Shloka 26

Śara-śayyā-sthita-bhīṣma-saṃvāda-prastāvaḥ

The Prelude to Questioning Bhīṣma on the Bed of Arrows

Devanagari script

शीतांशुश्नन्द्र इत्युक्ते लोके को विस्मयिष्यति । तथैव यशसा पूर्णे मयि को विस्मयिष्यति

Transliteration

śītāṃśuś candra iti ukte loke ko vismayiṣyati | tathaiva yaśasā pūrṇe mayi ko vismayiṣyati ||

Translation

Vāyu nói: “Nếu trong đời có người bảo: ‘Trăng có những tia mát lạnh,’ thì ai còn kinh ngạc? Chẳng ai cả. Cũng vậy, nếu một lời giáo huấn thượng hảo được ban từ ta—Đấng Chúa Tể trọn đầy vinh quang—thì ai nghe mà phải lấy làm lạ?”

Word by Word

• {'śītāṃśuḥ': 'the moon

• ‘cool-rayed’ (one whose rays are cool)', 'candraḥ': 'the moon', 'iti': 'thus

• ‘so’ (quotative particle)', 'ukte': 'when said

• upon being stated (locative absolute sense)', 'loke': 'in the world

• among people', 'kaḥ': 'who?', 'vismayiṣyati': 'will be astonished

• will marvel', 'tathā eva': 'just so

• in the same manner', 'yaśasā': 'with fame, glory, renown (instrumental)', 'pūrṇe': 'full, complete (locative singular

• ‘in one who is complete’)', 'mayi': 'in me', 'uttama-upadeśaḥ': 'excellent instruction/teaching (implied by the prose gloss)'}

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyu (Vāyudeva)
• Candra (the Moon)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Do not treat genuine excellence as surprising when it arises from its natural source: wise counsel from a supremely glorious divine being is as expected as cool rays from the moon.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyudeva speaks using an analogy: just as no one marvels at the moon being cool-rayed, one should not be astonished to receive lofty instruction from the Lord who is complete in renown.