Shloka 18

Keśava-tattva-kathana

On the Principle of Keśava: Cosmogony and Divine Epithets

Devanagari script

उपस्थितकृतौ तौ च नासिकाग्रमधो भ्रुवो: । भ्रुकुट्या चैव मनसा शनैर्धारयतस्तदा

Transliteration

upasthitakṛtau tau ca nāsikāgram adho bhruvoḥ | bhrukuṭyā caiva manasā śanair dhārayatas tadā ||

Translation

Bhīṣma nói: “Bấy giờ, hai người ấy tự điều phục, chậm rãi giữ tâm vững bằng một nét nhíu mày tập trung, mắt nhìn vào chóp mũi dưới hàng mày. Rồi họ an lập năm luồng sinh khí—prāṇa, apāna, udāna, samāna và vyāna—trong tim; an trụ như vậy, họ kết hợp tâm với prāṇa và apāna, và làm cho hơi thở được nâng đỡ bởi tâm ấy đứng yên giữa hai chân mày.”

Word by Word

• उपस्थितकृतौ: having assumed the posture / seated in readiness
• उपस्थितकृतौ: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: उपस्थितकृत (कृदन्त-समास)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Dual

• तौ: those two
• तौ: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Dual

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• नासिकाग्रम्: the tip of the nose
• नासिकाग्रम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: नासिका + अग्र
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• अधः: below
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अधः

• भ्रुवोः: of the two eyebrows
• भ्रुवोः: Sambandha
• Type: Noun
• Root: भ्रू
• Form: Feminine, Genitive, Dual

• भ्रुकुट्या: with a frown / by knitting the brows
• भ्रुकुट्या: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: भ्रुकुटी
• Form: Feminine, Instrumental, Singular

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• एव: indeed / just
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• मनसा: with the mind
• मनसा: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: मनस्
• Form: Neuter, Instrumental, Singular

• शनैः: slowly
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: शनैः

• धारयतः: they hold / they fix (their gaze/mind)
• Type: Verb
• Root: धृ
• Form: Present, Third, Dual, Parasmaipada

• तदा: then
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तदा

Speaker

भीष्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• two practitioners (tau)
• nose-tip (nāsikāgra)
• eyebrows (bhru)
• heart (hṛdaya)
• prāṇa
• apāna
• udāna
• samāna
• vyāna

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches disciplined inward concentration: steadying the mind, regulating the vital currents (the five prāṇas), and fixing awareness through a focused gaze and breath-control so that the mind becomes stable and fit for higher realization.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma describes two practitioners entering a yogic state: they fix their gaze at the nose-tip beneath the brows, gather and place the five life-winds in the heart, unite mind with prāṇa and apāna, and then stabilize that combined focus at the space between the eyebrows.