Shloka 156

धर्मद्वारबहुत्वविमर्शः — Reflection on the Many ‘Doors’ of Dharma (Śānti-parva 342)

Devanagari script

अनिरुद्ध इति प्रोक्तो लोकानां प्रभवाप्यय: । उसीसे सृष्टि और प्रलय आदि सम्पूर्ण विकार प्रकट होते हैं। वही तप, यज्ञ और यजमान है, वही पुरातन विराट पुरुष है, उसे ही अनिरुद्ध कहा गया है। उसीसे लोकोंकी सृष्टि और प्रलय होते हैं

Transliteration

aniruddha iti prokto lokānāṃ prabhavāpyayaḥ |

Translation

अनिरुद्ध इति प्रोक्तो लोकानां प्रभवाप्ययः । तस्मात् सृष्टिप्रलयादयः सर्वे विकाराः प्रादुर्भवन्ति । स एव तपः स एव यज्ञः स एव यजमानः । स एव पुरातनो विराट् पुरुषः—स एव ‘अनिरुद्ध’ इति कथ्यते । तस्मादेव लोकानां सृष्टिश्च प्रलयश्च भवतः ॥

Word by Word

अनिरुद्धःAniruddha (name/epithet)

इतिthus; as

प्रोक्तःcalled; said; spoken of

लोकानाम्of the worlds/people

प्रभवाप्ययःorigin and dissolution

Speaker

अर्जुन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Arjuna

Aniruddha

Lokāḥ (the worlds)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse identifies the supreme divine principle as the ultimate source and end of all worlds—creation and dissolution occur through him. By calling him Aniruddha (‘unobstructed’), it emphasizes an irresistible, all-pervading sovereignty in which ritual (tapas, yajña) and the agent of ritual ultimately culminate.

What is happening in the narrative?

Arjuna speaks in a devotional-philosophical register, praising and defining the deity by cosmic functions—origin and dissolution of the worlds—thereby framing the discussion in Śānti Parva around ultimate reality and the grounding of dharma in the supreme being.