Shloka 4

Vānaprastha-dharma and Tapas: Śiva–Umā Saṃvāda

Forest-Stage Discipline and Austerity

Devanagari script

भीष्म उवाच शृणुष्वावहितो राजन्‌ धर्मगुह्दानि भारत । यथा हि भगवान्‌ व्यास: पुरा कथितवान्‌ मयि

Transliteration

bhīṣma uvāca śṛṇuṣvāvahito rājan dharma-gūḍhāni bhārata | yathā hi bhagavān vyāsaḥ purā kathitavān mayi ||

Translation

भीष्म उवाच— शृणुष्वावहितो राजन् धर्मगुह्यानि भारत। यथा हि भगवान् व्यासः पुरा कथितवान् मयि॥

Word by Word

• {'bhīṣma uvāca': 'Bhishma said', 'śṛṇuṣva': 'listen (imperative, 2nd person singular)', 'āvahitaḥ': 'attentive, composed, fully focused', 'rājan': 'O king (address)', 'dharma-gūḍhāni': 'the concealed/secret (subtle) aspects of dharma', 'bhārata': 'O Bharata (descendant of Bharata

• address to the Kuru king)', 'yathā hi': 'just as, in the manner that', 'bhagavān': 'venerable, revered

• holy one', 'vyāsaḥ': 'Vyasa (Krishna Dvaipayana), the sage', 'purā': 'formerly, long ago', 'kathitavān': 'told, narrated, taught', 'mayi': 'to me (locative with sense of ‘in my case’/‘unto me’)'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• Vyasa
• the King (Yudhishthira, implied by context)
• Bharata lineage (Bharata/Kuru dynasty, implied by address)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

That dharma has subtle, ‘hidden’ dimensions requiring careful attention and authoritative guidance; Bhishma frames his instruction as a faithful transmission of Vyasa’s earlier teaching.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhishma begins a didactic section addressed to the king, asking him to listen attentively as he introduces a discourse on profound principles of dharma learned from Vyasa in the past.