Shloka 12

ध्यानयोगवर्णनम्

Description of the Path of Meditation

Devanagari script

पञ्चात्मके पञ्चरतौ पज्चविज्ञानचेतने । शरीरे प्राणिनां जीवं वेत्तुमिच्छामि यादृशम्‌

Transliteration

bharadvāja uvāca | pañcātmake pañcaratau pañcavijñānacetane | śarīre prāṇināṃ jīvaṃ vettum icchāmi yādṛśam |

Translation

Bharadvāja nói: “Thân này của hữu tình được cấu thành bởi năm đại; nó ham thích năm đối tượng của giác quan; nó có năm căn tri và có tâm. Tôi muốn biết jīva (sinh ngã) cư trú trong một thân như thế rốt cuộc có bản tướng ra sao.”

Word by Word

• पञ्चात्मके: in the five-elemental (body)
• पञ्चात्मके: Adhikarana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पञ्चात्मक
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• पञ्चरतौ: in that which delights in the five (objects)
• पञ्चरतौ: Adhikarana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पञ्चरत
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• पञ्चविज्ञानचेतने: in that which has five cognitions and mind/awareness
• पञ्चविज्ञानचेतने: Adhikarana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पञ्चविज्ञानचेतन
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• शरीरे: in the body
• शरीरे: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: शरीर
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• प्राणिनाम्: of living beings
• प्राणिनाम्: Sambandha
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्राणिन्
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Plural

• जीवम्: the individual soul/living principle
• जीवम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: जीव
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• वेत्तुम्: to know
• Type: Verb
• Root: विद्
• Form: Tumun (infinitive), Parasmaipada (sense)

• इच्छामि: I desire
• इच्छामि: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: इष्
• Form: Present, First, Singular, Parasmaipada

• यादृशम्: of what kind
• यादृशम्: Visheshana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: यादृश
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

Speaker

भरद्वाज उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bharadvāja
• jīva
• śarīra

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames a classical inquiry: although the body is a five-element compound and the psyche engages the five sense-objects through the cognitive faculties and mind, there is an indwelling principle called jīva. Bharadvāja asks for a discriminative account of the jīva’s nature—setting up a teaching that distinguishes the self from bodily and sensory processes, a key step toward ethical restraint and liberation.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s philosophical instruction, Bharadvāja addresses a teacher (contextually within the ongoing discourse on dharma and mokṣa) and poses a focused question: given the body’s elemental composition and its sensory-cognitive apparatus, what exactly is the resident jīva? This question initiates or advances a doctrinal explanation about the self and its relation to body, senses, and mind.