Shloka 55
Saṃhāra-krama (The Sequence of Cosmic Dissolution) — Yājñavalkya’s Discourse
विपन्ना धारणास्तात नयन्ति न शुभां गतिम् । नेतृहीना यथा नाव: पुरुषानर्णवे नूप
vipannā dhāraṇās tāta nayanti na śubhāṃ gatim | netṛhīnā yathā nāvaḥ puruṣān arṇave nṛpa ||
विपन्ना धारणास्तात नयन्ति न शुभां गतिम् । नेतृहीना यथा नावः पुरुषानर्णवे नृप ॥
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Spiritual techniques (dhāraṇā and related yogic disciplines) must be properly established and guided; if they are defective or incomplete, they cannot lead to auspicious spiritual progress—just as a boat needs a helmsman to cross the ocean.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs the king on dharma and inner discipline. Here he uses a practical metaphor—an unguided boat at sea—to warn that unguided or failed yogic concentration practices do not yield the promised higher good.