Shloka 5

Adhyāya 179 — Bharadvāja’s Reductionist Inquiry into Jīva and Pañcabhūta Dissolution

Devanagari script

उपदेशं महाप्राज्ञ शमस्योपदिशस्व मे । कां बुद्धि समनुध्याय शान्तश्नरसि निर्वृत:

Transliteration

upadeśaṁ mahāprājña śamasya upadiśasva me | kāṁ buddhiṁ samanudhyāya śāntaś carasi nirvṛtaḥ ||

Translation

Bhishma nói: “Bạch đại hiền trí, xin chỉ dạy cho tôi pháp môn của sự an tĩnh để tôi được nội tâm bình an. Ngài nương tựa và quán niệm tri kiến nào mà có thể ung dung đi qua đời, an nhiên và mãn túc?”

Word by Word

• उपदेशम्: instruction, teaching
• उपदेशम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: उपदेश
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• महाप्राज्ञ: O very wise one
• Type: Noun
• Root: महाप्राज्ञ
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• शमस्य: of tranquility/peace
• Type: Noun
• Root: शम
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Singular

• उपदिशस्व: teach, instruct
• Type: Verb
• Root: उपदिश्
• Form: Imperative, Second, Singular, Parasmaipada

• मे: to me
• मे: Sampradana
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: अस्मद्
• Form: —, Dative, Singular

• काम्: which? what (fem.)
• काम्: Karma
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: किम्
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

• बुद्धिम्: understanding, intellect
• बुद्धिम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: बुद्धि
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

• समनुध्याय: having contemplated, having reflected upon
• Type: Verb
• Root: सम्-अनु-ध्यै
• Form: ल्यप् (absolutive/gerund), Parasmaipada (usage)

• शान्तः: peaceful, calm
• Type: Adjective
• Root: शान्त
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• स्मरन्: remembering, bearing in mind
• Type: Verb
• Root: स्मृ
• Form: शतृ (present active participle), Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• असि: you are
• Type: Verb
• Root: अस्
• Form: Present, Second, Singular, Parasmaipada

• निर्वृतः: content, satisfied, at ease
• Type: Adjective
• Root: निर्वृत
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames peace (śama) as something grounded in a particular buddhi—an inner understanding cultivated through sustained contemplation (samanudhyāya). Bhīṣma seeks the practical and ethical basis of tranquility: what insight enables a person to live calmly and with contentment.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s instruction-setting, Bhīṣma, lying on his bed of arrows and guiding the post-war moral inquiry, asks a highly wise interlocutor for a teaching on mental peace. He requests the specific kind of reflective wisdom that allows the teacher to remain serene and fulfilled.