Shloka 18
ध्यानयोगवर्णनम्
Description of the Path of Meditation
हृष्यति क्रुद्धयते कोअत्र शोचत्युद्धिजते च कः । इच्छति ध्यायति द्वेष्टि वाचमीरयते च कः
hṛṣyati kruddhyate ko 'tra śocaty udvijate ca kaḥ | icchati dhyāyati dveṣṭi vācam īrayate ca kaḥ ||
Dijo Bharadvāja: «¿Quién, en verdad, dentro de este cuerpo se alegra, y quién se encoleriza? ¿Quién se aflige y quién se agita? ¿Quién desea, quién reflexiona, quién odia, y quién pone en movimiento la palabra?»
भरद्वाज उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a classic inquiry into agency: emotions (joy, anger, grief, agitation), mental functions (desire, contemplation, aversion), and speech appear to occur in a person, but the question is who truly performs them—body, senses, mind, or the inner Self. This sets up a discriminative teaching aimed at loosening identification with mental states and locating the real ‘knower’ beyond them.
In the Śānti Parva’s philosophical instruction, Bharadvāja speaks as a questioner, pressing for clarity about the inner mechanism of experience. His pointed series of questions initiates a discussion on the constituents of the person and the distinction between the experiencing Self and the instruments of experience (mind, senses, speech).