Shloka 52

Bhīṣma’s Śara-śayyā Stuti to Vāsudeva and Yogic Preparation for Dehotsarga

Body-Relinquishment

Devanagari script

यतः सर्वे प्रसूयन्ते हानज्ञात्माड्देहिन: । उन्माद: सर्वभूतानां तस्मै कामात्मने नम:

Transliteration

yataḥ sarve prasūyante hānajñātmāḍ-dehinaḥ | unmādaḥ sarvabhūtānāṁ tasmai kāmātmane namaḥ ||

Translation

毗湿摩说道：我礼敬那至上主宰，祂示现为迦摩（欲、爱欲）——一切具身众生皆由祂而生；又因祂的驱策，万类众生皆被激荡，陷入炽烈的情欲狂热之中。

Word by Word

• यतः: from whom/whence; because of whom
• यतः: Apadana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यतस्
• Form: Ablatival adverb (source/causal sense)

• सर्वे: all
• सर्वे: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सर्व
• Form: Masculine, nominative, plural

• प्रसूयन्ते: are born; come forth
• प्रसूयन्ते: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: प्र√सू (सू प्रसवे)
• Form: Present tense, 3rd person, plural, Ātmanepada

• देहिनः: embodied beings
• देहिनः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: देहिन्
• Form: Masculine, nominative, plural

• उन्मादः: madness; frenzy
• उन्मादः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: उन्माद
• Form: Masculine, nominative, singular

• सर्वभूतानाम्: of all beings
• सर्वभूतानाम्: Sampradana
• Type: Noun
• Root: सर्वभूत
• Form: Neuter, genitive, plural

• तस्मै: to him
• तस्मै: Sampradana
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, dative, singular

• कामात्मने: to the one whose nature is Kāma / to Kāma-formed (Lord)
• कामात्मने: Sampradana
• Type: Noun
• Root: कामात्मन्
• Form: Masculine, dative, singular

• नमः: salutation; homage
• नमः: Karma
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: नमस्
• Form: Nominative singular used as indeclinable in salutation; governs dative

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Kāma (as a divine/cosmic principle)
• Īśvara/Paramēśvara (implied as the object of salutation)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Desire (kāma) is presented as a profound cosmic force: it participates in generation and motivates beings, yet it can also intoxicate and destabilize the mind. The ethical implication is not mere rejection but disciplined governance of desire so it serves dharma rather than producing delusion and harm.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s instruction, Bhīṣma continues his discourse to Yudhiṣṭhira on principles that underlie conduct and inner life. Here he offers a reverential salutation to the divine as manifest in kāma, framing desire as both the source of embodied existence and a power that can drive beings into frenzy.