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:,देह, इन्द्रिय आदि समस्त गुणमय पदार्थोकी ममता छोड़कर शुभाशुभ कर्मको त्यागकर तथा सत्य और मिथ्या दोनोंका परित्याग करके ही कोई साधक निर्मुण हो सकता है
hitvā guṇamayaṃ sarvaṃ karma hitvā śubhāśubham | ubhe satyānṛte tyaktvā evaṃ bhavati nirguṇaḥ ||
Bhīṣma sprach: „Indem man alles Handeln aufgibt, das aus den guṇa besteht, Taten verwirft, die als günstig wie ungünstig gelten, und sowohl ‘Wahrheit’ als auch ‘Falschheit’ als bindende Standpunkte loslässt—nur so wird der Suchende nirguṇa, frei vom Griff der Qualitäten.“
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.