Shloka 10
दमप्रशंसा — Praise of Self-Restraint
Dama
तस्मात् तदात्मकादू रागाद् बीजाज्जायन्ति जन्तव: । स्वदेहजानस्वसंज्ञान् यद्वदड़ात् कृरमीस्त्यजेत् । स्वसंज्ञानस्वकांस्तद्वत् सुतसंज्ञान् कृमीस्त्यजेत्
tasmāt tad-ātmakād rāgād bījāj jāyante jantavaḥ | sva-deha-jān sva-saṃjñān yadvad aṇḍāt kṛmīs tyajet | sva-saṃjñān svakāṃs tadvat suta-saṃjñān kṛmīs tyajet |
Bhishma said: Therefore, from that self-identifying passion and from the seed, living beings are born. Just as a man casts off the worms that arise from his own body—though they bear his own mark and are ‘of himself’—so too should he cast off those worms that are merely called ‘sons’ and claimed as one’s own.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma argues for radical detachment: beings arise from passion and seed, but the sense of ‘mine’ toward body-born products (and by extension toward ‘sons’) is delusive. One should relinquish possessiveness and see relations as not-Self, cultivating dispassion aimed at liberation.
In Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma and liberation, Bhishma delivers a stark analogy: just as one discards worms arising from one’s own body without claiming them as oneself, so one should not cling to those merely labeled as one’s sons; the passage is a didactic push toward renunciation rather than a literal social directive.