Shloka 2

नारद-समङ्ग-संवादः — The Nārada–Samaṅga Dialogue on Fearlessness and Equanimity

Devanagari script

येयमर्थोद्धिवा तृष्णा कथमेतां पितामह । निवर्तयेयं पापानि तृष्णया कारिता वयम्‌

Transliteration

yeyaṁ arthodbhavā tṛṣṇā katham etāṁ pitāmaha | nivartayeyam pāpāni tṛṣṇayā kāritā vayam ||

Translation

Yudhiṣṭhira berkata: “Wahai Kakek Agung, bagaimana kami dapat menghentikan dan memalingkan tṛṣṇā yang timbul dari harta ini? Karena dorongan hasrat, kami telah dibuat melakukan dosa. Dengan cara apa kehausan akan keuntungan ini dapat dipadamkan?”

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'iyam', 'gloss': 'this (feminine nominative singular)'}, {'term': 'artha', 'gloss': 'wealth

• worldly advantage'}, {'term': 'udbhavā', 'gloss': 'arising from

• originating in'}, {'term': 'tṛṣṇā', 'gloss': 'craving

• insatiable desire'}, {'term': 'katham', 'gloss': 'how? by what means?'}, {'term': 'etām', 'gloss': 'this (accusative singular, referring to tṛṣṇā)'}, {'term': 'pitāmaha', 'gloss': 'grandfather

• Bhīṣma (honorific address)'}, {'term': 'nivartayeyam', 'gloss': 'may I/ we turn back

• may we cause to cease (optative sense)'}, {'term': 'pāpāni', 'gloss': 'sins

• demeritorious deeds'}, {'term': 'tṛṣṇayā', 'gloss': 'by/through craving (instrumental singular)'}, {'term': 'kāritāḥ', 'gloss': 'caused to do

• made to act (passive/causative sense)'}, {'term': 'vayam', 'gloss': 'we'}]

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Yudhiṣṭhira
• Pitāmaha (Bhīṣma)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames wealth-born craving (arthodbhavā tṛṣṇā) as a root cause of moral downfall, and it seeks a dharmic remedy: restraint and inner reversal (nivṛtti) of desire so that sinful action is no longer compelled by greed.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s post-war instruction, Yudhiṣṭhira—burdened by remorse—addresses Bhīṣma as ‘Pitāmaha’ and asks how to end the craving for wealth that has driven the Pāṇḍavas into grievous wrongdoing and violence.