Shloka 32

Adhyāya 180: Jīva, Śarīra, and the Fire Analogy (भृगु–भरद्वाज संवादः)

Devanagari script

अनियतशयनासन: प्रकृत्या दमनियमव्रतसत्यशौचयुक्त: । अपगतफलसंचय: प्रह्ृष्टो व्रतमिदमाजगरं शुचिश्चरामि

Transliteration

aniyata-śayanāsanaḥ prakṛtyā dama-niyama-vrata-satya-śauca-yuktaḥ | apagata-phala-saṃcayaḥ prahṛṣṭo vratam idam ājagaraṃ śuciś carāmi ||

Translation

ਮੇਰੇ ਸੌਣ-ਬੈਠਣ ਦਾ ਕੋਈ ਨਿਯਤ ਥਾਂ ਨਹੀਂ। ਸੁਭਾਵਕ ਹੀ ਮੈਂ ਦਮ, ਨਿਯਮ, ਵ੍ਰਤ, ਸੱਚ ਅਤੇ ਸ਼ੌਚ ਨਾਲ ਯੁਕਤ ਹਾਂ। ਕਰਮਫਲਾਂ ਦਾ ਸੰਚਯ ਮੇਰੇ ਤੋਂ ਦੂਰ ਹੋ ਗਿਆ ਹੈ। ਪ੍ਰਸੰਨ ਚਿੱਤ ਨਾਲ ਮੈਂ ਪਵਿੱਤਰ ਭਾਵ ਵਿੱਚ ਇਹ ਆਜਗਰ-ਵ੍ਰਤ ਆਚਰਦਾ ਹਾਂ।

Word by Word

• {'aniyata': 'unfixed, not determined', 'śayana-āsana': 'sleeping and sitting

• resting places/postures', 'prakṛtyā': 'by nature, inherently', 'dama': 'sense-control, self-restraint', 'niyama': 'observance, discipline (inner/outer restraints)', 'vrata': 'vow, religious/ethical discipline', 'satya': 'truthfulness', 'śauca': 'purity, cleanliness (outer and inner)', 'yuktaḥ': 'endowed with, possessed of', 'apagata': 'gone away, removed', 'phala': 'fruit, result (of action)', 'saṃcaya': 'accumulation, store', 'prahṛṣṭaḥ': 'glad, delighted, serene', 'idam': 'this', 'ājagara': 'python

• metaphor for one who remains still, ungrasping, accepting what comes', 'śuciḥ': 'pure, clean, purified', 'carāmi': 'I practice

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma (Bhīṣma)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches renunciation of attachment to results (phala) through disciplined virtues—self-control (dama), observances (niyama), vows (vrata), truth (satya), and purity (śauca)—culminating in the ājagara-vrata: a life of minimal needs, no fixed comforts, and calm acceptance without acquisitive striving.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and liberation-oriented conduct, Bhishma describes an ascetic mode of life: he has no settled resting place, lives by inner discipline, and practices the ‘python-vow,’ presenting it as an ideal of contentment and freedom from karmic accumulation.