Shloka 14
Adhyāya 180: Jīva, Śarīra, and the Fire Analogy (भृगु–भरद्वाज संवादः)
जलजानामपि हान्तं पर्यायेणोपलक्षये । महतामपि कायानां सूक्ष्माणां च महोदधौ,“महासागरके जलमें पैदा होनेवाले विशाल शरीरवाले तिमि आदि मत्स्यों तथा छोटे- छोटे कीड़ोंका भी बारी-बारीसे विनाश होता देखता हूँ
jalajānām api hāntaṃ paryāyeṇopalakṣaye | mahatām api kāyānāṃ sūkṣmāṇāṃ ca mahodadhau ||
Bhishma said: “O slayer of foes, I observe that even creatures born in water meet destruction in due course—within the great ocean itself, both the huge-bodied fishes such as the timi and the tiniest worms perish one after another.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
That destruction is universal and cyclical: in the same vast ocean, both the mighty and the minute perish in turn. The ethical implication is to cultivate detachment and right judgment, not pride in power or despair in weakness, since all embodied life is subject to time.
In Bhishma’s instruction during the Shanti Parva, he points to a natural example—sea life—to illustrate a broader truth about the world: even the largest aquatic beings (like the timi) and the smallest creatures are inevitably destroyed over time.