Shloka 11

आत्मदर्शन-उपदेशः (Ātma-darśana Upadeśa) — Mind, Senses, and the All-pervading Self

Devanagari script

व्यास उवाच अनाद्यन्तमजं दिव्यमजरं ध्रुवमव्ययम्‌ । अप्रतर्क्यमविज्ञेयं ब्रह्माग्रे सम्प्रवर्तते

Transliteration

vyāsa uvāca | anādyantam ajaṃ divyam ajaraṃ dhruvam avyayam | apratarkyam avijñeyaṃ brahma agre sampravartate ||

Translation

毗耶娑说：“孩子啊，在造化之初，唯有梵（Brahman）独存——无始无终，不生，神圣，不老，恒常而不坏；非理辩所能及，亦非寻常知识所能认识之境。”

Word by Word

• व्यासः: Vyasa
• व्यासः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: व्यास
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• उवाच: said
• Type: Verb
• Root: वच्
• Form: Perfect (Paroksha-bhuta), Third, Singular

• अनादि-अन्तम्: without beginning and end
• अनादि-अन्तम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अनाद्यन्त
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• अजम्: unborn
• अजम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अज
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• दिव्यम्: divine
• दिव्यम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: दिव्य
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• अजरम्: ageless
• अजरम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अजर
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• ध्रुवम्: fixed, constant
• ध्रुवम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: ध्रुव
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• अव्ययम्: imperishable, unchanging
• अव्ययम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अव्यय
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• अप्रतर्क्यम्: not reachable by reasoning
• अप्रतर्क्यम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अप्रतर्क्य
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• अविज्ञेयम्: unknowable
• अविज्ञेयम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अविज्ञेय
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• ब्रह्म: Brahman (the Absolute)
• ब्रह्म: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: ब्रह्मन्
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• अग्रे: in the beginning, at first
• अग्रे: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अग्र
• Form: true

• सम्प्रवर्तते: exists/continues, prevails
• Type: Verb
• Root: प्रवृत्
• Form: Present, Third, Singular, Atmanepada

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyāsa
• Brahman

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse asserts Brahman as the primordial and ultimate reality: beginningless, endless, unborn, unchanging, and beyond the limits of discursive reasoning and objectifying knowledge. Ethical and spiritual life is thereby oriented toward humility, renunciation of egoic claims, and pursuit of direct realization rather than mere argument.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on peace and higher wisdom, Vyāsa addresses the listener (implicitly a disciple/son) and begins a cosmological-metaphysical exposition: before all manifested creation, only the absolute Brahman is said to prevail.