Shloka 8
Dama-pradhāna-dharma (Self-restraint as the Root of Dharma) — Śānti-parva 154
इह पुंसां सहस््राणि स्त्रीसहस्नाणि चैव ह | समानीतानि कालेन हित्वा वै यान्ति बान्धवा:
iha puṁsāṁ sahasrāṇi strī-sahasrāṇi caiva ha | samānītāni kālena hitvā vai yānti bāndhavāḥ ||
Bhishma said: “In this very world, thousands of men and thousands of women are, indeed, brought together by Time (Death). And then their relatives abandon them and depart. Such is the way of mortal life.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the inevitability of death and separation: Time (Kāla) brings countless beings to their end, and even close relatives must eventually leave. The ethical thrust is to cultivate steadiness and discernment in the face of grief, recognizing impermanence as a universal law.
Within Bhishma’s instruction in the Shanti Parva, this line functions as a consolatory reflection: it generalizes a scene of loss by stating that innumerable men and women have been taken by Time, and their kin inevitably depart after leaving them—highlighting the common human condition of bereavement.