Mahabharata — Shanti Parva, Shloka 13
Brāhmaṇa-kṛtya, Āśrama-niyama, and Dāna-prasaṃsā
Duties of the Brāhmaṇa, āśrama discipline, and praise of giving
पययिह्न्यमानानामभियोक्ता न विद्यते | दुःखमेतत् तु यद् द्वेष्टा कर्ताहमिति मन्यते
paryāyihnyamānānām abhiyoktā na vidyate | duḥkham etat tu yad dveṣṭā kartāham iti manyate ||
قال بهيشما: «إن الذين تُصيبهم اللذّات والآلام مرارًا مما يأتي مع تعاقب الزمان، لا مُدَّعيَ عليهم غيرُ أنفسهم—ولا مُجرمَ خارجيًّا يُلام. إنما الحزن الحق هنا: أن الإنسان يكره الألم الحاضر ويتوهّم: “أنا الفاعل (لهذا العذاب)”، فيقيّد نفسه بالضيق بسبب النفور ووهم الفاعلية.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Pleasure and pain arise in the natural course of time; blaming an external agent is misguided. Suffering deepens when one reacts with aversion and falsely identifies as the autonomous doer—“I am the maker of this”—instead of seeing experiences as time-conditioned and to be borne with equanimity.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction to Yudhishthira, Bhishma continues his ethical-philosophical counsel, explaining how wise understanding of time, causality, and non-attachment reduces grief and prevents the mind from creating an enemy or culprit for inevitable life experiences.