Shloka 190

Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)

Devanagari script

न वर्गस्था ब्रवीम्येतत्‌ स्वपक्षपरपक्षयो: । मुक्तो व्यायच्छते यश्व शान्तौ यश्च न शाम्याति

Transliteration

na vargasthā bravīmy etat svapakṣaparapakṣayoḥ | mukto vyāyacchate yaś ca śāntau yaś ca na śāmyati |

Translation

毗湿摩曰：“我并非立于某一派别——无论己方或敌方——而说此言。我为你的利益而言，绝无偏党。真正解脱者，不以言辞之炫示为劳，而安住于寂静和平；心未得安者，终非自在。”

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'na', 'definition': 'not'}, {'term': 'vargasthā', 'definition': 'standing in a party/faction

• aligned with a group'}, {'term': 'bravīmi', 'definition': 'I say, I speak'}, {'term': 'etat', 'definition': 'this (statement/teaching)'}, {'term': 'svapakṣa', 'definition': 'one’s own side

• one’s party'}, {'term': 'parapakṣa', 'definition': 'the opposing side

• the other party'}, {'term': 'muktaḥ', 'definition': 'liberated

• freed (from bondage)'}, {'term': 'vyāyacchate (vyāyacchati)', 'definition': 'exerts oneself

• engages in excessive effort (here, especially in speech/argument)'}, {'term': 'vāk (implied by context)', 'definition': 'speech

• discourse'}, {'term': 'śānti', 'definition': 'peace

• pacification'}, {'term': 'śāmyati', 'definition': 'becomes calm

Speaker

भीष्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The teaching is to speak without factional bias and to value inner peace over argumentative display: liberation is associated with calm abiding (śānti) and restraint in speech, while agitation and lack of pacification indicate bondage.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma, in the Śānti Parva’s instruction to the listener (traditionally Yudhiṣṭhira), clarifies that his counsel is not partisan (neither for ‘our side’ nor ‘their side’) but offered for the hearer’s welfare, then links true freedom with tranquility and disciplined speech.