Shloka 12

Devanagari script

ब्रह्ममृत्युरशुद्धात्मा पापमेवानुचिन्तयन्‌ । प्रबुद्धासे प्रस्वपिषि वर्तसे परमे सुखे,'तू ब्राह्मणकी मृत्युका कारण है। तेरा अन्तःकरण नितान्त अशुद्ध है। तू पापकी ही बात सोचता हुआ जागता और सोता है और इसीसे अपनेको परम सुखी मानता है

Transliteration

brahmamṛtyur aśuddhātmā pāpam evānucintayan | prabuddhāse prasvapiṣi vartase parame sukhe ||

Translation

Bhīṣma dit : «Tu es la cause de la mort d’un brahmane. Ton for intérieur est entièrement impur. Ne pensant qu’au péché, tu demeures dans cet état d’esprit éveillé comme endormi—et c’est précisément pour cela que tu te crois souverainement heureux.»

Word by Word

ब्रह्मBrahman / sacred knowledge (as subject)

मृत्युःdeath

अशुद्धात्माone whose inner self is impure

पापम्sin, evil

एवonly, indeed

अनुचिन्तयन्thinking upon, brooding over

प्रबुद्धःawake, awakened

आसेyou sit / you remain

प्रस्वपिषिyou sleep

वर्तसेyou exist / you behave / you go on

परमेin the highest

सुखेin happiness, in comfort

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhishma (speaker)

Brahmin (implied victim/class: brāhmaṇa)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhishma condemns the mindset that normalizes wrongdoing: continual fixation on sinful thoughts corrupts the inner self, and moral delusion can make a person mistake vice and its pleasures for “supreme happiness.”

What is happening in the narrative?

In Shanti Parva’s instruction-setting, Bhishma rebukes an addressed person for causing a Brahmin’s death and for living in constant sinful contemplation, describing how such a person remains the same in waking and sleeping states while falsely believing themselves happy.