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Mahābhārata • Parva 12 (Śāntiparva) • Adhyāya 258

Śāntiparva Adhyāya 258

शान्तिपर्व • अध्यायः 258

Śāntiparva Adhyāya 258 of the classical Mahābhārata with 76 verses.

Total: 76 Verses • Citations: MBh 12.258.1–76 • 250 Lexicon Terms • Page 1 of 3 (Verses 30 shown)
कथं कार्यं परीक्षेत शीघ्रं वाथ चिरेण वा । सर्वथा कार्यदुर्गेऽस्मिन्भवान्नः परमो गुरुः ॥
English Translation
Yudhishthira said You, O grandfather, are our highest preceptor in the matter of all acts which it is difficult to perform. I ask, how should one judge of an act regarding one's obligation to do it or of abstaining from it? Is it to be judged quickly or with delay?
अत्राप्युदाहरन्तीममितिहासं पुरातनम् । चिरकारेस्तु यत्पूर्वं वृत्तमाङ्गिरसे कुले ॥
English Translation
Regarding it is cited the old discourse of what took place regarding Chirakarin born in the race of Angirasa.
चिरकारिक भद्रं ते भद्रं ते चिरकारिक । चिरकारी हि मेधावी नापराध्यति कर्मसु ॥
English Translation
Twice blessed be the man who thinks long before he acts! One man who thinks long before he acts is surely possessed of great intelligence. Such a man never offends in an act.
चिरकारी महाप्राज्ञो गौतमस्याभवत्सुतः । चिरं हि सर्वकार्याणि समेक्षावान्प्रपद्यते ॥
English Translation
There was once a highly wise man by name Chirakarin, who was the son of Gautama. Thinking for a long time upon every aspect of proposed acts, he used to do all he had to do.
चिरं संचिन्तयन्नर्थांश्चिरं जाग्रच्चिरं स्वपन् । चिरकार्याभिसंपत्तेश्चिरकारी तथोच्यते ॥
English Translation
He passed by the name of Chirakarin because he used to think long upon all matters, to remain awake for a long time, to sleep for a long time, and to take a long time in performing such acts.
अलसग्रहणं प्राप्तो दुर्मेधावी तथोच्यते । बुद्धिलाघवयुक्तेन जनेनादीर्घदर्शिना ॥
English Translation
But still he passed for an idle man. He was also considered as a foolish person, by every person of a light understanding and shorn of foresight.
व्यभिचारे तु कस्मिंश्चिद्व्यतिक्रम्यापरान्सुतान् । पित्रोक्तः कुपितेनाथ जहीमां जननीमिति ॥
English Translation
On a certain occasion, seeing an act of great fault in his wife, the father Gautama, passing over his other children commanded in anger this Chirakarin, saying,-kill this women!
स तथेति चिरेणोक्त्वा स्वभावाच्चिरकारिकः । विमृश्य चिरकारित्वाच्चिन्तयामास वै चिरम् ॥
English Translation
Having after a long while assented to it, saying,-So be it,-Chirakarin, on account of his very nature, and owing to his habit of never performing any act without much thought, began to think for a long while.-पितुराज्ञां कथं कुर्यां न हन्यां मातरं कथम्।
पितुराज्ञां कथं कुर्यां न हन्यां मातरं कथम् । कथं धर्मच्छले नास्मिन्निमज्जेयमसाधुवत् ॥
पितुराज्ञा परो धर्मः स्वधर्मो मातृरक्षणम् । अस्वतन्त्रं च पुत्रत्वं किं नु मां नात्र पीडयेत् ॥
English Translation
Obedience to the orders of the father forms the highest merit. The protection of the mother again is a clear duty. The condition of a son is fraught with dependence. How shall I avoid being affected by sin?
स्त्रियं हत्वा मातरं च को हि जातु सुखी भवेत् । पितरं चाप्यवज्ञाय कः प्रतिष्ठामवाप्नुयात् ॥
English Translation
Who is there that can be happy after having killed a woman, especially his mother? Who again can acquire prosperity and fame by disobeying his own father.
अनवज्ञा पितुर्युक्ता धारणं मातृरक्षणम् । युक्तक्षमावुभावेतौ नातिवर्तेतमां कथम् ॥
English Translation
Regard for the father's order is obligatory. The protection of my mother is equally a duty. How shall I so act that both obligations may be satisfied?
पिता ह्यात्मानमाधत्ते जायायां जज्ञियामिति । शीलचारित्रगोत्रस्य धारणार्थं कुलस्य च ॥
English Translation
The father puts his own self within the mother's womb and takes birth as the son, for continuing his practices, conduct, name and race.
सोऽहमात्मा स्वयं पित्रा पुत्रत्वे प्रकृतः पुनः । विज्ञानं मे कथं न स्याद्बुबुधे चात्मसंभवम् ॥
English Translation
I have been begotten as a son by both my mother and my father. Knowing as I do my own birth, why should I not have this knowledge?
जातकर्मणि यत्प्राह पिता यच्चोपकर्मणि । पर्याप्तः स दृढीकारः पितुर्गौरवनिश्चये ॥
English Translation
The words spoken by the father while performing the initial rite consequent upon birth, and those that were spoken by him on the occasion of the subsidiary rite are sufficient (evidence) for settling the respect due to him and, indeed, confirm the respect actually paid to him.
गुरुरग्र्यः परो धर्मः पोषणाध्ययनाद्धितः । पिता यदाह धर्मः स वेदेष्वपि सुनिश्चितः ॥
English Translation
On account of his bringing up the son and instructing him, the father is the son's foremost of superiors and the highest religion. The very Vedas sanction it as certain that the son should consider what the father says as his highest duty.
प्रीतिमात्रं पितुः पुत्रः सर्वं पुत्रस्य वै पिता । शरीरादीनि देयानि पिता त्वेकः प्रयच्छति ॥
English Translation
The son is only a source of joy to his father. The father is all in all to a son. The body and all else that the son has he has got from the father alone.
तस्मात्पितुर्वचः कार्यं न विचार्यं कथंचन । पातकान्यपि पूयन्ते पितुर्वचनकारिणः ॥
English Translation
Hence, the commands of the father should be obeyed without ever questioning them in the least. The very sins of one who obeys his father are cleansed.
भोगे भाग्ये प्रसवने सर्वलोकनिदर्शने । भर्त्रा चैव समायोगे सीमन्तोन्नयने तथा ॥
English Translation
The father is the giver of all articles of enjoyment, of all articles of food, of instructions in the Vedas, and of all other knowledge of the world. The father is the performer of such rites as Garbhadhana (the ceremony for the attainment of puberty by the wife), and Simantonnayana the ceremony performed by the husband in the fourth, sixth, or eighth, month of gestation.
पिता स्वर्गः पिता धर्मः पिता परमकं तपः । पितरि प्रीतिमापन्ने सर्वाः प्रीयन्ति देवताः ॥
English Translation
The father is religion. The father is heaven. The father is the highest penance. The father being pleased all the gods are pleased.
आशिषस्ता भजन्त्येनं पुरुषं प्राह याः पिता । निष्कृतिः सर्वपापानां पिता यदभिनन्दति ॥
English Translation
Whatever words are spoken by the father, become blessings that attach to the son. The words of joy that the father utters purify the son of all his sins.
मुच्यते बन्धनात्पुष्पं फलं वृन्तात्प्रमुच्यते । क्लिश्यन्नपि सुतस्नेहैः पिता स्नेहं न मुञ्चति ॥
English Translation
The flower is seen to drop down from the stalk. The fruit is seen to drop down from the tree. But the father, in whatever difficulty he may be, moved by parental affection, never leaves the son.
एतद्विचिन्तितं तावत्पुत्रस्य पितृगौरवम् । पिता ह्यल्पतरं स्थानं चिन्तयिष्यामि मातरम् ॥
English Translation
These then are my thoughts upon the respect due from the son to the father. The father is not an ordinary object to the son, I shall now think upon the mother.
यो ह्ययं मयि संघातो मर्त्यत्वे पाञ्चभौतिकः । अस्य मे जननी हेतुः पावकस्य यथारणिः । माता देहारणिः पुंसां सर्वस्यार्तस्य निर्वृतिः ॥
English Translation
Of this the mother is the principal cause of those union of the five elements in me due to my birth as a human being, as the fire-sticks of fire.
न च शोचति नाप्येनं स्थाविर्यमपकर्षति । श्रिया हीनोऽपि यो गेहे अम्बेति प्रतिपद्यते ॥
English Translation
The man who, thought shorn of prosperity, enters his house uttering the words-0 mother!-does not suffer from grief. Nor does decrepitude ever attack him.
पुत्रपौत्रसमाकीर्णो जननीं यः समाश्रितः । अपि वर्षशतस्यान्ते स द्विहायनवच्चरेत् ॥
English Translation
A person whose mother exists, even if he has sons and grandsons and even if he is a hundred years old, looks like a child of two.
समर्थं वासमर्थं वा कृशं वाप्यकृशं तथा । रक्षत्येव सुतं माता नान्यः पोष्टा विधानतः ॥
English Translation
Able or disabled, lean or robust, the son is always protected by the mother. None else, according to the Scripture, is the son's protector.
तदा स वृद्धो भवति यदा भवति दुःखितः । तदा शून्यं जगत्तस्य यदा मात्रा वियुज्यते ॥
English Translation
When the mother leaves him then does the son become old, then does he become stricken with grief, then does the world look empty in his eyes.
नास्ति मातृसमा छाया नास्ति मातृसमा गतिः । नास्ति मातृसमं त्राणं नास्ति मातृसमा प्रपा ॥
English Translation
There is no shelter like the mother. There is no refuge like the mother. There is no defence like the mother. There is no one dearer than the mother.
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