Shloka 34

Devanagari script

न हृदयमनुरुध्य वाड्मनो वा प्रियसुखदुर्लभतामनित्यतां च । तदुभयमुपलक्षयत्रिवाहं व्रतमिदमाजगरं शुचिश्नचरामि,“मन, वाणी और बुद्धिकी उपेक्षा करके इनको प्रिय लगनेवाले विषय-सुखोंकी दुर्लभता तथा अनित्यता--इन दोनोंको देखनेवालेकी भाँति मैं पवित्रभावसे इस आजगरबव्रतका आचरण करता हूँ

Transliteration

na hṛdayam anurudhya vāḍ-mano vā priyasukha-durlabhatām anityatāṁ ca | tad-ubhayam upalakṣaya tri-vāhaṁ vratam idam ājagaraṁ śuciśn carāmi ||

Translation

भीष्म उवाच—न हृदयमनुरुध्य वाङ्मनो वा, प्रियसुखदुर्लभतामनित्यतां च। तदुभयमुपलक्ष्य त्रिवाहं, व्रतमिदमाजगरं शुचिश्नचरामि॥

Word by Word

• {'hṛdaya': 'heart

• inner impulse or emotional drive', 'anurudhya': 'having complied with

• having followed or yielded to', 'vāḍ-manas': 'speech and mind (the faculties of expression and thought)', 'priya': 'dear

• attractive', 'sukha': 'pleasure

• enjoyment', 'durlabhatā': 'rarity

• difficulty of attainment', 'anityatā': 'impermanence

• transience', 'tad-ubhayam': 'both of those (two truths: rarity and impermanence)', 'upalakṣaya': 'having observed/recognized

• discerning', 'tri-vāha': 'threefold current/stream (commonly understood as the three impulses/faculties such as mind, speech, and inner drive)', 'vrata': 'vow

• disciplined observance', 'ājagara': 'python

• metaphor for patient, non-striving endurance', 'śuci': 'pure

• purified in conduct and intention', 'carāmi': 'I practice

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• ājagara-vrata (python vow)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Pleasures that appear dear are both hard to obtain and impermanent; therefore one should not let heart-impulse, speech, or mind dictate one’s conduct. The verse commends purified restraint and patient non-striving (ājagara-vrata) grounded in clear discernment of transience.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs on dharma and inner discipline. Here he describes his own stance: he practices the ‘python vow,’ a metaphor for enduring, minimizing craving, and not chasing sense-pleasures, while maintaining purity and self-mastery.