Shloka 75
Adhyātma–Adhibhūta–Adhidaivata Correspondences and the Triguṇa Lakṣaṇas (Śānti-parva 301)
सूक्ष्म: शीत: सुगन्धी च सुखस्पर्शश्व भारत । सप्तानां मरुतां श्रेष्ठो लोकान् गच्छति यः शुभान् | स तान् वहति कौन्तेय नभस: परमां गतिम्,भरतनन्दन! कुन्तीकुमार! सूक्ष्म, शीतल, सुगन्धित, सुखस्पर्श एवं सातों वायुओंमें श्रेष्ठ जो वायुदेव शुभ लोकोंमें जाते हैं, वे फिर उन कल्याणमय सांख्ययोगियोंको आकाशकी ऊँची स्थितिमें पहुँचा देते हैं
sūkṣmaḥ śītaḥ sugandhī ca sukhasparśaś ca bhārata | saptānāṃ marutāṃ śreṣṭho lokān gacchati yaḥ śubhān || sa tān vahati kaunteya nabhasaḥ paramāṃ gatim bharatanandana ||
Bhīṣma said: “O Bhārata, the finest of the seven winds—subtle, cool, fragrant, and pleasant to the touch—moves toward auspicious worlds. O son of Kuntī, O joy of the Bharatas, that very wind bears those (accomplished seekers) onward to the highest state of the sky.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses the imagery of the ‘foremost wind’—subtle, cooling, fragrant, and gentle—to express how refined inner discipline and yogic attainment are supported by cosmic order: the purified life-breath (vāyu) becomes a vehicle that carries accomplished seekers toward higher, auspicious states, culminating in the ‘supreme course’ associated with the sky/ether (nabhas).
In the Śānti Parva dialogue, Bhīṣma continues instructing Yudhiṣṭhira on spiritual paths (notably Sāṅkhya-Yoga themes). Here he describes a cosmological-yogic process: the best of the winds moves through auspicious realms and conveys realized practitioners onward to an exalted, ‘highest’ state symbolized by the sky/ether.