Shloka 20

अव्यक्तकालमान-निर्णयः

Measures of Time from the Unmanifest; Creation, Elements, and the Primacy of Mind

Devanagari script

नाहं शप्त: प्रतिशपामि कंचिद्‌ दम द्वारं हामृतस्येह वेझि । गुहां ब्रह्म तदिदं ब्रवीमि न मानुषाच्छेछतरं हि किंचित्‌

Transliteration

nāhaṁ śaptaḥ pratiśapāmi kañcid dama-dvāraṁ hy amṛtasyeha viddhi | guhāṁ brahma tad idaṁ bravīmi na mānuṣāc chreṣṭhataraṁ hi kiñcit ||

Translation

Le Haṁsa dit : «Même si l’on me maudit, je ne maudis personne en retour. Sachez que la maîtrise de soi, la retenue des sens, est la porte de l’immortalité (de la délivrance). À présent je vous confie une vérité profondément secrète : rien n’est supérieur à la condition humaine.»

Word by Word

• {'nāham': 'I do not', 'śaptaḥ': 'cursed', 'pratiśapāmi': 'I curse in return

• I counter-curse', 'kañcit': 'anyone', 'dama': 'self-control

• restraint of the senses and mind', 'dvāram': 'door

• gateway', 'amṛtasya': 'of immortality

• of the deathless state (mokṣa)', 'iha': 'here

• in this world/teaching context', 'viddhi': 'know

• understand', 'guhām': 'a secret

• hidden teaching', 'brahma': 'Brahman

• the Absolute reality', 'tad idam': 'this very (truth)', 'bravīmi': 'I say

• I declare', 'mānuṣāt': 'than the human (state/birth)', 'śreṣṭhataraṁ': 'more excellent

• superior', 'hi': 'indeed', 'kiñcit': 'anything'}

Speaker

हंस उवाच

Characters & Entities

• हंस (Haṁsa)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Do not retaliate with harm even when harmed; cultivate dama (self-restraint), because mastery of the senses and mind is presented as the doorway to amṛtatva—liberation. The verse also elevates human birth as uniquely suited for realizing Brahman.

What is happening in the narrative?

In a didactic setting within Śānti Parva, the Haṁsa speaks as a spiritual instructor, declaring a personal ethic of non-retaliation, then revealing a ‘secret’ doctrinal point: self-control leads to immortality (mokṣa), and the human state is the most advantageous for this pursuit.