Shloka 30
Śānti-parva 206: Guṇa-hetu Moha, Kāma-krodha Chain, Indriya-utpatti, and Nirodha
पृथ्व्यां नर: पश्यति नान्तमस्या ह्ान्तश्नास्या भविता चेति विद्धि | पर॑ं नयन्तीह विलोड्यमानं यथा प्लवं वायुरिवार्णवस्थम्
pṛthvyāṃ naraḥ paśyati nāntam asyā hy antaśnāsya bhavitā ceti viddhi | paraṃ nayantīha vilodyamānaṃ yathā plavaṃ vāyur ivārṇavastham ||
Bhīṣma dit : Sur cette terre, l’homme n’en aperçoit pas la fin ; sache aussi que sa limite intérieure demeure inatteignable. Ici, lorsque les circonstances nous brassent et nous malmènent, nous sommes emportés en avant—comme le vent pousse une barque qui flotte sur l’océan. L’enseignement est que la vie humaine, liée à l’immensité et à l’instabilité du monde, est aisément balayée si elle n’est pas affermie par le discernement et le dharma.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The world is vast and its limits are not easily grasped; when a person is agitated by changing conditions, they are carried along like a boat driven by wind on the ocean. Therefore one should cultivate steadiness—discernment, restraint, and dharma—so as not to be helplessly swept by circumstance.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on right conduct and the nature of worldly life. In this verse he uses a metaphor—wind driving a boat on the sea—to describe how people, when churned by events, are propelled onward without clear control unless anchored in wise discipline.