Shloka 197

मनुरुवाच — इन्द्रिय-मनः-ज्ञान-क्रमः

Manu on the hierarchy of senses, mind, and knowledge

Devanagari script

भीष्मजीने कहा--राजन्‌! काम आदिसे बुद्धि दूषित होनेके कारण ही उसके लिये बहुत-से नरकोंकी प्राप्ति अर्थात्‌ नाना योनियोंमें जन्म ग्रहण करनेकी बात कही गयी है। जापक होना तो बहुत उत्तम है। वे उपर्युक्त राग आदि दोष तो उसमें दूषित बुद्धिके कारण ही आते हैं ।।

Transliteration

bhīṣma uvāca—rājan! kāmādis tu buddhidūṣaṇanimittaḥ; tasmād asya bahūn narakān prāptir iti, nānāyoniṣu janmagṛhaṇam iti ca uktam. jāpako bhavituṃ tu paramam uttamam. te coparyuktā rāgādayo doṣāḥ tasmin buddhidūṣitakāraṇād eva praviśanti. iti śrīmahābhārate śāntiparvaṇi mokṣadharmaparvaṇi jāpakopākhyāne saptanavatyadhikaśatatamo 'dhyāyaḥ.

Translation

Bhīṣma nói: “Tâu Đại vương! Chính vì trí (buddhi) bị vấy bẩn bởi dục vọng và những xung lực tương tự mà người ta nói kẻ ấy sẽ rơi vào nhiều địa ngục—nghĩa là phải tái sinh hết lần này đến lần khác trong muôn loại thai tạng. Nhưng làm người hành trì japa (trì tụng) thì vô cùng thù thắng. Những lỗi đã nói ở trên—tham luyến (rāga) và các thứ khác—dẫu ở đó cũng chỉ xâm nhập khi chính trí đã bị hoại nhiễm.”

Word by Word

• {'rājan': 'O king (address to the ruler, here Yudhiṣṭhira)', 'kāma': 'desire, craving (especially sense-desire)', 'ādi': 'and the like

• beginning with (a class of related factors)', 'buddhi': 'intellect, discernment, understanding', 'dūṣita / dūṣaṇa': 'tainted, corrupted / the act or cause of corruption', 'nimitta': 'cause, occasion, condition', 'naraka': 'hell

• a state of painful consequence', 'prāpti': 'attainment, reaching, falling into', 'nānā-yoni': 'various wombs/species

• diverse forms of rebirth', 'janma-grahaṇa': 'taking birth

• assuming embodiment again', 'jāpaka': 'one who practices japa (repetition of a sacred formula/name)', 'paramam uttamam': 'supremely excellent, highest', 'rāga': 'attachment, passion, coloring of the mind', 'doṣa': 'fault, moral/psychological defect', 'praviśanti': 'enter, arise, intrude', 'eva': 'indeed, only, precisely (emphatic particle)'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Rājan (Yudhiṣṭhira)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Desire and related impulses corrupt discernment; that corruption leads to painful consequences described as hells and repeated rebirth. Japa is praised as an excellent discipline, and any defects that appear in it arise only when the practitioner’s intellect is already tainted.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Mokṣadharma section of Śānti Parva, Bhishma continues instructing King Yudhiṣṭhira. He explains why desire-driven mental corruption is linked with suffering and rebirth, while affirming the high value of japa and clarifying that its misuse stems from a flawed inner disposition.