Shloka 7

दमप्रशंसा — Praise of Self-Restraint

Dama

Devanagari script

तृष्णाभि भूतस्तैर्बद्धस्तानेवाभिपरिप्लवन्‌ । संसारतन्त्रवाहिन्यस्तत्र बुद्धयेत योषित:

Transliteration

tṛṣṇābhibhūtas tair baddhas tān evābhipariplavan | saṃsāra-tantra-vāhinyas tatra buddhyeta yoṣitaḥ ||

Translation

Bhishma said: Overpowered by craving and bound by those very faults, a man keeps running after them and thus continues to suffer greatly. If he wishes to be freed, he should understand women as the thread-bearers that weave the fabric of worldly existence and therefore keep his distance from them.

Word by Word

• {'tṛṣṇā': 'craving, thirst (for sense-objects)', 'abhibhūta': 'overpowered, dominated', 'baddha': 'bound, fettered', 'tān eva': 'those very (faults/impulses) alone', 'abhipariplavan': 'circling after, pursuing repeatedly, running about after', 'saṃsāra': 'cycle of worldly existence

• transmigration', 'tantra': 'warp/loom-system

• here: the woven fabric/structure', 'vāhinī': 'carrier, bearer

• that which conveys/threads along', 'yoṣit': 'woman', 'buddhyeta': 'should understand/consider (optative of √budh)', 'dūraṃ rahet': 'should stay away (sense supplied by the prose gloss)'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• women (yoṣitaḥ)
• saṃsāra (worldly existence)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Craving (tṛṣṇā) and the associated inner faults bind a person and keep him revolving in suffering; liberation requires clear understanding of the forces that intensify attachment and deliberate restraint (saṃyama), expressed here as distancing oneself from stimuli that entangle the mind.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma and liberation, Bhishma advises the listener about the mechanics of bondage: a person dominated by desire keeps pursuing the same impulses; to seek release, he should view women as powerful conduits of worldly entanglement and practice detachment.