Shloka 18
Brahmacarya-Upāya: Jñāna, Śauca, and the Mind’s Role in Desire (शान्ति पर्व, अध्याय २०७)
मरीचि: कश्यपं तात पुत्रमग्रजमग्रज: । मानसं जनयामास तैजसं ब्रह्मवित्तमम्
Marīciḥ Kaśyapaṃ tāta putram agrajam agrajaḥ | mānasaṃ janayāmāsa taijasaṃ brahmavittamam ||
Dijo Bhīṣma: «Hijo querido, Marīci—el mayor entre los antiguos sabios—engendró, por el poder de la mente solamente, un hijo llamado Kaśyapa, radiante en esplendor y el más eminente entre los conocedores de Brahman.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the primacy of spiritual knowledge and inner power: Kaśyapa is praised as brahmavittama (foremost knower of Brahman), and his origin as mānasa (mind-born) underscores creation through tapas, purity, and concentrated consciousness rather than merely physical generation.
Bhīṣma is recounting a genealogical-cosmic lineage: among the primeval sages, Marīci is presented as senior, and he produces a distinguished son, Kaśyapa, described as radiant and supreme among Brahman-knowers—setting up the broader account of progenitors and the origins of beings.