Shloka 8

Brāhmaṇa-māhātmya: Tārkṣya’s instruction on tapas, satya, and svadharma

Chapter 182

Devanagari script

युधिछिर उवाच कथं स्वर्गे गति: सर्प कर्मणां च फल ध्रुवम्‌ अशरीरस्य दृश्येत प्रब्रूहि विषयांश्व मे,युधिष्ठिरने पूछा--सर्प! मनुष्यको स्वर्गकी प्राप्ति और कर्मोका निश्चयरूपसे मिलनेवाला फल किस प्रकार देखनेमें आता है एवं देहाभिमानसे रहित पुरुषकी गति किस प्रकार होती है? इन विषयोंको मुझसे भलीभाँति कहिये

Transliteration

yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | kathaṁ svarge gatiḥ sarpa karmaṇāṁ ca phalaṁ dhruvam | aśarīrasya dṛśyeta prabrūhi viṣayānś ca me ||

Translation

Dijo Yudhiṣṭhira: «Oh serpiente, ¿cómo se comprende el tránsito al cielo, y cómo se ve cumplirse el fruto seguro e infalible de las acciones? Y ¿cómo se hace manifiesto el curso de quien está “sin cuerpo”, libre de identificarse con lo corporal? Explícame con claridad estas materias.»

Word by Word

• {'katham': 'how?', 'svarge': 'in heaven

• in the heavenly world', 'gatiḥ': 'going, course, destiny, attainment', 'sarpa': 'O serpent (address to a Nāga)', 'karmaṇām': 'of actions (karma)', 'phalam': 'fruit, result, consequence', 'dhruvam': 'fixed, certain, unfailing', 'aśarīrasya': 'of the bodiless

• of one not identified with the body', 'dṛśyeta': 'is seen/understood

• becomes evident', 'prabrūhi': 'tell, explain (clearly)', 'viṣayān': 'topics, matters, points of inquiry', 'me': 'to me

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Yudhiṣṭhira
• Sarpa (Nāga/serpent interlocutor)
• Svarga (heaven)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames a dharmic inquiry into moral causality: actions yield definite results (karma-phala), and spiritual progress is not merely physical but depends on inner detachment from bodily identity (aśarīratva), which shapes one’s destiny beyond death.

What is happening in the narrative?

Yudhiṣṭhira addresses a serpent (Nāga) as a teacher-like interlocutor and asks for an explanation of three linked issues: the attainment of heaven, the certainty of karmic results, and the ‘movement’ or destiny of a person who is free from body-identification.