Mahabharata — Shanti Parva, Shloka 123

Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment

Parāśara’s Instruction

Devanagari script

संवत्सरस्त्वमृतवों मासो मासार्धमेव च । युगं निमेषा: काष्ठास्त्वं नक्षत्राणि ग्रहा: कला:,संवत्सर, ऋतु, मास, पक्ष, युग, निमेष, काष्ठा, नक्षत्र, ग्रह और कला भी आप ही हैं

Transliteration

saṃvatsaras tvam ṛtavo māso māsārdham eva ca | yugaṃ nimeṣāḥ kāṣṭhās tvaṃ nakṣatrāṇi grahāḥ kalāḥ ||

Translation

Bhīṣma nói: Ngài là năm và các mùa; Ngài là tháng, và cả nửa tháng nữa. Ngài là yuga; Ngài là những sát-na (nimeṣa) và các đơn vị đo thời gian (kāṣṭhā). Ngài là các tú (lunar mansions), các hành tinh, và những phần chia của thời gian (kalā).

Word by Word

• संवत्सरः: year
• संवत्सरः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: संवत्सर
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• त्वम्: you
• त्वम्: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: युष्मद्
• Form: —, Nominative, Singular

• ऋतवः: seasons
• ऋतवः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: ऋतु
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• मासः: month
• मासः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: मास
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• मासार्धम्: half-month (fortnight)
• मासार्धम्: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: मासार्ध
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

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

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च
• Form: true

• युगम्: age/eon
• युगम्: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: युग
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• निमेषाः: blinks/moments
• निमेषाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: निमेष
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• काष्ठाः: kāṣṭhās (a unit of time)
• काष्ठाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: काष्ठा
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

• त्वम्: you
• त्वम्: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: युष्मद्
• Form: —, Nominative, Singular

• नक्षत्राणि: lunar mansions/asterisms
• नक्षत्राणि: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: नक्षत्र
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Plural

• ग्रहाः: planets
• ग्रहाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: ग्रह
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• कलाः: parts/digits; (also) minutes (time-units)
• कलाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: कला
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• saṃvatsara (year)
• ṛtu (season)
• māsa (month)
• māsārdha/pakṣa (half-month/fortnight)
• yuga
• nimeṣa
• kāṣṭhā
• nakṣatra
• graha
• kalā

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches that the supreme reality addressed by Bhīṣma pervades and constitutes all measures of time—from vast epochs to fleeting instants—so dharma is grounded in aligning oneself with that cosmic order rather than treating time and fate as independent forces.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma, lying on the bed of arrows and instructing Yudhiṣṭhira, offers a hymn-like praise in which he identifies the deity with the structures that govern the universe; here he enumerates units of time and celestial markers to express the deity’s all-pervasiveness.