Shloka 39
Saṃhāra-krama (The Sequence of Cosmic Dissolution) — Yājñavalkya’s Discourse
नाभ्यां कण्ठे च शीर्ष च हृदि वक्षसि पार्श्चयो: । दर्शने श्रवणे चापि घ्राणे चामितविक्रम,अमित पराक्रमी नरेश! योगके महान् व्रतमें एकाग्रचित्त रहनेवाला जो योगी नाभि, कण्ठ, मस्तक, हृदय, वक्षःस्थल, पार्श्रभाग, नेत्र, कान और नासिका आदि स्थानोंमें धारणाके द्वारा सूक्ष्म आत्माको परमात्माके साथ भलीभाँति संयुक्त करता है, वह यदि इच्छा करे तो अपने पर्वताकार विशाल शुभाशुभ कर्मोंको शीघ्र ही भस्म करके उत्तम योगका आश्रय लेकर मुक्त हो जाता है
nābhyāṁ kaṇṭhe ca śīrṣe ca hṛdi vakṣasi pārśvayoḥ | darśane śravaṇe cāpi ghrāṇe cāmitavikrama ||
Bhīṣma said: “O king of immeasurable prowess, the yogin who keeps his mind one-pointed in the great vow of Yoga, and who—by the practice of concentration—unites the subtle Self with the Supreme Self at the navel, the throat, the head, the heart, the chest, the sides, and also in the faculties of sight, hearing, and smell: if he so wills, he quickly burns away his mountain-like masses of auspicious and inauspicious deeds, and, taking refuge in the highest Yoga, attains liberation.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Through disciplined one-pointed concentration (dhāraṇā) on key bodily and sensory loci, the yogin unites the subtle self with the Supreme Self; this realization and yogic absorption can rapidly destroy accumulated karma—both good and bad—and lead to liberation.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction to the king, Bhīṣma continues his discourse on yoga and liberation, describing a yogic method of concentration and its ethical-spiritual result: the eradication of karmic burdens and attainment of mokṣa.