Shloka 223
Śreyas-nirdeśa (Discerning the Superior Good): Nārada–Gālava Saṃvāda
असंत्याज्यं यदा मर्त्य: कि स्वस्थ इव तिष्ठसि | पिताजी! जब इस शरीरमें मृत्यु, जरा, व्याधि और अनेक कारणोंसे होनेवाले दुःखोंका ताँता बँधा ही रहता है और मनुष्य किसी प्रकार भी उनसे अपना पिण्ड नहीं छुड़ा सकते, तब ऐसी दशामें आप निश्चिन्त-से क्यों बैठे हैं?
asantyājyaṃ yadā martyaḥ kiṃ svastha iva tiṣṭhasi |
Bhishma said: “When what cannot be cast off—mortality itself—stands before a human being, why do you remain as though at ease? In this body, death, old age, disease, and a continuous chain of sufferings arising from many causes are ever present; and people cannot truly free themselves from them. In such a condition, why do you sit unconcerned?”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma highlights the inevitability of death, aging, and disease, urging alertness and ethical seriousness rather than complacency. The verse presses the listener to recognize unavoidable suffering as a prompt for right living, reflection, and detachment.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction-setting, Bhishma addresses his interlocutor with a pointed question: given that the body is bound to death, decay, and illness, why is the person behaving as if secure and untroubled? It functions as a wake-up call within Bhishma’s broader counsel on dharma and the human condition.