Shloka 15

Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Inquiry and Sañjaya’s Etymologies of Kṛṣṇa’s Names

Puruṣottama-nāma-nirvacana

Devanagari script

एष एकायन: पन्था येन यान्ति मनीषिण: । त॑ं दृष्टवा मृत्युमत्येति महांस्तत्र न सज्जति

Transliteration

eṣa ekāyanaḥ panthā yena yānti manīṣiṇaḥ | taṃ dṛṣṭvā mṛtyum atyeti mahāṃs tatra na sajjati ||

Translation

毗耶娑说：“此乃唯一而直达之道，智者由此而行。既已得见——亦即真正了知——此道，人便能超越死亡；而大心之人不再执著于这生灭的世间。”

Word by Word

• {'eṣaḥ': 'this', 'ekāyanaḥ': 'having one goal

• the one direct course leading to the Supreme', 'panthāḥ': 'path, way', 'yena': 'by which', 'yānti': 'go, proceed', 'manīṣiṇaḥ': 'the discerning, sages, wise persons', 'tam': 'that (path)', 'dṛṣṭvā': 'having seen

• having realized/known', 'mṛtyum': 'death', 'atyeti': 'crosses beyond, overcomes', 'mahān': 'great (in spirit)

• great-souled', 'tatra': 'there

• in that (mortal sphere/condition)', 'na': 'not', 'sajjati': 'clings, becomes attached'}

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyasa

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

There is a single, direct spiritual way (ekāyana-pantha) recognized by the wise; when it is truly realized, one transcends mortality and no longer clings to saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death).

What is happening in the narrative?

In Vyasa’s instruction within Udyoga Parva, he emphasizes a liberating path of insight/realization: knowing that path enables one to overcome death and remain unattached to worldly existence, framing ethical steadiness amid the approaching conflict.