Shloka 5

Adhyāya 164: Gautama as Guest; Kaśyapa’s Satkāra and the Fourfold Arthagati; Journey to Virūpākṣa

Devanagari script

एशभ्य: प्रवर्तते दुःखमे भ्य: पापं प्रवर्तते । इति मर्त्यो विजानीयात्‌ सततं पुरुषर्षभ

Transliteration

eṣebhyaḥ pravartate duḥkham ebhyaḥ pāpaṃ pravartate | iti martyo vijānīyāt satataṃ puruṣarṣabha, naraśreṣṭha |

Translation

Бхишма сказал: «От них рождается страдание; от них рождается грех. Пусть смертный непрестанно помнит это, о бык среди людей, о лучший из людей».

Word by Word

• {'eṣebhyaḥ (ete + bhyaḥ)': 'from these (causes/factors just mentioned)', 'pravartate': 'arises

• comes into operation', 'duḥkham': 'suffering

• distress', 'pāpam': 'sin

• wrongful action and its moral stain', 'iti': 'thus

• in this manner (marking the conclusion of the statement)', 'martyaḥ': 'a mortal

• human being', 'vijānīyāt': 'should know

• should clearly understand', 'satataṃ': 'always

• continually', 'puruṣarṣabha': 'O bull among men (honorific address to a great man)', 'naraśreṣṭha': 'O best of men (honorific address)'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• Yudhishthira (implied addressee: puruṣarṣabha/naraśreṣṭha)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhishma teaches moral causality: certain inner causes (the ‘these’ just discussed in context) generate both suffering and sinful conduct. Therefore one should keep constant awareness of the roots of wrongdoing and misery and restrain them.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva, Bhishma instructs Yudhishthira on dharma after the war. Here he emphasizes that a wise person should continually recognize the sources that lead humans into sin and thereby into suffering.