Shloka 19

शकुनि (हिरण्मय-पक्षी) उपदेशः — Vighasāśin and the Difficulty of Gārhasthya

Devanagari script

देववंशान्‌ ब्रह्म॒वंशान्‌ पितृवंशांश्व शाश्वतान्‌ | संविभज्य गुरोश्चर्या तद्‌ वै दुष्करमुच्यते

Transliteration

arjuna uvāca | devavaṁśān brahmavaṁśān pitṛvaṁśāṁś ca śāśvatān | saṁvibhajya guroś caryā tad vai duṣkaram ucyate ||

Translation

阿周那说道：当人依其应得，分别将份额奉献给诸天之族系、婆罗门圣仙之族系以及永恒祖灵——继而又侍奉师长（guru）——这确实被称为艰难的修持。此偈将真正的宗教生活描绘为一种均衡的伦理：对神明尽祭祀之责，对仙人以学习并传承圣智相报，对祖先以施行 śrāddha 尽孝，而对导师则以谦恭亲身侍奉。

Word by Word

• {'arjuna uvāca': 'Arjuna said', 'deva-vaṁśān': 'the divine lineages

• the gods as recipients of offerings', 'brahma-vaṁśān': 'the Brahman/seer lineages

• ṛṣis and the tradition of sacred learning', 'pitṛ-vaṁśān': 'the ancestral lineages

• the Pitṛs (forefathers)', 'śāśvatān': 'eternal, perennial', 'saṁvibhajya': 'having distributed/apportioned properly

• assigning due shares', 'guroḥ': 'of the guru/teacher', 'caryā': 'conduct, service, disciplined attendance

• personal attendance on the teacher', 'tad': 'that', 'vai': 'indeed, certainly (emphatic particle)', 'duṣkaram': 'hard to do, difficult', 'ucyate': 'is said/called'}

Speaker

अजुन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Arjuna
• Devas (gods)
• Brahmarṣis/Ṛṣis (seer-sages)
• Pitṛs (ancestors)
• Guru (teacher)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Dharma is presented as a fourfold balance: offerings to the gods (yajña/homa), sacred study and preservation of the seer-tradition (svādhyāya), ancestral obligation through śrāddha, and humble service to the guru. Fulfilling all without neglect is called a ‘difficult vow’ because it demands sustained discipline and gratitude across all sources of support—divine, intellectual, familial, and pedagogical.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on righteous conduct, Arjuna speaks to highlight how demanding true religious and ethical life is: one must not merely perform isolated rites, but properly ‘apportion’ duties to each rightful recipient and then live in disciplined service to one’s teacher.