Shloka 12

Kṣemadarśa–Kālakavṛkṣīya Saṃvāda: Counsel on Impermanence, Non-attachment, and Composure in Dispossession

Devanagari script

मुनिर्वाच पुरस्तादेव ते बुद्धिरियं कार्या विजानता । अनित्यं सर्वमेवैतदहं च मम चास्ति यत्‌

Transliteration

munir uvāca purastād eva te buddhir iyaṃ kāryā vijānatā | anityaṃ sarvam evaitad ahaṃ ca mama cāsti yat ||

Translation

Hiền giả nói: “Hỡi vương tử, ngươi vốn là người biết xét. Vậy ngay từ ban đầu, bằng trí tuệ của mình, ngươi đáng lẽ phải tự quyết rằng: mọi sự ở đây đều vô thường. Bất cứ điều gì được nghĩ đến hay nắm giữ dưới ý niệm ‘ta’ và ‘của ta’ đều không bền chắc.”

Word by Word

• {'muniḥ': 'sage, ascetic seer', 'uvāca': 'said, spoke', 'purastāt eva': 'from the outset, beforehand', 'te': 'your, for you', 'buddhiḥ': 'intelligence, understanding, settled conviction', 'iyam': 'this', 'kāryā': 'to be done

• to be made/formed (as a resolve)', 'vijānatā': 'by one who knows

• by the discerning person', 'anityam': 'impermanent, transient', 'sarvam': 'all, everything', 'eva': 'indeed, certainly', 'etat': 'this (world/condition)', 'aham': 'I (ego-notion)', 'mama': 'mine (possessiveness)', 'asti yat': 'whatever exists

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• muni (sage)
• rājakumāra (prince, implied addressee)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

To cultivate detachment by recognizing the impermanence of all things, especially what is claimed through ego and possession—‘I’ and ‘mine’—and to form this conviction early through clear understanding.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Bhishma’s discourse within the Shanti Parva, a sage addresses a prince, urging him to adopt a settled insight: the world and all objects of attachment are transient, so one should not cling to identity and ownership.