Shloka 42
ब्राह्मणस्य पूर्वतरा वृत्तिः — The Earlier Ideal Conduct of a Brahmana
River-of-Saṃsāra Metaphor
इदं तु लब्ध्वा संस्थानमात्मानं बहु मन्यसे । सर्वभूतभवं देवं ब्रह्माणमिव शाश्वतम्
idaṁ tu labdhvā saṁsthānam ātmānaṁ bahu manyase | sarvabhūtabhavaṁ devaṁ brahmāṇam iva śāśvatam ||
ビーシュマは言った。「この地位とこの身を得て、汝は己を過度に尊ぶ——あたかも万有の根源たる永遠の神ブラフマーであるかのように。だがこの主宰の位は、揺るがず無窮に続くものだと証されたことは一度もない。多くがこれを担い、そして去った。汝がそれを真に己のものと思いなすのは、ただ己の迷妄の知ゆえである。」
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Power and status are impermanent; pride based on office or bodily circumstance is delusion. One should cultivate humility and discernment, remembering that even the highest positions pass from one holder to another.
Bhishma admonishes a proud ruler (implicitly one who identifies with a high office such as Indra-like lordship), warning that such supremacy is not eternal. He contrasts the hearer’s self-exaltation with Brahmā’s truly cosmic role, to expose the hearer’s mistaken self-importance.