Shloka 11
Adhyāya 353 — Kathā-prāmāṇya (Authority of Transmission) and the Brāhmaṇa’s Ascetic Resolve
हित्वा गुणमयं सर्व कर्म हित्वा शुभाशुभम् । उभे सत्यानृते त्यक्त्वा एवं भवति निर्गुण:
hitvā guṇamayaṃ sarvaṃ karma hitvā śubhāśubham | ubhe satyānṛte tyaktvā evaṃ bhavati nirguṇaḥ ||
قال بيشما: «بترك كل فعلٍ مؤلَّف من الغونات (guṇa)، وبالتخلّي عن الأعمال التي تُعدّ مباركة أو غير مباركة، وبإسقاط كلٍّ من “الصدق” و“الكذب” بوصفهما موقفين مُقيِّدين—عندئذٍ وحده يصير السالك نيرغونا (nirguṇa)، متحرّرًا من قبضة الصفات.»
पितामह उवाच
Educational Q&A
Liberation is presented as freedom from attachment to guṇa-conditioned action and its moral accounting (merit/demerit). The verse urges a shift beyond dualistic clinging—such as identifying oneself through ‘I am truthful’ versus ‘I am false’—toward a state of non-identification where actions and labels no longer bind.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and the path to peace after the war. Here he articulates a renunciatory, mokṣa-oriented teaching: the seeker becomes ‘nirguṇa’ by relinquishing attachment to all guṇa-based activity and the dualities that sustain bondage.