Shloka 47
Saṃhāra-krama (The Sequence of Cosmic Dissolution) — Yājñavalkya’s Discourse
काम जित्वा तथा क्रोधं शीतोष्णे वर्षमेव च । भयं शोकं तथा श्वासं पौरुषान् विषयांस्तथा
kāmaṃ jitvā tathā krodhaṃ śītoṣṇe varṣam eva ca | bhayaṃ śokaṃ tathā śvāsaṃ pauruṣān viṣayāṃs tathā
Bhīṣma said: “Having conquered desire and anger, and having endured cold and heat and even the rains, one should likewise master fear and grief, regulate the breath, and restrain the impulses of manliness and the pull of sense-objects.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches inner conquest: overcoming desire and anger, remaining steady amid bodily hardships (cold, heat, rain), mastering fear and grief, and regulating breath and sensory attraction. Such restraint is presented as a foundation for dharma and ethical clarity.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma after the war. Here he lists disciplines of self-mastery—control of passions, endurance of opposites, and regulation of breath and senses—as part of the broader teaching on righteous living and inner governance.