Shloka 11
यत्र यत्रैव संयुक्तो धात्रा गर्भे पुन: पुनः । तत्र तत्रैव वसति न यत्र स्वयमिच्छति,विधाता जिस-जिस गर्भमें रहनेके लिये जीवको बार-बार प्रेरित करते हैं, वह जीव उसी-उसी गर्भमें वास करता है; किंतु वह स्वयं जहाँ रहनेकी इच्छा करता है, वहाँ नहीं रह पाता है
yatra yatraiva saṁyukto dhātrā garbhe punaḥ punaḥ | tatra tatraiva vasati na yatra svayam icchati ||
Bhishma said: “Wherever the Creator repeatedly assigns the embodied being to a womb, there alone it must dwell again and again. It does not succeed in dwelling where it personally wishes—thus the soul’s course is governed by the ordainer rather than by mere preference.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that rebirth and one’s embodied circumstances are allotted by the cosmic ordainer in accordance with karmic law; personal preference alone cannot override that dispensation. Ethically, it encourages humility, acceptance, and a turn toward right action rather than mere wishing.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction, Bhishma is advising Yudhishthira on deeper principles behind human experience. Here he emphasizes how beings are repeatedly placed into particular births (wombs) by the Creator/Ordainer, highlighting the constrained agency of the individual within saṁsāra.