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Mahābhārata • Parva 12 (Śāntiparva) • Adhyāya 207

Śāntiparva Adhyāya 207

शान्तिपर्व • अध्यायः 207

Śāntiparva Adhyāya 207 of the classical Mahābhārata with 30 verses.

Total: 30 Verses • Citations: MBh 12.207.1–30 • 250 Lexicon Terms
अत्रोपायं प्रवक्ष्यामि यथावच्छास्त्रचक्षुषा । तद्विज्ञानाच्चरन्प्राज्ञः प्राप्नुयात्परमां गतिम् ॥
English Translation
'I shall now describe to you the means of conquering the senses as seen with the eye of the scriptures. A person, O king, will attain to the highest and by shaping his conduct accordingly.
सर्वेषामेव भूतानां पुरुषः श्रेष्ठ उच्यते । पुरुषेभ्यो द्विजानाहुर्द्विजेभ्यो मन्त्रवादिनः ॥
English Translation
Amongst all living creatures man is said to be the foremost. Among men, the twice-born, persons well read in the Vedas are the foremost.
सर्वभूतविशिष्टास्ते सर्वज्ञाः सर्वदर्शिनः । ब्राह्मणा वेदतत्त्वज्ञास्तत्त्वार्थगतिनिश्चयाः ॥
English Translation
These last are considered as the souls of all living creatures. Indeed, those Brahmanas who have mastered the Vedas are considered as allseeing and omniscient. They are persons who have become conversant with Brahma.
नेत्रहीनो यथा ह्येकः कृच्छ्राणि लभतेऽध्वनि । ज्ञानहीनस्तथा लोके तस्माज्ज्ञानविदोऽधिकाः ॥
English Translation
As a blind man, without a guide, meets with many difficulties on a road, so has a person shorn of knowledge to meet with many impediments in the world. Therefore those who are endued with knowledge arc considered as superior to the rest.
तांस्तानुपासते धर्मान्धर्मकामा यथागमम् । न त्वेषामर्थसामान्यमन्तरेण गुणानिमान् ॥
English Translation
Those who wish to acquire virtue practise various rites according to the scriptural injunctions. They do not, however, attain to Liberation. They only acquire those good qualities which I shall presently mention.
वाग्देहमनसां शौचं क्षमा सत्यं धृतिः स्मृतिः । सर्वधर्मेषु धर्मज्ञा ज्ञापयन्ति गुणानिमान् ॥
English Translation
Purity of speech, of body, and of mind, forgiveness, truth, firmness and intelligence,-these good qualities are shown by pious persons who observe both kinds of religion.
यदिदं ब्रह्मणो रूपं ब्रह्मचर्यमिति स्मृतम् । परं तत्सर्वभूतेभ्यस्तेन यान्ति परां गतिम् ॥
English Translation
What is called Brahmacharya is considered as the means of attaining to Brahma. That is the foremost of all religions. It is by the practice of that religion that one acquires the highest end.
लिङ्गसंयोगहीनं यच्छरीरस्पर्शवर्जितम् । श्रोत्रेण श्रवणं चैव चक्षुषा चैव दर्शनम् ॥
English Translation
Brahmacharya has no connection with the five vital airs, mind, understanding, the five senses of perception, and the five senses of action. It is, therefore, free from all the perceptions that the senses give. It is heard only as a word, and its form, is not seen, but can only be conceived.
जिह्वया रसनं यच्च तदेव परिवर्जितम् । बुद्ध्या च व्यवसायेन ब्रह्मचर्यमकल्मषम् ॥
English Translation
It is a state of existence only on the mind. It has no connection with the senses. That pure state should be attained to by the understanding alone.
सम्यग्वृत्तिर्ब्रह्मलोकं प्राप्नुयान्मध्यमः सुरान् । द्विजाग्र्यो जायते विद्वान्कन्यसीं वृत्तिमास्थितः ॥
English Translation
He who practises it duly attains to Brahma; he who practises it half and half, attains to the status of the gods; while be who practises it indifferently, is born among Brahmanas and possessed of learning attains to eminence.
सुदुष्करं ब्रह्मचर्यमुपायं तत्र मे शृणु । संप्रवृत्तमुदीर्णं च निगृह्णीयाद्द्विजो मनः ॥
English Translation
Brahmacharya is highly difficult to practise. Listen now to the means thereof. That twiceborn one who follows it should subdue the quality of Darkness as soon as it begins to show itself or as soon as it begins to be powerful.
योषितां न कथाः श्राव्या न निरीक्ष्या निरम्बराः । कदाचिद्दर्शनादासां दुर्बलानाविशेद्रजः ॥
English Translation
One who has taken that yow should not speak with women. He should never look at a naked woman. The sight of women, under even indifferent circumstances, excites the passion of all weak-minded men.
रागोत्पत्तौ चरेत्कृच्छ्रमह्नस्त्रिः प्रविशेदपः । मग्नः स्वप्ने च मनसा त्रिर्जपेदघमर्षणम् ॥
English Translation
If a person feels a desire for women rising in his heart, he should observe the vow called Krichcchra and also pass three days in water. If desire is formed even in a dream, one should, diving in water, mentally repeat for three times the three Riks by Aghamarshana.
पाप्मानं निर्दहेदेवमन्तर्भूतं रजोमयम् । ज्ञानयुक्तेन मनसा संततेन विचक्षणः ॥
English Translation
That wise man who follows this VOW should, with a liberal and enlightened mind, consume the sins in his mind which are created by the quality of Darkness.
कुणपामेध्यसंयुक्तं यद्वदच्छिद्रबन्धनम् । तद्वद्देहगतं विद्यादात्मानं देहबन्धनम् ॥
English Translation
As the passage that carries away the refuge of the body is very closely connected with the body, so the embodied Soul is very closely connected with the body that confines it.
वातपित्तकफान्रक्तं त्वङ्मांसं स्नायुमस्थि च । मज्जां चैव सिराजालैस्तर्पयन्ति रसा नृणाम् ॥
English Translation
The different sorts of juices, passing through the network of arteries, nourish men's wind, bile, phlegm, blood, skin, flesh, intestines, bones, marrow, and the whole body.
दश विद्याद्धमन्योऽत्र पञ्चेन्द्रियगुणावहाः । याभिः सूक्ष्माः प्रतायन्ते धमन्योऽन्याः सहस्रशः ॥
English Translation
Know that there are ten principle canals. These help the functions of the five senses. From those ten issue out thousands of other passages that are minuter in form.
एवमेताः सिरानद्यो रसोदा देहसागरम् । तर्पयन्ति यथाकालमापगा इव सागरम् ॥
English Translation
Like rivers filling the ocean at the proper time, all these channels, containing juices, nourish the body.
मध्ये च हृदयस्यैका सिरा त्वत्र मनोवहा । शुक्रं संकल्पजं नॄणां सर्वगात्रैर्विमुञ्चति ॥
English Translation
There is a channel leading to the heart called Manovaha. It draws from every part of the human body the seminal fluid which is born of desire.
सर्वगात्रप्रतायिन्यस्तस्या ह्यनुगताः सिराः । नेत्रयोः प्रतिपद्यन्ते वहन्त्यस्तैजसं गुणम् ॥
English Translation
Numberless other channels issuing from that principal one extend into every part of the body and bearing the element of heat cause the sense of vision (and the rest).
पयस्यन्तर्हितं सर्पिर्यद्वन्निर्मथ्यते खजैः । शुक्रं निर्मथ्यते तद्वद्देहसंकल्पजैः खजैः ॥
English Translation
As the butter that lies within milk is churned up by churing rods, so the desires that are created in the mind draw together the vital sced that lies within the body.
स्वप्नेऽप्येवं यथाभ्येति मनःसंकल्पजं रजः । शुक्रमस्पर्शजं देहात्सृजन्त्यस्य मनोवहा ॥
English Translation
In the midst of even our dreams passion originating in imagination attacks the mind, with the result that the passage already named, viz., Manovaha, throws out the seminal fluid born of desire.
महर्षिर्भगवानत्रिर्वेद तच्छुक्रसंभवम् । त्रिबीजमिन्द्रदैवत्यं तस्मादिन्द्रियमुच्यते ॥
English Translation
The great and divine Rishi Atri is a inaster of the subject of the generation of the vital secd. The juices that are produced by food, the passage called Manovaha, and the desire that is born of imagination,-these three are the causes which create the seminal fluid which has Indra for its presiding god. The passion that helps the passing out of this fluid is, therefore, called Indriya.
ये वै शुक्रगतिं विद्युर्भूतसंकरकारिकाम् । विरागा दग्धदोषास्ते नाप्नुयुर्देहसंभवम् ॥
English Translation
Those persons, who know that the course of seminal fluid is the cause of intermixture of castes, are men of controlled passions. Their sins are considered to have been consumed, and they are never subjected to re-birth.
गुणानां साम्यमागम्य मनसैव मनोवहम् । देहकर्म नुदन्प्राणानन्तकाले विमुच्यते ॥
English Translation
He who performs action simply for the purpose of maintaining his body, reducing with the help of the mind the qualities into a state of equilibrium, and brings at his last moments the vital airs to the channel called Manovaha, is freed from re-birth.
भविता मनसो ज्ञानं मन एव प्रतायते । ज्योतिष्मद्विरजो दिव्यमत्र सिद्धं महात्मनाम् ॥
English Translation
The Mind is sure to acquire Knowledge. It is the Mind which assumes the form of all things. Acquiring success through meditation, the minds of all great persons, become freed from desire, eternal, and shining.
तस्मात्तदविघाताय कर्म कुर्यादकल्मषम् । रजस्तमश्च हित्वेह न तिर्यग्गतिमाप्नुयात् ॥
English Translation
Therefore, for destroying the mind, one should perform only pure deeds, and frecing himself from the qualities of Darkness and Ignorance, one is sure to acquire a very desirable end.
तरुणाधिगतं ज्ञानं जरादुर्बलतां गतम् । परिपक्वबुद्धिः कालेन आदत्ते मानसं बलम् ॥
English Translation
Knowledge (ordinarily) acquired in younger days becomes weakened with decrepitude. Through the good effects of past lives, a person, however, of ripe understanding succeeds in killing his desires.
सुदुर्गमिव पन्थानमतीत्य गुणबन्धनम् । यदा पश्येत्तदा दोषानतीत्यामृतमश्नुते ॥
English Translation
Such a person, by getting over the fetters of the body and the senses like a traveller crossing a path full of impediments, and transgressing all faults he sees, succeeds in testing the ambrosia (of Liberation.)
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