Shloka 236

Mahāvasu’s Fall by Speech-Error and Release through Devotion (अज-विवादः वसोः शापः विमोचनं च)

Devanagari script

उपाध्यायं महाराज धर्ममेवानुचिन्तयन्‌ । महाराज! वेद-वेदांगोंकी विस्तृत व्याख्याके ज्ञाता शुकदेवजीने धर्मका विचार करके बृहस्पतिको अपना गुरु बनाया

Transliteration

upādhyāyaṃ mahārāja dharmam evānucintayan | mahārāja! veda-vedāṅgāṃkī vistṛta-vyākhyāke jñātā śukadevājīne dharmakā vicār karke bṛhaspatiko apanā guru banāyā

Translation

اے مہاراج! اس نے صرف دھرم کا دھیان کرتے ہوئے استاد کا انتخاب کیا۔ ویدوں اور ویدانگوں کی وسیع شرح و تفسیر میں نامور شُکدیو نے راست بازی پر غور کر کے برہسپتی کو اپنا گرو (روحانی پیشوا) قبول کیا۔

Word by Word

• upādhyāyam: the teacher (preceptor)
• upādhyāyam: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: upādhyāya
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• mahārāja: O great king
• Type: Noun
• Root: mahārāja
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• dharma: dharma, righteousness
• dharma: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: dharma
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• eva: indeed, only
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: eva

• anucintayan: reflecting upon, contemplating
• anucintayan: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: anu-cint
• Form: Śatṛ (present active participle), Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Mahārāja (the king addressed, i.e., Yudhiṣṭhira in context)
• Śukadeva
• Bṛhaspati
• Veda
• Vedāṅga
• Upādhyāya (teacher/guru)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

One should choose and approach a guru after careful reflection on dharma; true authority in teaching is grounded in ethical discernment and deep scriptural understanding.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma, instructing the king, cites Śukadeva as an exemplar: despite his learning in the Vedas and Vedāṅgas, he deliberates on dharma and accepts Bṛhaspati as his preceptor.