Mahabharata — Shanti Parva, Shloka 4
अव्यक्त-मानस-सृष्टिवादः
Doctrine of Creation from the Unmanifest ‘Mānasa’
यथा यथा च पर्येति लोकतन्त्रमसारवत् | तथा तथा विरागोजत्र जायते नात्र संशय:,मनुष्य जैसे-जैसे संसारके पदार्थोकोी सारहीन समझता है, वैसे ही वैसे इनमें उसका वैराग्य होता जाता है, इसमें संशय नहीं है
yathā yathā ca paryeti lokatantram asāravat | tathā tathā virāgo 'tra jāyate nātra saṁśayaḥ ||
قال بهيشما: كلما تأمّل الإنسان نظام العالم ووجده بلا جوهرٍ باقٍ، نشأ في قلبه على قدر ذلك الزهدُ وعدمُ التعلّق (vairāgya) — ولا شكّ في هذا.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Repeated, honest reflection on how the world functions—seeing its instability and lack of lasting essence—naturally produces virāga (detachment). Vairāgya is presented not as forced rejection but as the mature outcome of clear understanding.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and the means to inner peace. Here he states a general principle: as one comprehends the world’s insubstantiality, one’s attachment diminishes, strengthening the disposition toward renunciation and ethical steadiness.