Shloka 30
पृथ्व्यां नर: पश्यति नान्तमस्या ह्ान्तश्नास्या भविता चेति विद्धि | पर॑ं नयन्तीह विलोड्यमानं यथा प्लवं वायुरिवार्णवस्थम्
pṛthvyāṃ naraḥ paśyati nāntam asyā hy antaśnāsya bhavitā ceti viddhi | paraṃ nayantīha vilodyamānaṃ yathā plavaṃ vāyur ivārṇavastham ||
Bhīṣma said: On this earth a man does not perceive her end; know also that her inner limit cannot be reached. Here, when one is churned about by circumstances, one is carried onward—just as the wind drives a boat afloat upon the ocean. The teaching is that human life, bound to the world’s vastness and instability, is easily swept along unless steadied by discernment and dharma.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The world is vast and its limits are not easily grasped; when a person is agitated by changing conditions, they are carried along like a boat driven by wind on the ocean. Therefore one should cultivate steadiness—discernment, restraint, and dharma—so as not to be helplessly swept by circumstance.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on right conduct and the nature of worldly life. In this verse he uses a metaphor—wind driving a boat on the sea—to describe how people, when churned by events, are propelled onward without clear control unless anchored in wise discipline.