Shloka 2
अध्याय ३३७ — ज्ञानमार्ग-वैविध्यप्रश्नः तथा व्यासस्य नारायणोद्भवकथा
Systems of Knowledge and Vyāsa’s Nārāyaṇa-Origin
बृहद् ब्रह्म महच्चेति शब्दा: पर्यायवाचका: । एभि: समन्वितो राजन् गुणैर्विद्वान् बृहस्पति:
bṛhad brahma mahac ceti śabdāḥ paryāyavācakāḥ | ebhiḥ samanvito rājan guṇair vidvān bṛhaspatiḥ ||
Bhishma berkata: “Wahai Raja, kata ‘Bṛhat’, ‘Brahman’, dan ‘Mahat’ adalah ungkapan yang bersinonim. Dihiasi sifat-sifat yang ditunjukkan oleh istilah-istilah itu, Brihaspati yang bijaksana berdiri sebagai teladan hidupnya.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma explains that ‘Bṛhat’, ‘Brahman’, and ‘Mahat’ function as synonymous terms pointing to greatness/ultimate principle, and he links true understanding of these ideas to embodied virtues—exemplified by the wise counselor Bṛhaspati.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction to the king in the Śānti Parva, he clarifies philosophical vocabulary and then grounds it in an ethical model by invoking Bṛhaspati as one who is ‘endowed with’ the corresponding qualities.