Shloka 4
अहिंसा-आत्मौपम्य-उपदेशः | Instruction on Ahiṃsā and Self-Comparison Ethics
अश्रिन्यां सक्थिनी चैव ऊरू चाषाढ्योस्तथा । गुहां तु फाल्गुनी विद्यात् कृत्तिका कटिकास्तथा
aśvinyāṃ sakthinī caiva ūrū cāṣāḍhyos tathā | guhāṃ tu phālgunī vidyāt kṛttikā kaṭikās tathā ||
Bhīṣma dit : «Qu’on comprenne qu’Aśvinī se tient dans les cuisses; les deux Āṣāḍhā (Pūrvāṣāḍhā et Uttarāṣāḍhā) dans les deux parties supérieures des jambes; les deux Phālgunī (Pūrvaphālgunī et Uttaraphālgunī) dans la région secrète; et les Kṛttikā dans les hanches».
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a contemplative correspondence between nakṣatras and specific body regions, encouraging the view of the human body as a sacred microcosm of the cosmos, which supports disciplined, reverent living.
Bhīṣma is instructing (as part of his Anuśāsana teachings) how to ‘know’ the placement of certain lunar mansions in bodily locations—Aśvinī, the two Āṣāḍhās, the two Phālgunīs, and Kṛttikā—within a larger framework of dharmic and ritual-cosmological instruction.