Shloka 9

कालनियमः शोकशमनं च

Kāla as Regulator; Pacification of Grief

Devanagari script

दक्षिणेन च पन्थानमर्यम्णो ये दिव॑ गता: । एतान्‌ क्रियावतां लोकानुक्तवान्‌ पूर्वमप्पयहम्‌,“धनंजय! दान, अध्ययन, यज्ञ और निग्रह--ये सभी कर्म बहुत कठिन हैं। इन वेदोक्त कर्मोंका (सकामभावसे) आश्रय लेकर लोग सूर्यके दक्षिण मार्गसे स्वर्गमें जाते हैं। इन कर्ममार्गी पुरुषोंके लोकोंकी चर्चा मैं पहले भी कर चुका हूँ

Transliteration

vaiśampāyana uvāca |

dakṣiṇena ca panthānam aryamṇo ye divaṃ gatāḥ |

etān kriyāvatāṃ lokān uktavān pūrvam apy aham |

“dhanaṃjaya! dāna, adhyayana, yajña aura nigraha—ye sabhī karma bahuta kaṭhina haiṃ | ina vedokta karmoṃ kā (sakāmabhāvase) āśraya lekar log sūryake dakṣiṇa mārgase svargameṃ jāte haiṃ | in karmamārgī puruṣoṃke lokoṃkī carcā maiṃ pahale bhī kara cukā hūṃ”

Translation

வைசம்பாயனர் கூறினார்— “அர்யமன் எனும் தெய்வத்தின் தெற்கு வழியால் விண்ணுலகம் சென்றோர்—அவர்கள் கர்மநிஷ்டருக்குரிய உலகங்களை அடைந்தவர்கள்; அந்த உலகங்களை நான் முன்பே உரைத்துள்ளேன்.”

Word by Word

• {'vaiśampāyana uvāca': 'Vaiśampāyana said', 'dakṣiṇena panthānam': 'by the southern path/route', 'aryamṇaḥ': 'of Aryaman (a Vedic Āditya associated with the path/ancestral order)', 'divam gatāḥ': 'gone to heaven', 'kriyāvatām': 'of those engaged in prescribed rites/actions', 'lokān': 'worlds/realms (states of post-mortem attainment)', 'pūrvam api': 'even earlier/before', 'dhanaṃjaya': 'O Dhanañjaya (Arjuna)', 'dāna': 'charitable giving', 'adhyayana': 'study/recitation of the Veda', 'yajña': 'sacrifice/ritual offering', 'nigraha': 'restraint, self-control (sense-control/discipline)', 'vedokta karma': 'acts enjoined by the Veda', 'sakāma-bhāva': 'with desire for results (fruit-motivated attitude)', 'sūryasya dakṣiṇa-mārga': 'the sun’s southern course (symbolic route linked with ritual merit and finite heavenly reward)', 'svarga': 'heavenly enjoyment realm'}

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Dhanañjaya (Arjuna)
• Aryaman
• Sūrya (the Sun)
• Svarga

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Fruit-motivated reliance on Veda-enjoined disciplines—charity, Vedic study, sacrifice, and self-restraint—can lead to heavenly realms via the ‘southern path’; yet these attainments are framed as outcomes of karma (ritual merit) rather than the highest, final goal.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana continues an explanatory discourse to Arjuna (Dhanañjaya), summarizing how ritual practitioners attain specific post-mortem worlds, and notes that he has already described these ‘worlds of the action-oriented’ earlier.