Shloka 48

दैव–पुरुषकार-प्रश्नः

Daiva–Puruṣakāra Inquiry: Fate and Human Effort

Devanagari script

एतत्‌ ते सर्वमाख्यातं मया वै मुनिसत्तम | फलं पुरुषकारस्य सदा संदृश्य तत्त्वतः,मुनिश्रेष्ठ! मैंने सदा पुरुषार्थके ही फलको प्रत्यक्ष देखकर यथार्थरूपसे ये सारी बातें तुम्हें बतायी हैं

Transliteration

etat te sarvam ākhyātaṃ mayā vai munisattama | phalaṃ puruṣakārasya sadā saṃdṛśya tattvataḥ ||

Translation

Bhishma dit : «Ô le meilleur des sages, je t’ai tout exposé en entier. Ayant toujours contemplé, en vérité et de mes propres yeux, le fruit de l’effort humain, je t’ai expliqué ces choses telles qu’elles sont».

Word by Word

• {'etat': 'this (teaching, matter at hand)', 'te': 'to you', 'sarvam': 'all, entirely', 'ākhyātam': 'declared, explained, narrated', 'mayā': 'by me', 'vai': 'indeed, certainly (emphatic particle)', 'munisattama': 'best among sages', 'phalam': 'fruit, result, consequence', 'puruṣakārasya': 'of human effort

• personal initiative/exertion', 'sadā': 'always', 'saṃdṛśya': 'having seen directly

• having observed', 'tattvataḥ': 'in accordance with truth

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• munisattama (addressed sage)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhishma emphasizes puruṣakāra—human effort and personal initiative—as a real, observable force whose results can be directly seen. He frames his instruction as grounded in lived truth (tattvataḥ), not mere speculation.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhishma, in an instructive discourse, addresses a sage and concludes or summarizes that he has fully explained the subject, basing his counsel on direct observation of the consequences of human endeavor.