Shloka 16
प्रजापतयः देवगणाश्च दिशि-दिशि स्थिताः ऋषयः
Prajāpatis, Deva-Groups, and the Ṛṣis Assigned to the Directions
स्वेनात्मना चक्षुरिव प्रणेता निशात्यये तमसा संवृतात्मा । ज्ञानं तु विज्ञानगुणेन युक्त कर्माशुभं पश्यति वर्जनीयम्
bhīṣma uvāca | svenātmanā cakṣur iva praṇetā niśātyaye tamasā saṃvṛtātmā | jñānaṃ tu vijñānaguṇena yuktaṃ karmāśubhaṃ paśyati varjanīyam |
Bhīṣma sprach: Wenn die Nacht geendet hat und das Selbst nicht mehr von Dunkel umhüllt ist, erkennt der innere Lenker—wie das Auge, gestärkt durch sein eigenes Licht—was auf dem Weg liegt, und sieht, was zu meiden ist, wie Dornen. Ebenso nimmt, wenn der Schleier der Verblendung fällt, der Verstand, erleuchtet von wahrer Erkenntnis, verbunden mit unterscheidender Einsicht, unheilsame Handlungen als etwas wahr, das zu entsagen ist.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
When ignorance and delusion recede, knowledge combined with discriminative understanding enables the intellect to recognize unethical or harmful actions as avoidable—just as the eye, once darkness is gone, can see thorns on the road and steer clear of them.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction to Yudhishthira, Bhishma continues a moral-philosophical explanation: he uses a dawn-and-vision simile to show how the mind, once freed from the darkness of moha, clearly perceives which actions are to be renounced.