Shloka 17

Devanagari script

काम क्रोध॑ च मृत्युं च पञ्चेन्द्रियजलां नदीम्‌ । नावं धृतिमयीं कृत्वा जन्मदुर्गाणि संतर,काम, क्रोध, मृत्यु और जिसमें पाँच इन्द्रियरूपी जल भरा हुआ है, ऐसी विषयासक्तिरूपी नदीको तुम सात्विकी धृतिरूप नौकाका आश्रय ले पार कर लो और इस प्रकार जन्म-मृत्युरूपी दुर्गण संकटसे पार हो जाओ

Transliteration

vyāsa uvāca | kāmaṁ krodhaṁ ca mṛtyuṁ ca pañcendriyajalāṁ nadīm | nāvaṁ dhṛtimayīṁ kṛtvā janmadurgāṇi santara ||

Translation

Nafsu, amarah, dan maut membentuk sebuah sungai yang airnya adalah lima indra. Jadikan keteguhan (dhṛti) sebagai perahumu dan seberangilah, sehingga engkau melampaui benteng-benteng bahaya dari kelahiran yang berulang.

Word by Word

कामम्desire

क्रोधम्anger

चand

मृत्युम्death

चand

पञ्चेन्द्रियजलाम्having water (made of) the five senses

नदीम्river

नावम्boat

धृतिमयीम्consisting of fortitude

कृत्वाhaving made

जन्मदुर्गाणिthe hard passages/forts of birth (i.e., perils of repeated birth)

संतरcross over

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vyāsa

kāma (desire)

krodha (anger)

mṛtyu (death)

pañcendriya (five senses)

nadī (river)

nāva (boat)

dhṛti (steadfastness)

janma (birth)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Sense-driven life is portrayed as a dangerous river fed by the five senses, intensified by desire and anger, and ending in death. The practical remedy is dhṛti—steady moral and spiritual resolve—which functions as the ‘boat’ enabling one to cross beyond the hard-to-pass obstacles of repeated birth.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the didactic setting of Śānti Parva, Vyāsa delivers an instruction using a vivid metaphor: the listener is urged to treat desire, anger, and mortality as a perilous current and to rely on steadfastness to traverse the existential dangers associated with birth and death.