Shloka 18

Vimokṣa-niścaya: Pañcaśikha’s Analysis of Aggregates, Guṇas, and Tyāga (मोक्षनिर्णयः)

Devanagari script

अजितेन्द्रिय जीव अज्ञानवश सत्त्व, रज और तमसे मोहित हो निरन्तर चक्रकी तरह घूमते रहते हैं ।। तस्मात्‌ सम्यक्‌ परीक्षेत दोषानज्ञानसम्भवान्‌ | अज्ञानप्रभवं दुःखमहंकारं परित्यजेत्‌,अतः विवेकी पुरुषको चाहिये कि वह अज्ञानजनित दोषोंकी भलीभाँति परीक्षा करे तथा उस अज्ञानसे उत्पन्न हुए दुःख और अहंकारको त्याग दे

Transliteration

bhīṣma uvāca | ajitendriyo jīvo 'jñānavaśāt sattva-rajas-tamobhir mohito nityaṃ cakrakīva parivartate || tasmāt samyak parīkṣeta doṣān ajñāna-sambhavān | ajñāna-prabhavaṃ duḥkham ahaṃkāraṃ parityajet ||

Translation

Bhishma sprach: Ein Lebewesen, das die Sinne nicht bezwungen hat, von Unwissenheit getrieben und von sattva, rajas und tamas betört, kreist unaufhörlich wie ein Rad. Darum soll man die aus Unwissenheit entspringenden Fehler sorgfältig prüfen und das aus ihr geborene Leid sowie das Ich-Gefühl (ahaṃkāra) aufgeben.

Word by Word

• {'ajitendriyaḥ': 'one whose senses are unconquered

• lacking self-mastery', 'jīvaḥ': 'the individual living being

• embodied self', 'ajñānavaśāt': 'under the sway of ignorance', 'sattva': 'the guṇa of clarity, balance, illumination', 'rajas': 'the guṇa of passion, activity, restlessness', 'tamas': 'the guṇa of darkness, inertia, delusion', 'mohitaḥ': 'deluded, bewildered', 'nityam': 'constantly, perpetually', 'cakrakīva': 'like a wheel', 'parivartate': 'turns about, revolves

• continues in cyclic movement', 'tasmāt': 'therefore', 'samyak': 'properly, thoroughly, rightly', 'parīkṣeta': 'one should examine/investigate', 'doṣān': 'faults, defects, moral/spiritual blemishes', 'ajñāna-sambhavān': 'arising from ignorance', 'ajñāna-prabhavam': 'originating from ignorance', 'duḥkham': 'suffering, pain, distress', 'ahaṃkāram': 'egoism

• the ‘I’-notion, self-conceit', 'parityajet': 'one should abandon, renounce'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma (speaker)
• jīva (the living being)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Lack of sense-control keeps the jīva trapped in cyclic wandering under the delusion of the three guṇas. The remedy is discriminative inquiry: identify the faults born of ignorance and abandon the ego-sense and suffering that arise from it.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s instruction section, Bhīṣma continues advising Yudhiṣṭhira on inner discipline and liberation-oriented ethics, explaining why beings remain bound and what practical mental renunciation is required.