Shloka 10

श्रेयो-धर्मकर्मविचारः

Inquiry into Śreyas, Dharma, and Karma

Devanagari script

बाहों चाभ्यन्तरे चैव कर्मणोर्मनसि स्थित: । निर्मलीकुरुते बुद्धा सोअमुत्रानन्त्यमश्लुते

Transliteration

bāhye cābhyantare caiva karmaṇor manasi sthitaḥ | nirmalīkurute buddhyā so 'mutrānantyam aśnute ||

Translation

Bhīṣma dijo: “Quien practica tanto las disciplinas externas (como los deberes rituales y sacrificiales) como las internas (como el autocontrol y la contención de los sentidos), y establece firmeza en la mente—purificándola mediante la inteligencia discerniente—alcanza en el más allá un bien imperecedero e ilimitado: la liberación.”

Word by Word

• {'bāhye': 'external, outward (rites and observable duties)', 'abhyantare': 'internal, inward (mental and ethical disciplines)', 'caiva': 'and indeed, and also', 'karmaṇoḥ': 'in/with respect to the two kinds of action (external and internal)', 'manasi': 'in the mind', 'sthitaḥ': 'steadfast, established, abiding', 'nirmalīkurute': 'makes pure, cleanses, clarifies', 'buddhyā': 'by intelligence, by discriminative understanding', 'saḥ': 'he, that person', 'amutra': 'there, in the other world (beyond this life)', 'ānantyam': 'endlessness, the infinite

• imperishable state', 'aśnute': 'attains, enjoys, reaches'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

True spiritual attainment comes from combining outward righteous duties with inward disciplines, then stabilizing and purifying the mind through buddhi (discriminative intelligence); this leads to imperishable liberation.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhīṣma continues advising on the path to the highest good, emphasizing inner purification and mental steadiness alongside prescribed external practices.