Shloka 14

Saṃhāra-krama (The Sequence of Cosmic Dissolution) — Yājñavalkya’s Discourse

Devanagari script

लोभजानि तथा राजन्‌ बन्धनानि बलान्विता: । छित्त्वा योगा: परं मार्ग गच्छन्ति विमलं शिवम्‌,राजन! इसी प्रकार जैसे बलवान्‌ मृग जाल तोड़कर सारे बन्धनोंसे मुक्त हो निर्विघ्न मार्गपर चले जाते हैं, वैसे ही योगबलसे सम्पन्न योगी पुरुष लोभजनित सब बन्धनोंको तोड़कर परम निर्मल कल्याणमय मार्गको प्राप्त कर लेते हैं

Transliteration

bhīṣma uvāca | lobhajāni tathā rājan bandhanāni balānvitāḥ | chittvā yogāḥ paraṃ mārgaṃ gacchanti vimalaṃ śivam ||

Translation

Bhishma said: “O King, just as strong animals tear through a net and, freed from every restraint, proceed unhindered along their path, so too yogins endowed with the power of yoga cut through all bonds born of greed and attain the supreme path—spotless and auspicious.”

Word by Word

• {'bhīṣma uvāca': 'Bhishma said', 'rājan': 'O king (address to the ruler

• here, Yudhiṣṭhira)', 'lobhajāni': 'born of greed

• arising from covetousness', 'bandhanāni': 'bonds, fetters

• binding attachments/constraints', 'balānvitāḥ': 'endowed with strength

• possessing power', 'chittvā': 'having cut, having severed', 'yogāḥ': 'yogins

• practitioners established in yoga (also: those possessing yoga)', 'paraṃ mārgaṃ': 'the supreme path

• highest course/way', 'gacchanti': 'they go

• they attain/proceed', 'vimalaṃ': 'stainless, pure, untainted', 'śivam': 'auspicious, beneficent

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• King (Yudhiṣṭhira)
• net (jāla, implied by the simile)
• animals/deer (mṛga, implied by the simile)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Greed (lobha) creates binding attachments that obstruct the highest good; through yogic strength—discipline, inner steadiness, and insight—one can sever these bonds and move toward the pure, auspicious supreme path.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva instruction to Yudhiṣṭhira, Bhishma uses a vivid simile: as a powerful animal breaks a net and walks freely, so a yogin breaks greed-born fetters and proceeds unobstructed toward the highest, purified goal.