Shloka 51

एकान्तिधर्म-प्रश्नः (Inquiry into Ekāntin Dharma) / The Origin and Practice of Single-Pointed Nārāyaṇa-Centered Discipline

Devanagari script

संस्थिते तु नृपे तस्मिन्‌ शास्त्रमेतत्‌ सनातनम्‌ | अन्तर्धास्यति तत्‌ सर्वमेतद्‌ व: कथितं मया

Transliteration

saṃsthite tu nṛpe tasmin śāstram etat sanātanam | antardhāsyati tat sarvam etad vaḥ kathitaṃ mayā ||

Translation

संस्थिते तु नृपे तस्मिन् शास्त्रमेतत् सनातनम्। अन्तर्धास्यति तत् सर्वमेतद् वः कथितं मया॥

Word by Word

• {'saṃsthite': 'when departed

• when one has come to an end (of life)', 'tu': 'but

• then', 'nṛpe': 'in/with regard to the king (locative of nṛpa)', 'tasmin': 'in that

• with reference to that person', 'śāstram': 'authoritative teaching

• normative instruction', 'etat': 'this', 'sanātanam': 'eternal

• perennial', 'antardhāsyati': 'will disappear

• will vanish from view', 'tat': 'that', 'sarvam': 'all

• the whole of it', 'vaḥ': 'to you (plural)', 'kathitam': 'told

• narrated', 'mayā': 'by me'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• the king (nṛpa, unspecified)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

That the preservation of dharma-śāstra depends on living custodians and rightful rule; when the sustaining king is gone, even an ‘eternal’ teaching can become practically inaccessible—hidden from public view—unless it is actively maintained and transmitted.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhishma is concluding a section of instruction: he warns that after the death of a particular king, the teaching he has described will no longer remain openly available, and he states that he has communicated everything relevant to his listeners.