Shloka 12

Aśmagīta: Janaka’s Inquiry on Loss, Kāla, and the Limits of Control (अश्मगीता)

Devanagari script

मानसानां पुनर्योनिर्दु:खानां चित्तविभ्रम: | अनिष्टोपनिपातो वा तृतीयं नोपपद्यते,मनुष्योंको बार-बार मानसिक दुःखोंकी प्राप्तिके कारण दो ही हैं--चित्तका भ्रम और अनिष्टकी प्राप्ति। तीसरा कोई कारण सम्भव नहीं है

Transliteration

mānasānāṃ punar yonir duḥkhānāṃ cittavibhramaḥ | aniṣṭopanipāto vā tṛtīyaṃ nopapadyate ||

Translation

ジャナカは言った。「人において心の苦が繰り返し生じる根は二つのみである。すなわち迷妄と心の攪乱、あるいは望まぬものの到来。第三の原因は、理において成り立たぬ。」

Word by Word

मानसानाम्of mental (sufferings/afflictions)

पुनःagain, repeatedly

योनिःsource, cause, origin

दुःखानाम्of sufferings

चित्तविभ्रमःconfusion/delusion of the mind

अनिष्टोपनिपातःoccurrence/coming upon of the undesirable

वाor

तृतीयम्a third (cause)

नnot

उपपद्यतेis possible, is admitted/occurs

Speaker

जनक उवाच

Characters & Entities

Janaka

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Janaka reduces mental suffering to two roots: inner confusion of the mind (cittavibhrama) and the external impact of unwanted events (aniṣṭopanipāta). The ethical implication is that clarity, discipline, and right understanding address the first, while steadiness and detachment help one endure the second.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva’s reflective instruction, King Janaka speaks as a teacher of inner wisdom, presenting a concise analysis of why people repeatedly experience mental distress, emphasizing that the causes can be exhaustively classified into these two.