Shloka 2

Devanagari script

स्वभावयुक्त तत्‌ सर्व यदिमान्‌ सृजते गुणान्‌ । ऊर्णनाभिर्यथा सूत्र सृजते तद्गुणांस्तथा,जैसे मकड़ी अपने शरीरसे तन्तुओंकी सृष्टि करती है, उसी प्रकार प्रकृति भी समस्त त्रिगुणात्मक पदार्थोंको उत्पन्न करती है। प्रकृति जो इन सब विषयोंकी सृष्टि करती है, वह सब उसके स्वभावसे ही होता है

Transliteration

svabhāvayuktaṁ tat sarvaṁ yad imān sṛjate guṇān | ūrṇanābhir yathā sūtraṁ sṛjate tad-guṇāṁs tathā ||

Translation

Vyāsa dit : Tout ce qui fait naître ces qualités les produit selon sa nature propre et innée. De même que l’araignée tire son fil d’elle-même, ainsi Prakṛti, par sa constitution même, engendre la multiplicité des produits formés des trois guṇa.

Word by Word

स्वभावयुक्तम्endowed with its own nature

तत्that

सर्वम्all

यत्which/that which

इमान्these

सृजतेcreates/produces

गुणान्qualities (gunas)

ऊर्णनाभिःthe spider

यथाas/just as

सूत्रम्thread

सृजतेcreates/produces

तत्thus/so

गुणान्qualities (gunas)

तथाso/in the same way

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vyāsa

ūrṇanābhi (spider)

sūtra (thread)

guṇa (the three guṇas)

Prakṛti (implied by the teaching/context)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Creation and the arising of the guṇas are presented as a natural outflow of Prakṛti’s own svabhāva (inherent constitution), not as an arbitrary act. The spider-thread image teaches that effects proceed from the cause’s own nature—supporting a Sāṅkhya-style view of causality and encouraging discernment of guṇa-driven phenomena.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the didactic setting of Śānti Parva, Vyāsa continues an instruction on metaphysical principles: how the world of qualities and objects arises. He illustrates the process with a familiar analogy (a spider spinning its thread) to clarify that the manifested world is generated from Prakṛti itself, in accordance with its innate tendencies.