Shloka 52

भीष्मविक्रमदर्शनं तथा क्रौञ्चारुणव्यूहविधानम् | Bhīṣma’s Ascendancy and the Organization of the Krauñcāruṇa Formation

Devanagari script

विविक्तसेवी लघ्वाशीः यतवाक्कायमानस: । ध्यानयोगपरो नित्यं वैराग्यं समुपाश्रित:

Transliteration

arjuna uvāca | viviktasevī laghvāśī yatavākkāyamānasaḥ | dhyānayogaparo nityaṁ vairāgyaṁ samupāśritaḥ ||

Translation

एकान्त का सेवन करनेवाला, अल्पाहारी, वाणी-शरीर-मन को संयमित रखनेवाला, नित्य ध्यानयोग में तत्पर और वैराग्य का आश्रय लेनेवाला (पुरुष साधन में स्थित होता है)।

Word by Word

• विविक्तसेवी: one who resorts to solitude/seclusion
• विविक्तसेवी: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: विविक्त-सेविन्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• लघ्वाशीः: one who eats little
• लघ्वाशीः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: लघु-आशिन्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• यतवाक्कायमानसः: one restrained in speech, body, and mind
• यतवाक्कायमानसः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: यत-वाक्-काय-मानस
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• ध्यानयोगपरः: devoted to the yoga of meditation
• ध्यानयोगपरः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: ध्यान-योग-पर
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• नित्यम्: always
• नित्यम्: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: नित्य

• वैराग्यम्: dispassion, detachment
• वैराग्यम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: वैराग्य
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• समुपाश्रितः: having resorted to, having taken refuge in
• समुपाश्रितः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सम्+उप+आ-श्रि (क्त)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

अजुन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Arjuna

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The core teaching is that spiritual maturity requires disciplined living: seeking solitude, moderating food, restraining speech-body-mind, and maintaining steady meditation supported by dispassion (vairāgya).

What is happening in the narrative?

Within Bhīṣma Parva’s philosophical instruction, Arjuna speaks a verse describing the qualities of a serious practitioner—one who withdraws from distractions and cultivates meditation and detachment—framing an ethical-spiritual ideal amid the larger war-time setting.