Shloka 37

Śakra–Namuci-saṃvāda: Śoka-nivāraṇa and Daiva-vicāra

Indra and Namuci on grief, composure, and inevitability

Devanagari script

यत्‌ तमोपहतं चित्तमाशु संहारम ध्रुवम्‌ । करोत्युपरमं काये तदाहुस्तामसं बुधा:

Transliteration

yat tamopahataṁ cittam āśu saṁhāram dhruvam | karoty uparamaṁ kāye tad āhus tāmasaṁ budhāḥ ||

Translation

Bhishma dit : «Dans le sommeil profond, lorsque le mental, frappé par l’obscurité (tamas), se retire vite et inéluctablement—éteignant son activité et sa clarté—et qu’il suspend pour un court moment, dans le corps, l’opération des sens, l’agréable sensation éprouvée alors est ce que les sages nomment “bonheur tamasique” : un réconfort né de l’engourdissement et de l’inertie du sommeil.»

Word by Word

• {'yat': 'when/that which', 'tamas': 'darkness

• the tamas-guṇa', 'upahatam': 'struck, overpowered, afflicted', 'cittam': 'mind

• mental field', 'āśu': 'quickly', 'saṁhāram': 'withdrawal

• cessation', 'dhruvam': 'certain

• fixed', 'karoti': 'does

• brings about', 'uparamam': 'cessation

• quieting', 'kāye': 'in the body', 'tad': 'that', 'āhuḥ': 'they call

• they say', 'tāmasam': 'tamasic

• pertaining to tamas', 'budhāḥ': 'the wise

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• citta (mind)
• tamas (tamoguṇa)
• kāya (body)
• indriyas (senses)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Pleasure can arise from different mental qualities; the comfort felt when the mind is dulled by tamas and the senses shut down (as in sleep or stupor) is classified as tamasic—pleasant in sensation but rooted in ignorance and inertia rather than clarity or ethical excellence.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Shanti Parva’s instruction on conduct and inner life, Bhishma explains to Yudhiṣṭhira how to discern kinds of happiness by their causes, here describing the tamasic type associated with mental darkness and sleep-like cessation of activity.