Shloka 152

Devanagari script

अमुक्तो मानसैर्दु:खैरिच्छाद्वेषभयोद्धवै: । शिरोरोगादिभी रोगैस्तथैवाभिनियन्तृभि:,इच्छा, द्वेघष और भयजनित मानसिक दुःख राजाको कभी नहीं छोड़ते हैं। सिरदर्द आदि शारीरिक रोग भी उसे सब ओरसे नियन्त्रणमें रखकर व्याकुल किये रहते हैं

Transliteration

amukto mānasair duḥkhair icchādveṣabhayodbhavaiḥ | śirorogādibhī rogais tathaivābhiniyantṛbhiḥ ||

Translation

भीष्म उवाच—इच्छाद्वेषभयोद्भवैर्मानसैर्दुःखैरमुक्तो राजा कदाचन न भवति। तथा शिरोरोगादिभिः शारीररोगैः सर्वतः परिबद्धो नित्यं व्याकुल्यते।

Word by Word

अमुक्तःnot released, not freed

मानसैःby mental

दुःखैःby sorrows

इच्छा-द्वेष-भय-उद्भवैःarising from desire, hatred, and fear

शिरोरोग-आदिभिःby head-ailments and the like

रोगैःby diseases

तथाlikewise

एवindeed, just

अभिनियन्तृभिःby restrainers, controllers

Speaker

भीष्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Power and kingship do not remove suffering; desire, aversion, and fear generate persistent mental distress, and even bodily illness further binds a ruler. The implied ethical counsel is mastery over passions and fears as essential to true freedom and good governance.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on rājadharma, Bhīṣma continues advising about the burdens of rulership, emphasizing that a king remains surrounded by inner anxieties and physical ailments that keep him constrained and restless.