Shloka 18
Āraṇyaka Parva, Adhyāya 233 — Pandavas Mobilize; Arjuna’s Conciliation and the Onset of Combat
सूक्ष्मं तपस्तत् परम॑ त्वमेव परावरज्ञोडसि परावरस्त्वम् । धर्मस्य कामस्य परस्य चैव त्वत्तेजसा कृत्स्नमिदं महात्मन्,जो सर्वोत्कृष्ट सूक्ष्म तप है, वह आप ही हैं। आप ही कार्य-कारण-तत्त्वके ज्ञाता तथा कार्यकारणस्वरूप हैं। धर्म, काम तथा इन दोनोंसे परे जो मोक्षतत्त्व है, उसके भी आप ही ज्ञाता हैं। महात्मन्! यह सम्पूर्ण जगत् आपके तेजसे प्रकाशित होता है
sūkṣmaṃ tapas tat paramaṃ tvam eva parāvarajño 'si parāvaras tvam | dharmasya kāmasya parasya caiva tvat-tejasā kṛtsnam idaṃ mahātman ||
Dijo Mārkaṇḍeya: “Esa austeridad (tapas) sutil y suprema no es otra que tú. Tú conoces tanto la causa como el efecto, y tú mismo eres la realidad de causa y efecto. De dharma, de kāma y también de aquello que está más allá de ambos—mokṣa, la liberación—tú eres quien verdaderamente sabe. ¡Oh magnánimo!, este mundo entero es iluminado por tu resplandor.”
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse identifies the supreme principle as the source and knower of all levels of reality—cause and effect, higher and lower—and as the ground of the human aims (dharma and kāma) as well as what transcends them (mokṣa). Ethical life and spiritual liberation are portrayed as ultimately dependent on, and illuminated by, that divine radiance.
Mārkaṇḍeya is speaking in a laudatory, instructive mode, addressing an exalted being (implicitly the divine) and affirming that the universe and the paths of human striving are sustained by that being’s tejas (spiritual splendor). The tone is devotional and philosophical, framing tapas and liberation as rooted in the same ultimate reality.