Shloka 71
ब्राह्मणस्य पूर्वतरा वृत्तिः — The Earlier Ideal Conduct of a Brahmana
River-of-Saṃsāra Metaphor
यथा मे सर्वगात्राणि न सुस्थानि महौजस: । अहमैन्द्राच्च्युत: स्थानात् त्वमिन्द्र: प्रकृतो दिवि
yathā me sarvagātrāṇi na susthāni mahaujasaḥ | aham aindrāc cyutaḥ sthānāt tvam indraḥ prakṛto divi ||
भीष्म बोले—“हे महाबली! जैसे मेरे सब अंग अब स्थिर नहीं रहे, वैसे ही मैं इन्द्र के स्थान से च्युत हो गया हूँ; और तुम स्वभावतः स्वर्ग में इन्द्र बने हो।”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma underscores the instability of embodied power and status: physical decline mirrors the falling away of worldly or even celestial rank. True greatness is not merely a seat of authority but an inner fitness—“by nature”—that makes one worthy of leadership.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and governance. Here he addresses a “mighty one,” contrasting his own waning condition and loss of exalted standing with the addressee’s rise to an Indra-like eminence in heaven, using Indra as the emblem of supreme sovereignty.