Shloka 18

Devanagari script

तृष्णार्तिप्रभवं दु:खं दुःखार्तिप्रभवं सुखम्‌ । सुखात्‌ संजायते दु:खं दुःखमेवं पुनः:पुन:,संसारमें विषयोंकी तृष्णासे जो व्याकुलता होती है, उसीका नाम दुःख है और उस दुःखका विनाश ही सुख है। उस सुखके बाद (पुनः कामनाजनित) दुःख होता है। इस प्रकार बारंबार दुःख ही होता रहता है

Transliteration

tṛṣṇārtiprabhavaṃ duḥkhaṃ duḥkhārtiprabhavaṃ sukham | sukhāt saṃjāyate duḥkhaṃ duḥkhamevaṃ punaḥ punaḥ ||

Translation

Wika ng Brahmana: “Ang pagdurusa ay isinilang mula sa pighating dulot ng pagnanasa; ang kaligayahan ay isinilang mula sa pagkapawi ng pighating iyon. Ngunit mula sa kaligayahan, muling sumisibol ang pagdurusa—kaya sa pag-iral sa daigdig, paulit-ulit na bumabalik ang pagdurusa.”

Word by Word

तृष्णाthirst, craving

आर्तिdistress, affliction

प्रभवम्arising from, originating in

दुःखम्sorrow, suffering

दुःखsuffering

आर्तिdistress

प्रभवम्arising from

सुखम्happiness, ease

सुखात्from happiness

संजायतेis born, arises

दुःखम्suffering

एवम्thus, in this way

पुनःagain

Speaker

ब्राह्मण उवाच

Characters & Entities

brāhmaṇa (the speaker)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Craving (tṛṣṇā) produces distress, which is experienced as suffering; what people call happiness is often only the temporary relief from that distress. Because new desires arise after relief, the cycle of duḥkha repeats in saṃsāra unless craving is understood and restrained.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s instructional discourse, a Brahmin speaker delivers a reflective teaching on the psychology of desire: how longing for objects creates agitation, how relief is mistaken for lasting happiness, and how this leads back to renewed suffering.