Shloka 98

Devanagari script

सांख्यज्ञानमधीयानो योगशास्त्रं च कृत्स्नश: । धर्माधर्म च राजेन्द्र प्राकृतं परिगर्हयन्‌

Transliteration

sāṅkhyajñānam adhīyāno yogaśāstraṃ ca kṛtsnaśaḥ | dharmādharmau ca rājendra prākṛtaṃ parigarhayan ||

Translation

ഭീഷ്മൻ പറഞ്ഞു—ഹേ രാജേന്ദ്ര! സാംഖ്യജ്ഞാനം അഭ്യസിച്ച്, യോഗശാസ്ത്രം സമഗ്രമായി അറിഞ്ഞ്, ധർമ്മവും അധർമ്മവും വിവേചിച്ച ശേഷം, ധർമ്മത്തിന് വിരുദ്ധമായി പോകുന്ന ‘പ്രാകൃത’മായ—അസംസ്കൃത സ്വഭാവപ്രേരണകളെ—നിന്ദിക്കണം।

Word by Word

सांख्यज्ञानम्Sāṅkhya-knowledge

अधीयानःstudying/reciting

योगशास्त्रम्the Yoga treatise

चand

कृत्स्नशःentirely, in full

धर्मम्dharma (righteousness)

अधर्मम्adharma (unrighteousness)

चand

राजेन्द्रO best of kings

प्राकृतम्worldly/natural (common)

परिगर्हयन्censuring, condemning

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

Yudhiṣṭhira (implied by rājendra)

Sāṅkhya

Yoga

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

True ethical discernment arises from comprehensive study of Sāṅkhya (right understanding) and Yoga (right practice). With that discernment, one should not excuse harmful conduct as merely ‘natural’; instinct and habit must be judged and restrained by dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs King Yudhiṣṭhira on righteous living and governance. Here he emphasizes that philosophical knowledge and yogic discipline together enable a king (and any person) to distinguish dharma from adharma and to reject crude, nature-driven tendencies when they conflict with moral duty.