Shanti Parva Adhyaya 350 Shloka 803 - Mahabharata | Telugu | Vedapath

Vyasa

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Shloka 803

Āścarya-kathana: Brāhmaṇa–Nāga Dialogue on Sūrya (Vivasvat) and the ‘Second Sun’ Phenomenon

Devanagari script

पुरुष: पुरुष गच्छेन्निष्क्रियः पजचविंशक: । वैशम्पायनजीने कहा--जो अत्यन्त सूक्ष्म

Transliteration

vaiśampāyana uvāca | puruṣaḥ puruṣaṁ gacchen niṣkriyaḥ pañcaviṁśakaḥ |

Translation

వైశంపాయనుడు పలికెను—ఇరవై ఐదవ తత్త్వరూపుడైన పురుషుడు (జీవాత్మ) కర్తృత్వాభిమానాన్ని విడిచి, నిష్క్రియుడైనప్పుడు పరమపురుషుని పొందును. ఆ పరమాత్మ అత్యంత సూక్ష్ముడు, సత్త్వగుణసంబద్ధుడు, మరియు అకార-ఉకార-మకారములైన మూడు ధ్వనులతో కూడిన ప్రణవస్వరూపుడు (ఓం) అని చెప్పబడెను।

Word by Word

पुरुषःthe person / Purusha

पुरुषम्the Purusha (object)

गच्छेत्should go / should attain

निष्क्रियःinactive; free from action

पञ्चविंशकःthe twenty-fifth (entity/principle)

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Puruṣa (individual self)

Paramapuruṣa/Paramātmā

Praṇava (Oṁ)

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?

Liberation is framed as the jīva (the 25th tattva, puruṣa) attaining the Supreme Person by becoming niṣkriya—free from the ego of doership (ahaṅkāra tied to kartṛtva). The passage links this realization to contemplation of the Supreme as praṇava (Oṁ), the subtle, sattva-associated reality expressed as a-u-m.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the didactic setting of Śānti Parva, Vaiśampāyana continues a philosophical exposition on liberation: he states, in aphoristic form, that when the individual self relinquishes the sense of agency and becomes inwardly actionless, it reaches the Supreme Self, characterized here through the symbolism of Oṁ.