Shloka 16

Aśmagīta: Janaka’s Inquiry on Loss, Kāla, and the Limits of Control (अश्मगीता)

Devanagari script

सुखं वा यदि वा दु:खं भूतानां पर्युपस्थितम्‌ । प्राप्तव्यमवशै: सर्व परिहारो न विद्यते

Transliteration

sukhaṃ vā yadi vā duḥkhaṃ bhūtānāṃ paryupasthitam | prāptavyam avaśaiḥ sarvaṃ parihāro na vidyate ||

Translation

阇那迦王说：“无论喜乐或忧苦临近众生，一切都在境遇之力下不得不承受；既已到来者，终无全然回避之法。”

Word by Word

• सुखम्: happiness
• सुखम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: सुख
• Form: Neuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular

• वा: or
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: वा

• यदि: if
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यदि

• वा: or
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: वा

• दुःखम्: sorrow
• दुःखम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: दुःख
• Form: Neuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular

• भूतानाम्: of beings
• Type: Noun
• Root: भूत
• Form: Neuter, Genitive, Plural

• पर्युपस्थितम्: having come upon; present
• Type: Verb
• Root: परि-उप-स्था (स्था)
• Form: क्त (past passive participle), Neuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular

• प्राप्तव्यम्: must be undergone/borne
• Type: Verb
• Root: प्र-आप् (आप्)
• Form: तव्यत् (gerundive), Neuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular

• अवशैः: by the helpless; involuntarily
• अवशैः: Karana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अवश
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, Instrumental, Plural

• सर्वम्: all (of it)
• सर्वम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सर्व
• Form: Neuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular

• परिहारः: avoidance; remedy
• परिहारः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: परिहार
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• न: not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न

• विद्यते: exists; is found
• Type: Verb
• Root: विद् (विद्/विद्- to be found, exist)
• Form: Lat (present), Atmanepada, Third, Singular

Speaker

जनक उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Janaka

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Happiness and suffering that have come upon a being are often unavoidable; therefore one should cultivate equanimity and moral steadiness, focusing on right response rather than futile resistance to the inevitable.

What is happening in the narrative?

King Janaka is speaking in a didactic context within the Śānti Parva, offering a reflective instruction about the inevitability of experienced pleasure and pain and the need to endure them with composure.