Shloka 120
Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
जातमात्रं तु तद्गरूपं दृष्टवा ताम्रनखाड्गुलि । कौमारं रूपमापन्नं रूपतो नोपलभ्यते
jātamātraṃ tu tad rūpaṃ dṛṣṭvā tāmranakhāṅguli | kaumāraṃ rūpam āpannaṃ rūpato nopalabhyate ||
ビーシュマは言った。「子が生まれたばかりの時、見える姿は、爪も指も銅のように赤い。だが童年に至れば、かつてのその姿はもはや認められない。かくして外の形は定まらず、時とともに絶えず変転する。」
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma highlights the impermanence of bodily appearance: what seems defining at birth vanishes in later stages. The ethical implication is to avoid pride or attachment based on external form and to value enduring qualities aligned with dharma.
In Shanti Parva, Bhishma instructs on wisdom and right understanding. Here he uses a simple observation about a child’s changing appearance—from newborn to boyhood—to illustrate how the body’s form is not constant and should not be treated as the basis of lasting identity.