Shloka 37
Brahmacarya-Upāya: Jñāna, Śauca, and the Mind’s Role in Desire (शान्ति पर्व, अध्याय २०७)
यावद्यावदभूच्छुद्धा देहं धारयितुं नृणाम् । तावत् तावदजीवंस्ते नासीद् यमकृतं भयम्,पहले मनुष्योंको जितने दिनोंतक शरीर धारण करनेकी इच्छा होती, उतने दिनोंतक वे जीवित रहते थे। उन्हें यमराजका कोई भय नहीं होता था
yāvad yāvad abhūc chuddhā dehaṃ dhārayituṃ nṛṇām | tāvat tāvad ajīvaṃs te nāsīd yamakṛtaṃ bhayam ||
Sinabi ni Bhishma: “Hangga’t taglay ng tao ang dalisay na kakayahang magpanatili ng katawan, hanggang doon din sila nabubuhay. Sa sinaunang kaayusan ng buhay na iyon, walang takot na dulot ni Yama—hindi nakatindig ang kamatayan bilang sindak sa ibabaw nila; ang haba ng buhay ay sumusunod sa lakas-buhay sa loob, hindi sa pamimilit mula sa labas.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Life and death are presented as governed by an inner moral-cosmic condition: when human nature was 'pure' and capable of sustaining the body, lifespan followed that capacity, and fear of death (personified as Yama) did not dominate. The verse contrasts an earlier harmonious order with later decline, where death becomes a source of anxiety.
Bhishma, instructing on dharma and the nature of worldly order, describes a former time when people lived for as long as they could and wished to sustain their bodies. Because death did not forcibly interrupt life then, Yama was not feared in the way he is in later ages.