Shloka 34

श्रेयो-धर्मकर्मविचारः

Inquiry into Śreyas, Dharma, and Karma

Devanagari script

परं तु शुक्लं विमल॑ विशोक॑ गतकक्‍्लमं सिद्धाति दानवेन्द्र | गत्वा तु योनिप्रभवाणि दैत्य सहस्रश: सिद्धिमुपैति जीव:

Transliteration

paraṁ tu śuklaṁ vimalaṁ viśokaṁ gataklamam siddhāti dānavendra | gatvā tu yoniprabhavāṇi daitya sahasraśaḥ siddhimupaiti jīvaḥ ||

Translation

परं तु शुक्लं विमलं विशोकं गतक्लमं सिद्धिदं दानवेन्द्र। गत्वा तु योनिप्रभवानि दैत्य सहस्रशः सिद्धिमुपैति जीवः—मनुष्ययोनिमासाद्य कदाचित्।

Word by Word

• {'param': 'supreme

• highest', 'tu': 'but

• indeed (contrast/emphasis)', 'śuklam': 'white

• bright (symbol of purity)', 'vimalam': 'stainless

• undefiled', 'viśokam': 'free from sorrow

• griefless', 'gataklamam': 'free from weariness

• without exertional fatigue', 'siddhāti (siddhiṁ eti)': 'leads to perfection

• brings attainment', 'dānavendra': 'lord of the Dānavas (address to a Dānava king)', 'gatvā': 'having gone

• having passed through', 'yoni-prabhavāṇi': 'births originating from wombs/species

• embodied origins', 'daitya': 'O Daitya (address to one of Diti’s lineage)', 'sahasraśaḥ': 'by thousands

• innumerably', 'jīvaḥ': 'the living being

• individual self (embodied soul)', 'siddhim upaiti': 'attains perfection

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Dānavendra (a Dānava lord, addressee)
• Daitya (a Daitya, addressee)
• jīva (individual self)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhishma teaches that true perfection (siddhi) is associated with a supreme inner condition characterized by purity, stainlessness, freedom from sorrow, and freedom from exhausting agitation; and that the jīva, after innumerable embodied births, may finally attain such perfection—especially upon reaching the human condition where discernment and disciplined practice are possible.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Shanti Parva’s instruction, Bhishma addresses a Dānava/Daitya interlocutor and explains a doctrinal point: the soul migrates through many womb-born existences, and only after countless births does it sometimes reach a state (and opportunity) conducive to siddhi, described as pure and sorrowless.