Shloka 18

Keśava-tattva-kathana

On the Principle of Keśava: Cosmogony and Divine Epithets

Devanagari script

उपस्थितकृतौ तौ च नासिकाग्रमधो भ्रुवो: । भ्रुकुट्या चैव मनसा शनैर्धारयतस्तदा

Transliteration

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

Translation

ครั้นนั้นทั้งสองได้สำรวมตน เพ่งสายตาไว้ที่ปลายจมูกใต้คิ้ว และตั้งจิตไว้ที่หว่างคิ้ว แล้วค่อย ๆ ประคองจิตให้มั่นคง

Word by Word

• उपस्थितकृतौ: having assumed the posture / seated in readiness
• उपस्थितकृतौ: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: उपस्थितकृत (कृदन्त-समास)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Dual

• तौ: those two
• तौ: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Dual

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• नासिकाग्रम्: the tip of the nose
• नासिकाग्रम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: नासिका + अग्र
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• अधः: below
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अधः

• भ्रुवोः: of the two eyebrows
• भ्रुवोः: Sambandha
• Type: Noun
• Root: भ्रू
• Form: Feminine, Genitive, Dual

• भ्रुकुट्या: with a frown / by knitting the brows
• भ्रुकुट्या: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: भ्रुकुटी
• Form: Feminine, Instrumental, Singular

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• एव: indeed / just
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• मनसा: with the mind
• मनसा: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: मनस्
• Form: Neuter, Instrumental, Singular

• शनैः: slowly
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: शनैः

• धारयतः: they hold / they fix (their gaze/mind)
• Type: Verb
• Root: धृ
• Form: Present, Third, Dual, Parasmaipada

• तदा: then
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तदा

Speaker

भीष्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• two practitioners (tau)
• nose-tip (nāsikāgra)
• eyebrows (bhru)
• heart (hṛdaya)
• prāṇa
• apāna
• udāna
• samāna
• vyāna

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.