Shloka 25
पापात्म-धर्मात्म-लक्षणम् तथा निर्वेदेन मोक्षमार्गः | Marks of the Sinful and the Righteous; Dispassion (Nirveda) as a Path to Liberation
यो हायं मयि संघातो मर्त्यत्वे पाउ्चभौतिक: । अस्य मे जननी हेतु: पावकस्य यथारणि:
yo hāyaṁ mayi saṅghāto martyatve pāñcabhautikaḥ | asya me jananī hetuḥ pāvakasya yathāraṇiḥ ||
Bhishma said: “This embodied aggregate that has come to me in mortal life—made of the five elements—has my mother as its principal cause. Just as the fire’s manifestation depends chiefly upon the araṇi (fire-stick), so too my birth and this body depend upon her as the primary instrument.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma highlights causal dependence and ethical gratitude: the mortal body is a composite of the five elements, yet its immediate, primary instrumental cause is one’s mother—just as fire, though latent, becomes manifest through the araṇi. The verse encourages recognition of origins and reverence toward the mother as a foundational cause of embodied life.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma and right understanding, Bhishma speaks reflectively about embodiment and causation. He uses a familiar Vedic image—kindling fire with araṇi—to explain how his own physical existence in mortal life is chiefly attributable to his mother as the proximate cause.