Shloka 49
अग्नीषोमोत्पत्तिः
Agni–Soma Origin and the Brahmāgnīṣomīya Doctrine
सर्वप्राणभृतां प्राणान् योडन्तकाले निरस्यति । यस्य वर्त्मनुवर्तेते मृत्युवैवस्वतावुभौ
sarvapraṇabhṛtāṃ prāṇān yo ’ntakāle nirasyati | yasya vartmānuvartete mṛtyur vaivasvato yamaḥ ||
毗湿摩说道：“那至上之风，在最后一刻将一切众生的生命之息自躯体中驱出；其所行之道，唯有死神与阎摩——毗婆斯梵之子——随之而行。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents death as governed by a higher cosmic principle: a supreme ‘Wind’ (vāyu/prāṇa-force) that expels the life-breath at the end. Even personified Death and Yama are depicted as following its course, emphasizing that mortality operates under an ordered, impersonal law rather than mere chance.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on adhyātma and the forces operating at death, Bhishma describes a powerful vāyu/prāṇa that removes the prāṇas from all beings at the final moment, and notes that Death and Yama proceed along the path set by that force.