Shloka 17
Vipula’s Yogic Protection of the Guru’s Household (विपुलस्य योगरक्षा / Vipulasya Yogarakṣā)
नासां कश्षिदगम्यो5स्ति नासां वयसि निश्चय: । विरूप॑ रूपवन्तं वा पुमानित्येव भुज्जते
nāsāṃ kaścid agamyo 'sti nāsāṃ vayasi niścayaḥ | virūpaṃ rūpavantaṃ vā pumān ity eva bhujyate ||
Bhishma said: For such women, no man is held to be inaccessible. They keep no settled resolve in any season of life. Handsome or deformed, they regard him only as “a man” and seek enjoyment of him.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents Bhishma’s moral critique of unrestrained desire: when discernment and steadfastness are absent, ethical boundaries (who is ‘approachable’ or not, and what is appropriate at different life-stages) collapse, reducing persons to objects of pleasure.
In Anushasana Parva, Bhishma is instructing Yudhishthira on dharma and proper conduct. Here he characterizes a certain type of woman (as framed by the text) as lacking restraint and discrimination, describing behavior driven by mere sensual appetite rather than ethical judgment.