Shloka 18
मनुरुवाच — इन्द्रिय-मनः-ज्ञान-क्रमः
Manu on the hierarchy of senses, mind, and knowledge
अरागमोहो निर्दनद्धी न शोचति न सज्जते । न कर्ता कारणानां च न कार्याणामिति स्थिति:
arāgamohō nirdvanddhī na śocati na sajjate | na kartā kāraṇānāṁ ca na kāryāṇām iti sthitiḥ ||
Bhīṣma sprach: Wer frei ist von Leidenschaft und Verblendung und die Paare der Gegensätze überschritten hat, trauert nicht und klammert sich nicht. Sich selbst als weder Urheber der Ursachen noch als Handelnder der Wirkungen zu erkennen—das ist der gefestigte Zustand innerer Standhaftigkeit.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches inner steadiness through detachment: freedom from attachment and delusion, transcendence of dualities, and a non-doer perspective in which one does not identify the self as the agent behind causes or effects—leading to non-grief and non-clinging.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and liberation-oriented conduct. Here he describes the marks of a stabilized, wise person—one who remains unshaken by opposites and does not appropriate actions and outcomes as ‘mine’.