Shloka 38

Treasury Security, Protection of Informants, and the Kalakavṛkṣīya Exemplum (Śānti Parva 83)

Devanagari script

छट्मयकामैरकामस्य गमितो यमसादनम्‌ । दृष्ट होतन्मया राजंस्तपोदीर्घेन चक्षुषा

Transliteration

chaṭmayakāmair akāmasya gamito yamasādanam | dṛṣṭa etan mayā rājan tapodīrghena cakṣuṣā ||

Translation

Бхишма сказал: «О царь, людьми, движимыми низкими и мелочными желаниями, был приведён в обитель Ямы (смерти) человек, который сам был свободен от желаний. Я видел это, о царь, дальновидением, рождённым долгой аскезой».

Word by Word

• षट्मयकान्: sixfold-made (i.e., of six kinds)
• षट्मयकान्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: षट्मयक
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• अकामैः: by undesired ones / by those without desire
• अकामैः: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: अकाम
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Plural

• अकामस्य: of one who is without desire / of the unwilling
• अकामस्य: Sambandha
• Type: Noun
• Root: अकाम
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Singular

• गमितः: was caused to go / was led
• गमितः: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: गम्
• Form: णिच् + क्त (causative past passive participle), Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• यमसादनम्: the abode of Yama (death)
• यमसादनम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: यमसादन
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• दृष्टः: was seen
• दृष्टः: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: दृश्
• Form: क्त (past passive participle), Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• हतम्: slain
• हतम्: Karma
• Type: Verb
• Root: हन्
• Form: क्त (past passive participle), Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• मया: by me
• मया: Karana
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: अस्मद्
• Form: —, Instrumental, Singular

• राजन्: O king
• राजन्: Sambodhana
• Type: Noun
• Root: राजन्
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• तपःदीर्घेन: with (a vision) long through austerity
• तपःदीर्घेन: Karana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: तपःदीर्घ
• Form: Neuter, Instrumental, Singular

• चक्षुषा: with the eye / with vision
• चक्षुषा: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: चक्षुस्
• Form: Neuter, Instrumental, Singular

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• rājan (the King, i.e., Yudhiṣṭhira in context)
• Yama
• Yamasādana (abode of Yama)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Even a person who is inwardly free from desire can be harmed or destroyed by others’ petty cravings; therefore dharma requires vigilance against the corrupting power of base desires, and it honors the clarity that comes from tapas (disciplined austerity) to discern such moral causality.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma, instructing the king, cites something he has personally ‘seen’ through ascetic, far-reaching insight: a desireless person being driven to Yama’s abode by people motivated by ignoble desires—an example used to warn about the destructive consequences of low motives.