Shloka 21
Adhyāya 214: Tapas Redefined—Perpetual Discipline, Hospitality, and the Ethics of Eating (तपः-निरूपणम्, विघसाशी-अतिथिप्रिय-धर्मः)
पयस्यन्तर्तितं सर्पिर्यद्वन्निर्मथ्यते खजै: । शुक्र निर्मथ्यते तद्धत् देहसंकल्पजै: खजै:
payasy antarhitaṃ sarpir yadvan nirmathyate khajaiḥ | śukraṃ nirmathyate tadvad deha-saṅkalpajaiḥ khajaiḥ ||
Bhīṣma dit : «De même que le ghee caché dans le lait est tiré au dehors par le barattage, ainsi la semence est remuée et arrachée du corps de l’homme lorsqu’elle est “barattée” par les imaginations du corps et les excitations des sens—telles que voir et toucher les femmes. L’enseignement est de comprendre que le désir naît mécaniquement du contact et des fabrications du mental, et donc de contenir les sens et l’esprit.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Desire and sexual discharge are not random; they are ‘churned out’ by saṅkalpa (mental ideation) and by sensory contact. Therefore, ethical discipline requires guarding the senses and regulating thought, so that agitation does not arise and self-mastery is preserved.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and conduct, Bhīṣma uses a vivid household metaphor—extracting ghee from milk by churning—to explain how the mind and senses can agitate the body and bring forth semen, warning against indulgent seeing/touching that fuels passion.