Shloka 56
Dama-pradhāna-dharma (Self-restraint as the Root of Dharma) — Śānti-parva 154
अनित्यानीह भाग्यानि चतुष्पात्पक्षिणामपि । जड्गमानां नगानां वाप्यायुरग्रेडवतिष्ठते,इस संसारमें पशुओं और पक्षियोंके भी भाग्यफल अनित्य हैं। स्थावरों और जंगमोंके जीवन में भी आयुकी ही प्रधानता है
anityānīha bhāgyāni catuṣpāt-pakṣiṇām api | jaṅgamānāṃ nagānāṃ vāpy āyur agre ’vatiṣṭhate ||
Wika ni Jambuka: “Sa daigdig na ito, ang bunga ng kapalaran ay di-mananatili—maging sa mga hayop na may apat na paa at sa mga ibon. Maging sa mga nilalang na gumagalaw o sa mga tila di-gumagalaw gaya ng bundok at punò, ang haba ng buhay ang siyang nangingibabaw at naghahari sa lahat.”
जम्बुक उवाच
Educational Q&A
Fortune and its results are unstable for all beings; what decisively limits and frames experience is āyuḥ (lifespan). This encourages sobriety and detachment: do not rely on luck, but recognize the primacy of time and mortality.
In the didactic discourse of the Śānti Parva, Jambuka speaks reflectively, using examples from animals, birds, and even the immovable world to stress that worldly prosperity is fleeting and that lifespan (the rule of time) is the overriding factor.