Shloka 53
Kṣemadarśa–Kālakavṛkṣīya Saṃvāda: Counsel on Impermanence, Non-attachment, and Composure in Dispossession
महाह्नद: संक्षुभित आत्मनैव प्रसीदति । (इत्थं नरो5प्यात्मनैव कृतप्रज्ञ: प्रसीदति ।) एतदेवंगतस्याहं सुखं पश्यामि जीवितुम्
mahāhradaḥ saṁkṣubhita ātmanaiva prasīdati | itthaṁ naro 'py ātmanaiva kṛtaprajñaḥ prasīdati | etad evaṁgatasya ahaṁ sukhaṁ paśyāmi jīvitum |
Bhīṣma dit : «Un grand lac, même remué et troublé, redevient limpide par sa propre nature. De même, l’homme dont l’intelligence est ferme et purifiée retrouve, par le seul secours de lui-même, le calme et la clarté, fût-il ébranlé. Ainsi, ô prince, que tu sois parvenu à cet état—que naisse en ton esprit une disposition pure—est de bon augure. C’est cette sorte de vie seule que je tiens pour véritablement heureuse.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
True clarity and peace are self-restored: even when the mind is disturbed, a person of steady wisdom (kṛtaprajña) returns to calm through inner discipline and the self’s own capacity for purification, like a lake settling back into clarity.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs a royal listener (addressed as “prince”), praising the emergence of pure, steady understanding and affirming that such an inwardly clarified life is the happiest and most auspicious way to live.