Shloka 97
Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
यथा जतु च काष्ठं च पांसवश्नोदबिन्दव: । संश्लिष्टानि तथा राजन् प्राणिनामिह सम्भव:
yathā jatu ca kāṣṭhaṃ ca pāṃsavaś nodabindavaḥ | saṃśliṣṭāni tathā rājan prāṇinām iha sambhavaḥ ||
Bhīṣma dit : «De même que la laque et le bois, la poussière et les gouttes d’eau se rejoignent par le contact, de même, ô roi, l’advenue des êtres vivants en ce monde est une conjonction — une naissance issue de la rencontre des conditions, et non une origine isolée et indépendante.»
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
That the arising of living beings is due to conjunction and contact of conditions—like substances that adhere when they meet—highlighting interdependence rather than absolute, independent origination.
In the Śānti Parva discourse, Bhīṣma instructs the king (Yudhiṣṭhira) using everyday analogies (lac with wood, dust with water-drops) to explain how beings come into existence through the meeting of factors.