शुकस्य योगसिद्धिः (Śuka’s Yogic Attainment and Ascent)
न हाहानि निवर्तन्ते न मासा न पुन: क्षपा: | सो<थयं प्रपद्यते5ध्वानं चिराय ध्रुवमध्रुव:
na hāhāni nivartante na māsā na punaḥ kṣapāḥ | so 'thayaṃ prapadyate 'dhvānaṃ cirāya dhruvam adhruvaḥ ||
Bhīṣma sprach: „Tage kehren nicht zurück, noch Monate, noch wiederum Nächte. So macht sich dieses verkörperte Wesen—selbst unbeständig und vergänglich—auf eine lange Reise hin zu dem, was fest und gewiss ist (dem Tod).“
भीष्म उवाच
Time is irreversible: days, months, and nights never return. Therefore one should live with ethical urgency and detachment, recognizing that the perishable person inevitably proceeds toward the certain end (death).
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs on dharma and right conduct after the war. Here he emphasizes the relentless forward movement of time to ground his counsel in sobriety, restraint, and moral seriousness.