Shloka 47

गोमूल्यनिर्णयः — The Determination of Value through the Cow

Nahuṣa–Cyavana Episode

Devanagari script

शरीरमिह सत्त्वेन न तस्य परिकृष्यते । ज्येष्ठमध्यावरं सत्त्वं तुल्यसत्त्वं प्रमोदते,वर्णसंकरको शास्त्रीय बुद्धि प्राप्त हो जाय तो भी वह उसके शरीरको स्वभावसे नहीं हटा सकती। उत्तम, मध्यम या निकृष्ट जिस प्रकारके स्वभावसे उसके शरीरका निर्माण हुआ है, वैसा ही स्वभाव उसे आनन्ददायक जान पड़ता है

Transliteration

śarīram iha sattvena na tasya parikṛṣyate | jyeṣṭha-madhyāvaraṁ sattvaṁ tulya-sattvaṁ pramodate ||

Translation

ഈ ലോകത്ത് ശാസ്ത്രീയബുദ്ധി ലഭിച്ചുവെന്നതുകൊണ്ട് മാത്രം ഒരാളുടെ ശരീരം ജന്മജാത സ്വഭാവത്തിൽ നിന്ന് വലിച്ചുമാറ്റാൻ കഴിയില്ല. ഉത്തമം, മധ്യമം, അധമം—ഏത് സ്വഭാവം കൊണ്ടാണ് അവന്റെ ഘടന, അതിനോട് തുല്യമായ സ്വഭാവത്തിലേ അവൻ ആനന്ദിക്കുന്നു.

Word by Word

• {'śarīram': 'body

• embodied constitution', 'iha': 'here

• in this world', 'sattvena': 'by sattva

• by one’s disposition/temperament (also ‘purity’ in guṇa-theory, context-dependent)', 'na': 'not', 'tasya': 'of him/of that person', 'parikṛṣyate': 'is dragged away

• is forcibly altered/removed from its natural course', 'jyeṣṭha': 'superior

• excellent', 'madhya': 'middling

• moderate', 'avara': 'inferior

• lower', 'sattvam': 'nature

• disposition', 'tulya-sattvam': 'one of similar nature

• what matches one’s disposition', 'pramodate': 'rejoices

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Innate disposition (sattva/temperament) strongly conditions embodied life; mere acquisition of ‘learned’ or doctrinal understanding does not automatically uproot one’s natural tendencies. Ethical cultivation must therefore be gradual and practice-based, not only intellectual.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Bhīṣma’s instruction discourse (Anuśāsana Parva), he explains to his listener that people naturally gravitate toward what matches their own temperament, and that the body-personality complex does not readily shift away from its inborn constitution simply through abstract knowledge.