Shloka 38
Brahmacarya-Upāya: Jñāna, Śauca, and the Mind’s Role in Desire (शान्ति पर्व, अध्याय २०७)
न चैषां मैथुनो धर्मो बभूव भरतर्षभ | संकल्पादेव चैतेषामपत्यमुपपद्यते,भरतश्रेष्ठ) पहलेके लोगोमें मैथुनधर्मकी प्रवृत्ति नहीं हुई थी। इन सबको संकल्पसे ही संतान पैदा होती थी
na caiṣāṁ maithuno dharmo babhūva bharatarṣabha | saṅkalpād eva caiteṣām apatyam upapadyate ||
Bhīṣma said: “O bull among the Bharatas, among those people the practice of sexual union was not established as a norm of dharma. For them, offspring came into being solely through intention (saṅkalpa).”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma contrasts earlier ideals of dharma with later social practice: in a purer, more self-controlled order, procreation is portrayed as arising from mental resolve (saṅkalpa) rather than physical sexuality, emphasizing restraint and the primacy of inner intention.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction to Yudhiṣṭhira, Bhīṣma describes ancient conditions and norms, explaining that among certain earlier peoples sexual intercourse was not the accepted mode of generating children; instead, progeny was said to arise through will or intention.