Shloka 17
सत्य–अनृत, प्रकाश–तमस्, स्वर्ग–नरक विवेचनम्
Truth and Untruth as Light and Darkness; Svarga and Naraka as Ethical Consequences
शैलास्तस्यास्थिसंज्ञास्तु मेदो मांसं च मेदिनी । समुद्रास्तस्य रुधिरमाकाशमुदरं तथा
śailās tasyāsthi-saṃjñās tu medo māṃsaṃ ca medinī | samudrās tasya rudhiram ākāśam udaraṃ tathā ||
Bhīṣma said: “The mountains are known as his bones; the earth is his fat and flesh. The oceans are his blood, and the sky is likewise his belly.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a vision of the universe as a single living whole—nature’s vast features are mapped onto the body of a cosmic being. Ethically, it supports reverence for the world and restraint in action, since harming the world is symbolically harming the greater Self that pervades it.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on higher principles. Here he uses a cosmic-body description—mountains as bones, earth as flesh and fat, oceans as blood, and sky as the belly—to convey a contemplative understanding of the world’s sacred unity.