Shloka 15

जनक–ब्राह्मणसंवादः

Viṣaya, Mamatva, and Self-Mastery

Devanagari script

जनक उवाच अन्तवन्त इहावस्था विदिता: सर्वकर्मसु | नाध्यगच्छमहं तस्मान्ममेदमिति यद्‌ भवेत्‌

Transliteration

Janaka uvāca: antavanta iha avasthā viditāḥ sarvakarmasu | nādhyagaccham ahaṃ tasmān mamedaṃ iti yad bhavet ||

Translation

阇那迦说道：“婆罗门啊，我分明了知：此世一切因业而得的境遇与成就皆是有限之物——有始有终。故我不生‘此为我有’之念；于我而言，没有任何事物显现为真正可占有之物。”

Word by Word

• {'जनक (Janaka)': 'King Janaka

• a paradigmatic wise ruler', 'उवाच (uvāca)': 'said', 'अन्तवन्त (antavant)': 'having an end

• finite', 'इह (iha)': 'here

• in this world', 'अवस्था (avasthā)': 'state, condition, circumstance', 'विदित (vidita)': 'known, understood', 'सर्वकर्मसु (sarvakarmasu)': 'in/with regard to all actions (and their results)', 'नाध्यगच्छम् (nādhyagaccham)': 'I do not reach/arrive at

• I do not adopt (a conclusion)', 'तस्मात् (tasmāt)': 'therefore', 'मम (mama)': 'my

• of me', 'इदम् (idam)': 'this', 'इति (iti)': 'thus

• as the thought/claim', 'यद् भवेत् (yad bhavet)': 'whatever might arise (as a notion/claim)'}

Speaker

जनक उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Janaka

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Janaka teaches non-possessiveness grounded in insight into impermanence: all action-born states and attainments are finite, so the claim “this is mine” is philosophically and ethically unsound. The practical ethic is to act without clinging to ownership or lasting security in results.

What is happening in the narrative?

In a didactic exchange, King Janaka speaks to a Brahmin interlocutor, articulating his realized perspective: since all worldly conditions produced by karma are transient, he does not entertain the sense of personal possession. The verse frames Janaka as a model of inner renunciation while living in the world.