Shloka 25

Bhīmasena’s Counsel on Grief, Inner Conflict, and the Duty of Kingship (भीमसेन-उपदेशः)

Devanagari script

तस्मादद्यैव गन्तव्यं युद्धयस्व भरतर्षभ । परमव्यक्तरूपस्य व्यक्त त्यक्त्वा स्वकर्मभि:

Transliteration

tasmād adyaiva gantavyaṃ yudhyasva bharatarṣabha | paramavyaktarūpasya vyaktaṃ tyaktvā svakarmabhiḥ ||

Translation

Vì thế, ngay hôm nay hãy lên đường, hỡi bậc tráng sĩ của dòng Bharata. Hãy rời bỏ kẻ thù hữu hình đang hiện rõ trước mắt, và bằng nỗ lực tự thân đã được rèn kỷ luật, hãy giao chiến với kẻ thù có hình tướng tối thượng là vô hình—tinh vi, ở bên trong, khó nắm bắt.

Word by Word

• {'tasmāt': 'therefore, for that reason', 'adyaiva': 'this very day, immediately', 'gantavyam': 'must be gone to

• one should depart', 'yudhyasva': 'fight! (imperative, middle voice)', 'bharatarṣabha': 'O bull among the Bharatas

• an epithet for a foremost Kuru prince', 'parama': 'supreme, highest', 'avyakta': 'unmanifest, subtle, not directly perceptible', 'rūpa': 'form, nature', 'paramavyaktarūpasya': 'of the one whose form is supremely unmanifest (i.e., the subtle inner enemy)', 'vyaktam': 'manifest, visible, evident', 'tyaktvā': 'having abandoned, leaving aside', 'svakarmabhiḥ': 'by one’s own actions/duties

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Bharatarṣabha (addressed Kuru/Bharata hero)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse redirects the idea of battle from an external, visible opponent to the subtler inner adversary—especially the mind and its impulses—urging immediate, disciplined effort (svakarma) to confront and master it.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana, narrating in the Śānti Parva context, conveys an exhortation to a Bharata hero: do not be preoccupied only with outward conflict; depart at once to engage in the more difficult struggle against the unmanifest, internal foe through one’s own purposeful practice and duty.