Shloka 18

Devanagari script

उपस्थितकृतौ तौ च नासिकाग्रमधो भ्रुवो: । भ्रुकुट्या चैव मनसा शनैर्धारयतस्तदा,तदनन्तर प्राण, अपान, उदान, समान और व्यान--इन पाँचों प्राण-वायुओंको हृदयमें स्थापित किया; इस प्रकार स्थित हुए उन दोनोंने मनको प्राण और अपानके साथ मिला दिया। भौहोंके नीचे नासिकाके अग्रभागपर दृष्टि रखते हुए मनसहित प्राण-अपानको उन्होंने दोनों भौहोंके बीच स्थिर किया

Transliteration

upasthitakṛtau tau ca nāsikāgram adho bhruvoḥ | bhrukuṭyā caiva manasā śanair dhārayatas tadā ||

Translation

అప్పుడు వారు ఇద్దరూ సంయమంతో, భ్రూవుల కింద నాసికాగ్రంపై దృష్టిని నిలిపి, భ్రుకుటిలో మనస్సును నిలిపి, నెమ్మదిగా దానిని స్థిరపరచిరి.

Word by Word

उपस्थितकृतौhaving assumed the posture / seated in readiness

तौthose two

चand

नासिकाग्रम्the tip of the nose

अधःbelow

भ्रुवोःof the two eyebrows

भ्रुकुट्याwith a frown / by knitting the brows

चand

एवindeed / just

मनसाwith the mind

शनैःslowly

धारयतःthey hold / they fix (their gaze/mind)

तदाthen

Speaker

भीष्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

two practitioners (tau)

nose-tip (nāsikāgra)

eyebrows (bhru)

heart (hṛdaya)

prāṇa

apāna

udāna

samāna

vyāna

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?

The verse teaches disciplined inward concentration: steadying the mind, regulating the vital currents (the five prāṇas), and fixing awareness through a focused gaze and breath-control so that the mind becomes stable and fit for higher realization.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma describes two practitioners entering a yogic state: they fix their gaze at the nose-tip beneath the brows, gather and place the five life-winds in the heart, unite mind with prāṇa and apāna, and then stabilize that combined focus at the space between the eyebrows.