Shloka 3
इदमाश्चर्यमासीच्च मध्ये तेषां महात्मनाम् । सहितैरऋषिभि: सर्वैस्तदा व्यासादिभि: प्रभो
idam āścaryam āsīc ca madhye teṣāṃ mahātmanām | sahitair ṛṣibhiḥ sarvais tadā vyāsādibhiḥ prabho prabho ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O lord, O lord! In the midst of those great-souled sages, a wondrous event occurred. All the seers gathered there—led by Vyāsa and others—beheld that as Śāntanu’s son Bhīṣma, absorbed in yogic concentration, let his life-breath rise upward leaving each part of his body, the arrows lodged in that very part slipped out of their own accord and the wounds closed.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the mastery of self through yoga and steadfast dharma: Bhīṣma’s disciplined control over prāṇa makes even the violent remnants of war (arrows and wounds) lose their power, suggesting that inner realization and righteous resolve can transcend bodily suffering at life’s end.
In the assembly of sages, Vyāsa and others witness a marvel: as Bhīṣma, Śāntanu’s son, raises his life-breath upward in yogic concentration, arrows embedded in each limb come out by themselves and the corresponding wounds heal.