one who bears/contains Madhu’

• here glossed as the substratum and support of all elements signified by ‘madhu’'}, {'term': 'madhusūdanaḥ (मधुसूदनः)', 'definition': 'Madhusūdana

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Bhārata (Kuru descendant; Dhṛtarāṣṭra addressed)
• Mādhava (Śrī Kṛṣṇa)
• Madhusūdana (Śrī Kṛṣṇa)
• Madhuhā (epithet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames true recognition of Kṛṣṇa (as Mādhava/Madhusūdana) as arising from inner disciplines—silence, meditation, and yoga—and presents him as the all-pervading ground of reality (sarva-tattva-maya), not merely a historical actor in the coming conflict.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya, reporting to the Kuru king, characterizes Kṛṣṇa through reverential epithets and spiritual criteria of knowing him, emphasizing his cosmic stature and the contemplative means by which sages apprehend him amid the tense pre-war deliberations of the Udyoga Parva.