Shloka 1

संधेयासंधेय-पुरुषनिर्णयः (Criteria for Allies and Non-Allies) — with the opening of the Gautama narrative

Devanagari script

पम्प बछ। ््ज्टस:, एकषष्ट्यधिकशततमो< ध्याय: तपकी महिमा भीष्म उवाच सर्वमेतत्‌ तपोमूलं कवय: परिचक्षते | न हातप्ततपा मूढ: क्रियाफलमवाप्तुते,भीष्मजीने कहा--राजन्‌! इस सर्च्य जगत्‌का मूल कारण तप ही है, ऐसा विद्वान्‌ पुरुष कहते हैं। जिस मूढ़ने तपस्या नहीं की है, उसे अपने शुभ कर्मोका फल नहीं मिलता है

Transliteration

Bhīṣma uvāca: sarvam etat tapo-mūlaṃ kavayaḥ paricakṣate | na hātapta-tapā mūḍhaḥ kriyā-phalam avāpnute ||

Translation

毗湿摩曰：“大王，诸贤明言：此一切之根本——有序之世与其诸般成就——皆以苦行（tapas）为本。迷妄之人未曾修苦行，即便所作外相似善，亦不得其业果。”

Word by Word

• {'Bhīṣma uvāca': 'Bhishma said', 'rājan': 'O king (address to Yudhiṣṭhira)', 'sarvam etat': 'all this

• the entire manifested order', 'tapo-mūlam': 'having tapas as its root

• founded upon austerity', 'tapas (tapo-)': 'austerity, disciplined effort, inner heat of self-restraint', 'kavayaḥ': 'sages, seers, learned poets', 'paricakṣate': 'declare, explain, describe authoritatively', 'na': 'not', 'hātapta-tapā': 'one whose tapas has not been ‘heated/undertaken’

• one untrained by austerity', 'mūḍhaḥ': 'deluded, foolish, spiritually undiscerning', 'kriyā': 'action, ritual or moral deed, performance of duty', 'phalam': 'fruit, result, reward', 'avāpnute': 'attains, obtains'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Yudhiṣṭhira (implied by 'rājan')

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Tapas—disciplined austerity and self-restraint—is presented as the foundational power behind meaningful achievement and moral fruition. Without inner discipline, actions remain superficial and fail to yield their intended ethical or spiritual results.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva, Bhishma instructs King Yudhiṣṭhira on principles of dharma after the war. Here he begins a section praising the greatness of tapas, asserting that sages regard it as the root of all and that one lacking austerity does not gain the true fruit of good deeds.