Shloka 2
Brahmacarya-Upāya: Jñāna, Śauca, and the Mind’s Role in Desire (शान्ति पर्व, अध्याय २०७)
नारायणं हृषीकेशं गोविन्दमपराजितम् । तत्त्वेन भरतश्रेष्ठ श्रोतुमिच्छामि केशवम्
nārāyaṇaṃ hṛṣīkeśaṃ govindam aparājitam | tattvena bharataśreṣṭha śrotum icchāmi keśavam ||
नारायणं हृषीकेशं गोविन्दमपराजितम् । तत्त्वेन भरतश्रेष्ठ श्रोतुमिच्छामि केशवम् ॥
युधिषछ्िर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse models dharmic inquiry: Yudhiṣṭhira seeks not mere praise but ‘tattva’—a truthful, principled understanding of Keśava/Nārāyaṇa. It frames devotion as aligned with discernment and ethical seriousness, treating knowledge of the divine as a foundation for right conduct.
In Śānti Parva, Yudhiṣṭhira, seeking guidance after the war, addresses the elder (implied to be Bhīṣma) as ‘best of the Bharatas’ and requests a true account/teaching about Kṛṣṇa under his revered epithets—Nārāyaṇa, Hṛṣīkeśa, Govinda, the invincible—setting up a theological and ethical discourse.