Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 13

Dvaipāyana–Kīṭa Saṃvāda: Karmic Memory, Fear of Death, and Embodied Pleasure

Devanagari script

रसं च प्रतिजिह्नाया ज्ञान प्रज्ञायते यथा । तथा शास्त्रेषु नियतं रागो ह्यास्वादिताद्‌ भवेत्‌

Transliteration

rasaṃ ca pratijihvāyā jñānaṃ prajñāyate yathā | tathā śāstreṣu niyataṃ rāgo hy āsvāditād bhavet ||

Translation

भीष्म उवाच—यथा जिह्वा रसं प्रतिजानाति तदा तस्मिन् स्वभावतः रागं गच्छति, तथा शास्त्रेषु नियतम्—आस्वादिताद् भोग्याद् रागो जायते; अतः विषयास्वादेन, मांसास्वादेनापि, तृष्णा वर्धते न प्रशाम्यति।

Word by Word

• {'rasa (रस)': 'taste

• relish (also ‘aesthetic relish’ in other contexts)', 'jihvā (जिह्वा)': 'tongue', 'pratijihvāyāḥ (प्रतिजिह्वायाः)': 'of/for the tongue in relation to taste (contextual: ‘with respect to the tongue’)', 'jñānam (ज्ञानम्)': 'cognition

• awareness', 'prajñāyate (प्रज्ञायते)': 'is understood/recognized

• becomes known', 'yathā (यथा)': 'just as', 'tathā (तथा)': 'so

• in the same way', 'śāstreṣu (शास्त्रेषु)': 'in the scriptures

• in authoritative teachings', 'niyatam (नियतम्)': 'fixed

• certain', 'rāgaḥ (रागः)': 'attachment

• craving', 'hi (हि)': 'indeed

• for', 'āsvāditāt (आस्वादितात्)': 'from what has been tasted/enjoyed', 'bhavet (भवेत्)': 'arises

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• tongue (jihvā)
• taste (rasa)
• scriptures (śāstra)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Enjoyment of sense-objects tends to generate and intensify attachment (rāga). Therefore, ethical discipline recommends restraint: repeated tasting and indulgence do not satisfy desire; they condition the mind toward further craving.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhishma continues instructing on dharma and right conduct. Here he uses a simple analogy—how the tongue becomes attracted after tasting—to explain a broader scriptural principle about how attachment forms through sensory experience.