Shloka 33
अध्याय १७८ — प्राणवायुगतिः तथा शारीराग्निव्यवस्था
Adhyāya 178 — The courses of prāṇa-vāyu and the regulation of the bodily fire
त्वया हि मे प्रणुन्नस्य गतिरन्या न विद्यते | तृष्णाशोकश्रमा्णां हि त्वं काम प्रभव: सदा,“काम! तृष्णा, शोक और परिश्रम--इनका उत्पत्तिस्थान सदा तू ही है। जबतक तू मुझे प्रेरित करके इधर-उधर भटकाता रहेगा तबतक मेरे लिये दूसरी कोई गति नहीं है
tvayā hi me praṇunnasya gatir anyā na vidyate | tṛṣṇāśokaśramāṇāṃ hi tvaṃ kāma prabhavaḥ sadā ||
Bhīṣma disse: “Impulsionado por ti, não me resta outro caminho. Ó Kāma (Desejo), tu és sempre a fonte de onde nascem a ânsia, o pesar e o labor extenuante. Enquanto continuares a impelir-me e a fazer-me vagar de um lado para outro, para mim não haverá outro refúgio nem outra direção.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Desire (kāma), when allowed to drive the mind, becomes the root-cause of craving, grief, and weary striving; therefore ethical life requires recognizing desire’s compulsive force and cultivating restraint so one’s ‘gati’ (course) is guided by dharma rather than impulse.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction in the Śānti Parva, he addresses Kāma as a personified power, confessing how it propels a person into restless wandering and suffering, and he identifies it as the constant source of tṛṣṇā (craving), śoka (grief), and śrama (toil).