Shloka 28

Śrī–Indra–Bali Saṃvāda: The Departure and Fourfold Placement of Lakṣmī

Devanagari script

यत्र यत्रानुमाने5स्मिन्‌ कृतं भावयतो5डपि च | नान्यो जीव: शरीरस्य नास्तिकानां मते स्थित:

Transliteration

yatra yatrānumāne ’smin kṛtaṃ bhāvayato ’pi ca | nānyo jīvaḥ śarīrasya nāstikānāṃ mate sthitaḥ ||

Translation

Bhishma dit : Partout où, dans ce mode de raisonnement, on cherche à établir par inférence Dieu, l’invisible (adṛṣṭa) ou un Soi éternel, même la construction mentale des moyens et des fins devient vaine. Ainsi, dans la doctrine des incrédules, il est tenu pour établi qu’il n’existe pas d’être vivant distinct du corps.

Word by Word

• {'yatra yatra': 'wherever, in whatever case', 'anumāne': 'in inference

• in inferential reasoning', 'asmin': 'in this (context/argument)', 'kṛtam': 'done

• posited', 'bhāvayataḥ': 'of one who imagines/constructs/mentally posits

• of one who contemplates', 'api ca': 'even

• and also', 'na anyaḥ': 'no other

• not distinct', 'jīvaḥ': 'living being

• individual soul (as conceived)', 'śarīrasya': 'of the body

• from the body (in sense of relation/separation)', 'nāstikānām': 'of the nāstikas

• of those who deny (Veda/afterlife/ātman, depending on context)', 'mate': 'in the view/doctrine', 'sthitaḥ': 'established

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• nastikas (deniers/materialists)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse reports a nāstika/materialist conclusion: attempts to prove God, adṛṣṭa, or an eternal self purely by inference are treated as unavailing, and thus they hold that there is no jīva distinct from the body.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and liberation, Bhishma surveys and articulates differing philosophical positions; here he states the nāstika stance that denies a separate, eternal soul beyond the body.