Shloka 52

Devanagari script

यतः सर्वे प्रसूयन्ते हानज्ञात्माड्देहिन: । उन्माद: सर्वभूतानां तस्मै कामात्मने नम:,जिस अनड्की प्रेरणासे सम्पूर्ण अंगधारी प्राणियोंका जन्म होता है, जिससे समस्त जीव उन्मत्त हो उठते हैं, उस कामके रूपमें प्रकट हुए परमेश्वरको नमस्कार है

Transliteration

yataḥ sarve prasūyante hānajñātmāḍ-dehinaḥ | unmādaḥ sarvabhūtānāṁ tasmai kāmātmane namaḥ ||

Translation

ขอนอบน้อมแด่พระผู้เป็นเจ้าสูงสุดผู้ปรากฏเป็นกามะ—ผู้ซึ่งจากพระองค์สรรพสัตว์ผู้มีร่างกายทั้งปวงบังเกิด และด้วยแรงดลของพระองค์สรรพชีวิตทั้งหลายย่อมถูกเร้าให้คลุ้มคลั่งด้วยตัณหา

Word by Word

यतःfrom whom/whence; because of whom

सर्वेall

प्रसूयन्तेare born; come forth

देहिनःembodied beings

उन्मादःmadness; frenzy

सर्वभूतानाम्of all beings

तस्मैto him

कामात्मनेto the one whose nature is Kāma / to Kāma-formed (Lord)

नमःsalutation; homage

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

Kāma (as a divine/cosmic principle)

Īśvara/Paramēśvara (implied as the object of salutation)

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?

Desire (kāma) is presented as a profound cosmic force: it participates in generation and motivates beings, yet it can also intoxicate and destabilize the mind. The ethical implication is not mere rejection but disciplined governance of desire so it serves dharma rather than producing delusion and harm.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s instruction, Bhīṣma continues his discourse to Yudhiṣṭhira on principles that underlie conduct and inner life. Here he offers a reverential salutation to the divine as manifest in kāma, framing desire as both the source of embodied existence and a power that can drive beings into frenzy.