Shloka 47
Śakra–Namuci-saṃvāda: Śoka-nivāraṇa and Daiva-vicāra
Indra and Namuci on grief, composure, and inevitability
यथोर्णनाभि: परिवर्तमान- स्तन्तुक्षये तिष्ठति पात्यमान: । तथा विमुक्तः प्रजहाति दु:खं विध्वंसते लोष्ट इवाद्रिमृच्छन्
yathorṇanābhiḥ parivartamānaḥ tantukṣaye tiṣṭhati pātyamānaḥ | tathā vimuktaḥ prajahāti duḥkhaṃ vidhvaṃsate loṣṭa ivādrimṛcchan ||
毗湿摩说：“譬如蜘蛛张网之后，往来于其上；而当丝尽之时，便安住一处。如此，解脱者舍离忧苦。又如土块掷向高山，触之即碎；如是其一切苦患皆被摧灭。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bondage is like a self-spun web: the embodied being wanders within the network of actions and their results, but when the supporting ‘threads’ are exhausted and one becomes free, sorrow is abandoned and suffering is crushed completely—like a clod shattered against a mountain.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on peace, dharma, and the path beyond grief. Here he uses two vivid similes—spider and web, clod and mountain—to describe the transition from karmic wandering to liberation and the consequent annihilation of duḥkha.