Shloka 42
ब्राह्मणस्य पूर्वतरा वृत्तिः — The Earlier Ideal Conduct of a Brahmana
River-of-Saṃsāra Metaphor
इदं तु लब्ध्वा संस्थानमात्मानं बहु मन्यसे । सर्वभूतभवं देवं ब्रह्माणमिव शाश्वतम्
idaṁ tu labdhvā saṁsthānam ātmānaṁ bahu manyase | sarvabhūtabhavaṁ devaṁ brahmāṇam iva śāśvatam ||
毗湿摩说道：“得此位分与此具身之境，你便自视过高，仿佛自己是永恒的梵天——万有之源的神明。然而，你这天主之权从未证明能不动不移、长存无尽：许多人曾执掌此位，终又离去。唯因你自身的迷妄之智，才妄想它真是你的。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Power and status are impermanent; pride based on office or bodily circumstance is delusion. One should cultivate humility and discernment, remembering that even the highest positions pass from one holder to another.
Bhishma admonishes a proud ruler (implicitly one who identifies with a high office such as Indra-like lordship), warning that such supremacy is not eternal. He contrasts the hearer’s self-exaltation with Brahmā’s truly cosmic role, to expose the hearer’s mistaken self-importance.