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
sūkṣmaḥ śītaḥ sugandhī ca sukhasparśaś ca bhārata | saptānāṃ marutāṃ śreṣṭho lokān gacchati yaḥ śubhān || sa tān vahati kaunteya nabhasaḥ paramāṃ gatim bharatanandana ||
Bhīṣma berkata: “Wahai Bhārata, yang terbaik di antara tujuh angin—halus, sejuk, harum, dan menyenangkan sentuhannya—bergerak menuju dunia-dunia yang mujur. Wahai putra Kuntī, wahai kebanggaan Bharata, angin itulah yang mengusung mereka (para pencari yang telah sempurna) menuju keadaan tertinggi dari ‘langit’.”
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.