Shloka 44

जनक–पराशर संवादः — वर्ण-गोत्र-धर्मविचारः

Janaka–Parāśara: Varṇa, Gotra, and Dharma Inquiry

Devanagari script

नैव ताम्यन्ति विद्वांस: प्लवन्त: पारमम्भस: । अध्यात्मविदुषो धीरा ज्ञानं तु परमं प्लव:

Transliteration

naiva tāmyanti vidvāṁsaḥ plavantaḥ pāram ambhasaḥ | adhyātmaviduṣo dhīrā jñānaṁ tu paramaṁ plavaḥ ||

Translation

Bhishma berkata: Orang bijaksana tidak menjadi letih ketika berenang menyeberangi air yang dalam ke tebing seberang. Demikian juga, insan yang teguh dan mengetahui kebenaran Diri (Atman) menyeberangi lautan kewujudan duniawi tanpa susah payah; bagi mereka, pengetahuan tertinggi itulah perahu.

Word by Word

• {'na eva': 'not at all', 'tāmyanti': 'become weary, faint, suffer exhaustion', 'vidvāṁsaḥ': 'the wise, the learned', 'plavantaḥ': 'swimming, floating

• crossing by swimming', 'pāram': 'the farther shore, the other side', 'ambhasaḥ': 'of water

• of the waters', 'adhyātma-viduṣaḥ': 'knowers of the inner Self/spiritual principle', 'dhīrāḥ': 'steadfast, composed, courageous in understanding', 'jñānam': 'knowledge (especially liberating knowledge)', 'tu': 'indeed, but (emphatic)', 'paramam': 'supreme, highest', 'plavaḥ': 'a boat, raft

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• waters (ambhas)
• far shore (pāra)
• supreme knowledge (parama-jñāna) as boat (plava)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Liberating self-knowledge functions like a boat: just as a skilled swimmer crosses deep water without exhaustion, a steadfast knower of the Self crosses the difficult ocean of saṁsāra with ease through supreme knowledge.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Bhishma’s instruction during the Shanti Parva, he uses a vivid analogy—crossing deep waters—to explain how spiritual insight and inner steadiness enable one to overcome worldly bondage and suffering.