Shloka 57

Devanagari script

यथा लवणमम्भोभिराप्लुतं प्रविलीयते । प्रायश्षित्तहतं पापं तथा सद्यः प्रणश्यति,जैसे नमककी डली जलमें डालनेसे गल जाती है, उसी प्रकार प्रायश्चित्त करनेसे तत्काल पापका नाश हो जाता है

Transliteration

yathā lavaṇam ambhobhir āplutaṁ pravilīyate | prāyaścittahataṁ pāpaṁ tathā sadyaḥ praṇaśyati ||

Translation

毗湿摩说：“如盐块入水即刻消融，罪亦如是——为忏悔与赎罪（prāyaścitta）所击，便当下灭尽。”

Word by Word

• यथा: just as
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यथा

• लवणम्: salt
• लवणम्: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: लवण
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• अम्भोभिः: with waters / by water
• अम्भोभिः: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: अम्भस्
• Form: Neuter, Instrumental, Plural

• आप्लुतम्: immersed, flooded
• Type: Adjective
• Root: आ-प्लु
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• प्रविलीयते: dissolves
• Type: Verb
• Root: प्र-वि-ली
• Form: Present, Indicative, Atmanepada, Third, Singular

• प्रायश्चित्तहतम्: destroyed by expiation
• Type: Adjective
• Root: प्रायश्चित्त-हत
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• पापम्: sin
• पापम्: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: पाप
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• तथा: so, in the same way
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तथा

• सद्यः: immediately
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: सद्यः

• प्रणश्यति: perishes, is destroyed
• Type: Verb
• Root: प्र-नश्
• Form: Present, Indicative, Parasmaipada, Third, Singular

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• salt
• water
• prāyaścitta (expiation/penance)
• pāpa (sin)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhīṣma teaches that sincere prāyaścitta (expiation/atonement) has immediate purifying power: wrongdoing (pāpa) can be neutralized swiftly when one undertakes the appropriate corrective discipline.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhīṣma is advising Yudhiṣṭhira on moral and religious conduct, using a vivid simile—salt dissolving in water—to explain how expiation eradicates sin.