Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 50

Devanagari script

तौ दृष्ट्वा बालकौ धीमाञ्छांडिल्यो मुनिरब्रवीत् । अहो दैवबलं चित्रमहो कर्म दुरत्ययम्

Transliteration

tau dṛṣṭvā bālakau dhīmāñchāṃḍilyo munirabravīt | aho daivabalaṃ citramaho karma duratyayam

Translation

ကလေးနှစ်ယောက်ကို မြင်သော် ပညာရှိ မုနိ ရှာဏ္ဍိလျက “အဟော၊ ကံကြမ္မာ၏ အင်အားသည် အံ့ဩဖွယ်တကား; အဟော၊ ကမ္မသည် မလွတ်မြောက်နိုင်လောက်အောင် မပြောင်းလဲနိုင်တကား!” ဟု မိန့်ကြား하였다။

Word by Word

• तौ: those two
• तौ: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, द्विवचन; सर्वनाम

• दृष्ट्वा: having seen
• दृष्ट्वा: Purvakala (Prior action/पूर्वकाल)
• Type: Verb
• Root: दृश् (धातु)
• Form: क्त्वा-प्रत्ययान्त अव्ययकृदन्त (त्वान्त), पूर्वकालिक क्रिया

• बालकौ: the two boys
• बालकौ: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: बालक (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, द्विवचन

• धीमान्: wise
• धीमान्: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: धीमन् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; विशेषणम्

• शांडिल्यः: Śāṇḍilya
• शांडिल्यः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: शांडिल्य (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; व्यक्तिनाम

• मुनिः: the sage
• मुनिः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: मुनि (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• अब्रवीत्: said
• अब्रवीत्: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: ब्रू (धातु)
• Form: लङ् (अनद्यतनभूत), प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन; परस्मैपदम्

• अहो: ah! indeed!
• अहो: Sambodhana/Exclamation (सम्बोधन/उद्गार)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अहो (अव्यय)
• Form: विस्मयादिबोधक-निपात (interjection/particle)

• दैवबलम्: the power of fate
• दैवबलम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: दैव (प्रातिपदिक) + बल (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुषः (दैवस्य बलम्)

• चित्रम्: wonderful/strange
• चित्रम्: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: चित्र (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया/प्रथमा, एकवचन; विशेषणम् (दैवबलम् इति)

• अहो: ah!
• अहो: Sambodhana/Exclamation (सम्बोधन/उद्गार)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अहो (अव्यय)
• Form: विस्मयादिबोधक-निपात

• कर्म: karma, deed
• कर्म: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: कर्मन् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन

• दुरत्ययम्: hard to overcome
• दुरत्ययम्: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: दुर् (उपसर्ग/अव्यय) + अति + इ (धातु) → अत्यय (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन; विशेषणम्; उपसर्गपूर्वक-प्रत्ययान्त (दुरत्यय = difficult to pass/overcome)

Speaker

Śāṇḍilya Muni

Visual Art Cues

Scene: Sage Śāṇḍilya, calm and radiant, beholds two boys and speaks with wonder about destiny and karma; an assembly or hermitage setting with attentive listeners.

Characters & Entities

• Śāṇḍilya

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Karma and providence operate with profound force; humility and discernment are needed when facing life’s reversals.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

None; the verse is a reflective statement on karma rather than a tīrtha-māhātmya.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

None; it is a doctrinal observation about karma’s inevitability.