Shloka 13

Devanagari script

उपधार्य मतं तेषां बुधानां धर्मदर्शिनाम्‌ । नियच्छ परया बुद्धया चित्तमुत्पथगामि वै,उन धर्मदर्शी विद्वानोंका मत जानकर तुम अपनी श्रेष्ठ बुद्धिके द्वारा अपने कुपथगामी मनको काबूमें करो

Transliteration

upadhārya mataṁ teṣāṁ budhānāṁ dharmadarśinām | niyaccha parayā buddhyā cittam utpathagāmi vai ||

Translation

دھرم کو دیکھنے والے اہلِ دانش کی رائے کو خوب سمجھ کر، اپنی اعلیٰ ترین بصیرت سے اپنے اس دل و دماغ کو قابو میں رکھو جو حقیقتاً کج راہی کی طرف جا رہا ہے۔

Word by Word

उपधार्यhaving ascertained/considered

मतम्opinion, view

तेषाम्of them

बुधानाम्of the wise

धर्मदर्शिनाम्of those who see/know dharma

नियच्छrestrain, control

परयाby the highest/supreme

बुद्धयाby (your) intellect

चित्तम्mind

उत्पथगामिgoing on a wrong path, wayward

वैindeed, surely

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vyāsa

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?

One should first learn and internalize the guidance of dharma-seeing wise people, and then use one’s highest discernment to restrain a mind that tends to deviate; ethical life depends on mastery of the inner instrument.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vyāsa is instructing the listener (implicitly an addressee in the Śānti Parva discourse) to heed the counsel of learned, dharma-knowing sages and to bring the wandering mind under control through superior judgment.